Fork It
2 min read
Michael Feldstein has a good post on distributing and tracking open content. His post looks at some issues with Common Cartridge, and maintaining a canonical version of a resource. In his post, Michael lays out his position that:
there should only ever be one copy of a learning resource except under very limited and specific circumstances.
I left the thoughts below as a comment on the original post.
This approach/perspective puts more control than is needed into the hands of the content author (or content distributor).
The purpose of the content is to support interactions around it/with it that lead to learning, and these interactions take place within a different context that the point where the resource is authored/distributed.
Learning analytics around a resource, a canonical version of that resource, and the format used to distribute a resource are related, but technically separate issues. They can be joined to serve the needs of distributors, but learning can take place very well without these elements being addressed in lockstep.
So, with all that said, why aren't we focusing our efforts on eliminating barriers to reuse and remixing? Forking is good; it's where new varieties, each modified for their specific environment, can go to meet the specific needs of that environment. Many of these localized changes would never have a place in the original, "canonical" version of the resource.
But, given that the idea of a "canonical" version is arguably a dated term of more convenience to publishers/distributors that users/learners, why mandate that as a requirement that limits the ability to reuse this material elsewhere?
The business case around content shouldn't get in the way of the actual usefulness (remixing/reusing/redistributing) that content. In reading through the SCORM and Common Cartridge specs, there are elements of those specs that have more to do with the business case of distribution than the actual process of learning.
NOTE
I'm closing comments on this post; the full thread is worth a read.
