{"id":703,"date":"2014-03-12T09:51:33","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T13:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/?p=703"},"modified":"2014-03-17T09:34:59","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T13:34:59","slug":"is-online-education-supporting-or-suppressing-the-public-domain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2014\/03\/12\/is-online-education-supporting-or-suppressing-the-public-domain\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Online Education Supporting or Suppressing the Public Domain?"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Product: MOOCs and Consequences for the Future of Education<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Professor Charles Nesson believes that the Internet has a \u201cgenerative capacity for expanding our public realm\u201d; it seems that the creators of MOOCs, or massive open online courses, share his philosophy. Industry leaders like Coursera, Udacity, and edX have rapidly developed video lectures and online assignments for the masses; these MOOCs created a free cyberspace for the exchange of ideas, bolstered by relatively small fees for course certificates and licensing agreements with brick-and-mortar institutions. In the past few years, MOOCs have helped the public realm go virtual.<\/p>\n

But, for better or worse, education wasn\u2019t the same in the virtual world. The State of California, under pressure to extend its public university course offerings while on a tight budget, thought it had found a solution in online education. But when it proposed in 2011 that MOOCs be accepted as college credit, the Department of Philosophy at San Jose State University was alarmed. \u201cWhat are the essential components of a good quality education in a university?\u201d the Department asked<\/a> Harvard professor Michael Sandel, the instructor for the free online philosophy course JusticeX. MOOCs had become competitors to brick-and-mortar institutions, and the virtual threatened to undermine the physical public sphere.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Professor Charles Nesson<\/p><\/div>\n

Professor Nesson saw this problem\u2014how to educate the world\u2014and saw in the MOOC craze and crisis the perfect case study to analyze possible solutions. Designed for the fall 2013 Harvard Law School course \u201cInternet and Society: Creating the Public Domain,\u201d the case study MOOCs and Consequences for the Future of Education<\/em><\/a> surveys the growth of MOOCs and contextualizes the San Jose State reaction. The goal of the case and the course was meta: \u201ca participatory re-think of legal education,\u201d says Nesson. Using a problem solving methodology pioneered at HLS, this case study had students confront the issue as lawyers would: hands-on and from the very beginning. Participants discussed the challenges and opportunities of exporting Harvard education worldwide through the edX<\/a> model, and adopted stakeholder points of view to negotiate best practices for the fledgling field of free online education.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nieman Fellow Jeffrey R. Young<\/p><\/div>\n

Nesson, a founder and director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has taught cyberlaw, evidence, torts, and criminal law at Harvard Law School since 1966. For decades, Nesson has pioneered classroom innovation on campus; his early computer simulation on Evidence is still in use today. Nesson\u2019s co-author, Jeffrey R. Young<\/a>, is a senior editor at\u00a0The Chronicle of Higher Education\u00a0<\/em>on fellowship at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and the Berkman Center. Young has written extensively about the role of MOOCs in higher education; his e-book, Beyond the MOOC Hype: A Guide to Higher Education\u2019s High-Tech Disruption<\/em><\/a>, is available on Amazon.<\/p>\n

The suite of Internet & Society case studies are available free of charge on the Case Studies website<\/a>. For more information, or to discuss how to adapt the case study and problem solving pedagogy for your academic or professional education needs, contact the Case Studies Program at hlscasestudies@law.harvard.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Product: MOOCs and Consequences for the Future of Education Professor Charles Nesson believes that the Internet has a \u201cgenerative capacity for expanding our public realm\u201d; it seems that the creators of MOOCs, or massive open online courses, share his … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5482,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88569],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-problem-solving-workshop-blog-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CR8M-bl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":724,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2014\/03\/18\/case-studies-in-cyber-citizenship\/","url_meta":{"origin":703,"position":0},"title":"Case Studies in Cyber-Citizenship","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"March 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Professor Charles Nesson\u2019s course fosters innovation in law and technology \u201cThink of what we are doing as re-designing the Ames [Moot Court] Competition, producing an Ames Competition in Cyberspace,\u201d Professor Charles Nesson said to his students. \u00a0Skillful judgment, innovation, and active participation governed Nesson\u2019s fall 2013 course \u201cInternet & Society:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/problem-solving-workshop-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2014\/03\/1280px-2013_Brazilian_protests-500x359.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":479,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/07\/09\/summer-reading-legal-educations-9-big-ideas-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":703,"position":1},"title":"Summer Reading: Legal Education\u2019s 9 Big Ideas, Part 1","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"July 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Taking Cues from Science and Technology Last week\u2019s blog post\u00a0made it seem as if the end of traditional legal education is near.\u00a0 But, as the saying goes, every ending is a new beginning. Scholars and practitioners are proposing solutions to the crisis in legal education that draw on the successes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Legal News and Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/800px-EPA_GULF_BREEZE_LABORATORY_CHEMISTRY_LAB._THE_CHEMIST_IS_TESTING_WATER_SAMPLES_FOR_PESTICIDES_-_NARA_-_546277-500x338.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":845,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2014\/08\/06\/summer-reading-crash-course-on-flipped-classrooms\/","url_meta":{"origin":703,"position":2},"title":"Summer Reading: Crash Course on Flipped Classrooms","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"August 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Biologists at the University of Washington recently released the findings of a meta-analysis on active learning in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) classes: students in lecture classes, across every discipline, are 1.5 times more likely to fail than students in active learning classes, involving discussion and in-class activities. Similar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Study Program Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Case Study Program Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-study-program-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eric Mazur","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2014\/08\/Ericmazur2-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":618,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/10\/08\/making-the-grade-considering-the-aba-task-force-recommendations-for-legal-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":703,"position":3},"title":"Making the Grade: Considering the ABA Task Force Recommendations for Legal Education","author":"Amanda Reilly","date":"October 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThere is almost universal agreement that the current system is broken,\u201d said Thomas W. Lyons III, ABA Task Force member, at an ABA Task Force meeting in Dallas earlier this year. In August, the American Bar Association\u2019s Task Force released its final report in a series of working papers on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Legal News and Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/10\/spiralboundreport.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":659,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/12\/03\/for-profit-law-schools-impacting-the-future-of-legal-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":703,"position":4},"title":"For-Profit Law Schools: Impacting the Future of Legal Education","author":"Amanda Reilly","date":"December 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The InfiLaw System, a for-profit company that owns several law schools and professional development firms, is challenging the status quo in legal education in a way similar to for-profit education companies such as University of Phoenix, Strayer, and DeVry. However, recent features in the Wall Street Journal, the ABA Journal,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Legal News and Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/12\/491648442_a52e4dfc22_z-500x375.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":239,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/03\/14\/professor-john-coates-legal-start-up-case-studies-inspire-students\/","url_meta":{"origin":703,"position":5},"title":"Professor John Coates’ Legal Start-Up Case Studies Inspire Students","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"March 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Rachel Gibson \u201cI want to inspire students to start organizations and conquer the world.\u201d \u2013 HLS Professor John Coates Professor John Coates, a regular contributor to the Case Development Initiative\u2019s catalogue, is developing a module of three case study series that highlight the challenges of starting new legal organizations.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Development Initiative Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Case Development Initiative Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-development-initiative-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/03\/11-8-11Coates048-500x333.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":707,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions\/707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}