Universities Figuring Out The Value Of Giving Away Content For Free
from the economics-lessons dept
It started with universities giving away all their courseware online for free, but recently some universities have started posting videos of all lectures for free on YouTube as well. This has some folks wondering what that means about the value of a university education. Andy Kessler does a nice job breaking down the details of what he calls "YouTube U.", noting that it plays directly into the economics of free content. The content itself, once recorded, is the infinite good -- but the scarce good remains the actual diploma of having successfully made it through the courses and the tests to prove that you had an acceptable level of understanding. While he then jokingly (right, Andy?) suggests that a more conspiratorial answer is that it's a professor's way of being lazy and focusing on the parts of being a professor that bring in money (research, consulting) he may not be that far off. Professors will embrace such things because if they really are good professors it does help build their own brand, which can help them in many ways, from getting grant money to getting better grad student researchers to many other things. And the fact that it can do all that while also helping many people who aren't attending the school learn about whatever topic is being taught seems like a pretty good deal.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: economics, free, infinite good, universities
Companies: berkeley, mit
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Of course, I doubt that will ever happen.
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I support
I wrote about this already in my blog: http://amsdiane.blogspot.com/2007/10/uc-berkeley-launches-youtube-channel.html
The idea of making lectures available for free isn't anything new. I agree with Masnick's observation that, yes, it can help a professor "brand" his work and bolster (the perception?) of his expertise in the field. In many ways, we've seen this with Mike Wesch of Kansas State University and his DigitalEthnography project. Think about this: if teachers are giving their lectures and the like away for free on YouTube for anyone to download and learn from, it also frees them up from droning on in large classes ... and could even give them an opportunity to actually teach during those 50+ minutes instead.
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Re: I support
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A Good Idea
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Droning, Teaching, and Branding
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Lectures on YouTube is great
Does any student feel they were cheated by others viewing a lecture that they had to pay for as part of their education? If so, they are not learning very much.
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Good thing all around
Students can both get a head start in studying a course if they wish, and catch up with lectures they missed if necessary without having to depend on someone else's notes. People thinking of going to college can get a realistic view of what higher education actually entails.
Meanwhile, it remains a requirement to actually attend college and pass classes to obtain the qualifications so the largest 'paid for' benefit - the diploma. It's a win-win situation.
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class time is finite.
we do this at the medical school i work for. we podcast many lectures and make the power points available online. that way class time is freed for discussion and other work.
which would you rather do in class, listen to a lecture that you can listen to on your own time (with the added ability to pause and rewind) or work with the professor and other students on other, more interactive activities?
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Re: class time is finite.
>>ability to pause and rewind) or work with the professor and other students on other, more interactive activities?
I'd rather be taking bong hits.
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