Digital Bill of Rights

Just a few months ago, document entitled, “A Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in the Digital Age” was proposed by a group of 12 educators, many of them well known in online education including Sebastian Thrun, chief executive officer of Udacity. The bill seeks to protect students’ interests and their and online learning rapidly expands.

The document proposes a set of “inalienable rights” that the authors say students and their advocates should demand from institutions and companies offering online courses. One of the major tenets of the bill is the right to access online learning in affordable and convenient ways and in a variety of formats. Other principles identified are students’ right to privacy, transparency on use of collected data from their online system by their learning institution as well as others, and access the learning institutions’ financial model.  Another principle may have serious implications for K-12 that provides students the “right to be teachers” granting them the ability to shape learning, create and refine learning materials, and form virtual and real-world networks. It would seem students and their advocates would embrace this proposal and demand these rights from their institutions. Not so fast.

With today’s highly politicized culture, I suppose it’s not shocking to find opponents against these seemingly useful guidelines on eLearning. Despite the legislative reference by the document’s title, there is no law attached to it and this is just one criticism opponents have with the bill. Those who are against the measure also criticized the panel of being “top-down and of hubris” by not including students, the very people it was meant to protect. (Lederman, Doug. “Digital Learning, for the Learners.” Inside Higher Ed. Web 24 Jan. 2013.) 

I, for one, embrace A Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in the Digital Age” and commend the authors for bringing this discussion to the forefront of education news. Today’s learner no longer fits into the one-size-fits-all financial aid and regulation model. Students, educators, instructional designers and technologists must document the guiding principles to lead us through this digital age.