Ms. Bohrer has sold 31 M&M counting exercises, which come with directions, sorting mats and work sheets, for $3 each.
Today I came across this article published in the New York Times. It details the new practice of teachers selling their lesson plans online. The article brought to light some interesting ethical questions regarding the commoditization of learning in the school system.
In the corporate world we have no scruples (or little depending on your organization) about buying and selling learning materials. Reusable learning objects are a cornerstone of eLearning 2.0. Yet somehow there still seems to be a stigma around its use in the educational system.
Merlot.org and other learning object repositories have been a great resource for me in my personal teaching endeavors. I find www.lessonplanspage.com as well as www.enotes.com to be particularly helpful for the courses I teach (Junior level English Lit and Elementary French). I have bought some lesson plans. As a volunteer GED instructor, I teach two classes per week on top of my full time job. I have found that it takes me on average 3-4 hours to prepare for an hour and a half lesson. Taking the short cut of buying a lesson plan for $6 is not only a time savings but a money savings. It also allows me to concentrate my time on facilitating knowing that I have the materials to back me up. I do not feel that it compromises my students learning experience. Using classroom tested materials only buttresses my teaching capabilities.
The gray area that the article brought up was the fact that some teachers may be selling materials that were developed while they were on the public school payroll. In my experience, it seems that most instructional design will occur outside of school hours. Being accomplished on private time makes it fair game for the marketplace. How can this be distinguished though?
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that academic materials such as this should remain shareable and free, or do teacher/entrepreneurs have the right to sell their information? Or should the information not be shared at all?
Ben, thank you for sharing the interesting article. Everything is commercial commodity even lesson plans in academic field. I think you've raised a good point that "The gray area that the article brought up was the fact that some teachers may be selling materials that were developed while they were on the public school payroll." I agree with you that most of instructional design occurs outside the school hours, thus teacher should have right to sell or share it. I think this sharing will lead to the better teaching standard, as teachers are sharing their practices and improving their experiences from others. Moreover, the sharing may lead to the best practice if lesson plan can be customized to fit different learning styles of the students.
ReplyDeleteTip-upson