Stephen Downes

Mashable rarely turns its attention to education, but I like it when it does. Author Josh Catone writes, "social media can drastically reduce much of the overhead involved with higher education - such as administrative costs and even the campus itself - and open source or reusable and adaptive learning materials can drive costs down even further." The examples chosen are well-known cases like University of the People, OpenCourseWare and WikiBooks. But the principles that impel these initiatives apply to an entire movement. Related: Techdirt asks, should copyright be abolished on academic work?