Issues in Instructional Technology

I would like to focus primarily on Open Education, partly inspired by the presentation given in IP&T 564 on Monday, partly inspired by my own desires to make a difference. I see that the idea of open education definitely has the potential to benefit millions of people all over the world.

However, it has a number of issues that need to be addressed:

• Copyright issues - if courses are to be made available to the entire general public, we must come to grips with copyright issues. Who owns the copyright for curriculum used in these open courses? What license should these curriculum be licensed under? What types of rights does it give to the people who access these courses? Can the materials be resued? For commercial purposes?
• Accreditation issues - One major issue here is that by taking an open education course, you may have learned something that will help you do a particular job better. Can you cite your use of open courseware as evidence that you are "qualified" for a particular task? Who says you are qualified? Do you receive a certificate of completion? Can you receive college credit? If so, does this mean the end of tuition-based colleges as we know them?
  
• Sustainability issues - How can we sustain open courseware? It costs money, no doubt about it. How can we develop a system that is sustainable, as far as financial and human resources are concerned?