By Mark Lieberman, Inside Higher Ed
A new tool kit from the AAUP offers faculty groups concrete steps for ensuring that partnerships with for-profit companies don’t threaten academic freedom and program integrity. The association’s materials, released Monday, don’t explicitly make the case that faculty members should seek to block deals with OPMs or other for-profit companies like learning management system providers. But they aim to even the playing field of contentious negotiations between for-profit companies and the complex network of shared governance on the institutional side. Vickie Cook, executive director of the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said she thinks the tool kit is “impressive” and understands that some institutions see value in partnering with an OPM. But she remains skeptical that such a partnership would be worth the potential headaches.
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