Dive Summary:
- At the American Association of University Professors’ annual conference Wednesday, former president Cary Nelson debated that instructors’ copyrights and academic freedom are threatened by colleges claiming ownership over MOOCs they develop.
- Nelso gave the conference’s opening address and painted the debate as part of a larger intellectual property battle, one in which the future of the profession was as much at stake as faculty members’ ability to profit from their creations.
- To help combat this, the AAUP will campaign this year for professors to have intellectual property rights protections included in their contracts and faculty handbooks, and it will also publish a book titled Recommended Principles to Guide University-Industry Relationships.
From the article:
… “If we lose the battle over intellectual property, it’s over,” Mr. Nelson warned. “Being a professor will no longer be a professional career or a professional identity,” and faculty members will instead essentially find themselves working in “a service industry,” he said. …