I think this is perceived to be a major issue with online working.
Security I suspect is the easiest to deal with on a practical basis, and that would be to restrict access to content to those registered on the course/module, rather than open eveything to the wider public. Encouragement (and training) about not posting sensitive information would also have to be given.
Privacy could again be dealt with pretty easily, though Mason & Rennie (I think, though I can't find it now) mention something about second-level privacy - a suitably secure and private blog being linked to an open access Facebook type site.
Ownership and copyright are trickier I would argue. I would imagine that all FE/HE institutions already have pretty robust IPR provisions covering student essays, VLE postings and so on, and the first step would be to extend those rules to blogs and wikis. Not the best solution, but at least it gives a measure of consistency from which things can be taken forward.
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An issue with public social software is also that ownership might change and terms of use also as a result. Just adds to the complexity...
ReplyDelete--p@ c
I'm not sure that my experience shows robust ipr provision re student content or even staff content. Staff often don't realise that most HE institutions own copyright to their work.
ReplyDeleteThe increasing use of e-portfolios and reflective blogs raises significant questions about who owns the content created during formal learning practice.
If students create content that may be useful to their future portfolio then institutions have to allow access to external organisations/employers, etc.
so who owns the content we write within the VLE on this course?