Educational models and open source: resisting the proprietary university

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an educational model derived from open source methods for computer programming. The article places this search for an alternative model within a framework of proprietary educational practices that are driven by a need for efficiency and rationalization. As an alternative model, the paper suggests that an open source derived educational process would emphasize collaborative problem based learning, working through drafts, risk taking, mentoring, user testing, releasing early and often, developing in collaboration with users, and rewarding and building from failure.At the same time, the paper notes that such a system would have much in common with existing theories of project-based or activity-based learning and with traditional methods of research and publication in scientific endeavors. However, the paper also argues that such a method is different from the open-course or open-curriculum projects recently publicized by several well-known universities as these practices appear to emphasize derived content rather than an open representation of process, or how the content was developed.Collaborative, problem-based learning provides constructive approaches for building corporate and community partnerships on university campuses. At the same time, the model teaches students about collaborative work practices, working as part of a larger community, and the nature of collaborative knowledge building. As such, the model reconnects knowledge creation to research communities and to communities of users and it complicates the belief that sustainable, useful innovation can occur within proprietary systems.

REFERENCES

• 1: Aronowitz, Stanley. The Knowledge Factory: Dismantling the Corporate University and Creating True Higher Learning. Boston: Beacon Press, 2000.
• 2: Erik Berglund , Michael Priestley, Open-source documentation: in search of user-driven, just-in-time writing, Proceedings of the 19th annual international conference on Computer documentation, October 21-24, 2001, Sante Fe, New Mexico, USA [doi>10.1145/501516.501543]
• 3: Bradford, Lawrence J., and Raines, Claire. Twenty Something: Managing & Motivating Today's New Work Force. Denver: Merrill-Alexander, 1992.
• 4: Business: An Open and Shut Case. (2001, May 12). Economist 359 (8221): 67.
• 5: Dewey, John. Democracy and Education. Ed. J. Boydston. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1985.
• 6: Dvorak, George. "Collective Education" http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/g_dvorak_1.html
• 7: Faber, Brenton. "Gen/Ethics? Organizational Ethics and Student and Instructor Conflict in Workplace Training." Technical Communication Quarterly 10 (3), 2001: 291--319.
• 8: Faber, Brenton. Community Action and Organizational Change: Image, Narrative, Identity. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2002.
• 9: Andrew Feenberg, Critical theory of technology, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 1991
• 10: Joseph Feller , Brian Fitzgerald, A framework analysis of the open source software development paradigm, Proceedings of the twenty first international conference on Information systems, p.58-69, December 2000, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
• 11: Gee, James Paul, Hull, Glynda, and Lankshear, Colin. The New Work Order: Behind the Language of the New Capitalism. Boulder Co: Westview, 1996.
• 12: Hanna, Donald E. & Associates. Higher Education in an Era of Digital Competition: Choices and Challenges. Madison, WI: Atwood, 2000.
• 13: Jarvis, Peter. Universities and Corporate Universities. London: Kogan Page Limited, 2001.
• 14: Johndan Johnson-Eilola, Open source basics: definitions, models, and questions, Proceedings of the 20th annual international conference on Computer documentation, p.79-83, October 20-23, 2002, Toronto, Ontario, Canada [doi>10.1145/584955.584967]
• 15: Lerner, J., & Tirole, J. (2001). The Open Source Movement: Key Research Questions. European Economic Review 45, 819--26.
• 16: Lyotard, Jean-Francois. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1979.
• 17: Markus, M.L., Manville, B., and Agres, C. (2000). What Makes a Virtual Organization Work? MIT Sloan Management Review 42 (1): 13--26.
• 18: Micklethwait, John, and Wooldridge, Adrian. A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization. New York: Crown Business, 2000.
• 19: OpenSource.org. www.opensource.org
• 20: Raymond, Eric S. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_3/raymond/
• 21: Reich, Robert. The Work of Nations. New York: Random House, 1991.
• 22: Reich, Robert. The Future of Success. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.
• 23: Sauer, Geoffry. "Community, Courseware, and Intellectual Property Law" In Chris Werry and Miranda Mowbray (Eds) Online Communities: E-Commerce, Online Education, and Non-Profit Online Activiites (pp. 215--238). New York: Pearson, 2002.
• 24: Schank, Roger, Berman, Tamara, and Macpherson, Kimberli. "Learning by Doing." Instructional-Design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory Volume II. Ed. Charles Reigeluth. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Elrbaum Associates, 1999.
• 25: Stalder, Felix, and Hirsh, Jesse. "Open Source Intelligence." www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue7_6/stalder/index/html
• 26: Thau, Richard, and Heflin, Jay (Eds.). Generations Apart: Xers vs Boomers vs the Elderly. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books, 1997.
• 27: Linus Torvalds , David Diamond, Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary, Harper Audio, 2001
• 28: Weber, Steven. "The Political Economy of Open Source Software." BRIE Working Paper 140 June 2000. Available on-line at, http://brie.berkeley.edu/~briewww/pubs/wp/wp140.pdf
• 29: White, Geoffry D. (Ed.). Campus Inc.: Corporate Power in the Ivory Tower. Amherst NY, Prometheus Books, 2000.
• 30: Yutaka Yamauchi , Makoto Yokozawa , Takeshi Shinohara , Toru Ishida, Collaboration with Lean Media: how open-source software succeeds, Proceedings of the 2000 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, p.329-338, December 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States [doi>10.1145/358916.359004]
• 31: Shoshana Zuboff, In the age of the smart machine: the future of work and power, Basic Books, Inc., New York, NY, 1988

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.2 Social Issues

General Terms:
Design, Documentation, Experimentation, Theory

Keywords:
collaborative design, educational models, open source software