Case Studies/Peer 2 Peer University
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Overview
The Peer 2 Peer University is a grassroots open education project that organizes learning outside of institutional walls and gives learners recognition for their achievements. P2PU creates a model for lifelong learning alongside traditional formal higher education. Leveraging the internet and educational materials openly available online, P2PU enables high-quality low-cost education opportunities. P2PU - learning for everyone, by everyone about almost anything.
License Usage
P2PU has developed an in-depth guide to choosing an open license. P2PU chose BY-SA. http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc394dmc_179hdvhk33c
P2PU chose to use Creative Commons licences because Creative Commons have become a global standard and are supported by a large international community.
Motivations
Open licences and the free sharing and reuse of materials online have become increasingly popular. Governments, institutions, communities and individual creators, particularly those in the open education field have realised that effective sharing of knowledge is best facilitated by using open licences, which enable permissions that traditional "All Rights Reserved" copyright does not. While current copyright law creates constraints on collaborative co-production, open licences enable large groups of people to efficiently co-create educational resources.
From the beginning, P2PU has been committed to licensing all the materials we produce under as open a licence as possible. P2PU is a volunteer-driven community that originated from the open education movement. The Cape Town Open Education Declaration describes the open education movement: "Educators worldwide are developing a vast pool of educational resources on the Internet, open and free for all to use. These educators are creating a world where each and every person on earth can access and contribute to the sum of all human knowledge. They are also planting the seeds of a new pedagogy where educators and learners create, shape and evolve knowledge together, deepening their skills and understanding as they go". We exist to make education more accessible around the world. For this very reason, we felt very strongly that we needed to use an open licence for material collaboratively created by the community. The question was, which one do we choose, and how do we go about reaching consensus?
