Here's a proposed discussion framework for the meeting. Comments and suggestions welcome. - Alan

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1. General Discussion of Scope of Online Learning

By online learning (OL) we mean the full spectrum from simply uploading lectures, putting them on YouTube on the UBC CS channel, through the flipped classroom and online forums to the full-on MOOC experience (making and using same). Current and future trends. Coursera, Udacity, edX, … Business models.

2. Current Status at UBC

(a) status quo on current Coursera courses

(b) status quo on UBC tech & admin support for online courses (if any)

3. Implications for CS@UBC

a) Short term

Should the department provide resources to faculty who are developing MOOCS on an ongoing basis, and if so, what types of resources and based on what criteria? What resources does the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology provide?

b) What role can and should online courses play in our existing courses?

c) How can current developments with OL and MOOCS help us provide the best education that we can for our students?

d) Decision making OL cuts across many of our committee mandates. At least eight committees with a finger in the pie: Program Experience, Science Education Initiative, Teaching and Learning Services, Communications, Space and Safety, Faculty Affairs, Finance and Computing. So there's a need for communication, coordination and for some mandate engineering. Who is the champion? Where is the main forum? How do we decide on what facilities and support to offer?

e) Reasons for and against investing heavily in online courses

f) How do we encourage communication and sharing of OL knowledge and best practices?

4. IP issues

Copyright – Faculty members hold the copyright in the lecture notes that they have authored and their performance of their lecture notes. This means that they, as the copyright holder, may choose how to distribute their material. If they want to publish it on YouTube, that’s their prerogative. But lecture materials are often developed by more than an individual faculty member, especially well-produced OL material.

If the faculty member does not have copyright to any material that is being presented or otherwise made visible on the video (e.g. photos, charts, etc. from textbooks), the faculty member must ensure that they comply with copyright law (see www.copyright.ubc.ca for guidance). In particular, the Digital Classroom Frequently Asked Questions has good information about this: http://copyright.ubc.ca/faq/digital-classroom/.

- Privacy – Students attending the lecture, other presenters – if the faculty member wishes to record a lecture that features another presenter, or a student as presenters, it is necessary to get all the presenters to sign a consent form. UBC University Counsel office is developing consent forms.

5. Longer term implications of OL

For universities in general, UBC in particular. For Computer Science education in general, CS@UBC in particular. What OL strategy should we develop and adopt? How do we do that?

-- AlanMackworth - 19 Nov 2012

A thoughtful big picture view:

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2012/11/napster-udacity-and-the-academy/

Scan of recent developments:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html

-- AlanMackworth - 19 Nov 2012