Since I’m doing this as I go it’s not too big of a deal to save it twice (once as a .doc; the second as a .pdf), but wouldn’t want to go through the laborious and tedious task of re-saving hundreds of old files. Perhaps you could throw up the .odt files and then re-save the .doc files as you have time.

I believe Office 2007 isn’t automatically able to read .odt files, however there is a plug-in you can download that allows you to read OpenOffice formats (maybe even save in that format?). I don’t get why Microsoft doesn’t simply include that plug-in (and the .pdf plug-in) as a part of the original program. They’re the ones providing the add-on plug-in later.

What file format will you be posting your stuff in? Most of my text documents are in .odt, the OpenOffice format, but I imagine most teachers use Word. Last time I tried, Word couldn’t open .odt files (that may be different in newer versions; anyone know?). I hesitate to save 1-2 gigs worth of text documents in .doc format because it would require me to do so one by one, but I’m afraid that if I don’t post .doc files, it won’t be of use to anyone.

Thoughts?

I wouldn’t be a fan of anyone taking my exact work and making money off of it, but I also wouldn’t want someone to not use my work because they were unsure of what is considered “commercial.” I’d be fine with paid tutors using my work to help students learn even though technically that might fall under the commercial category.

Attribution seems a little narcissistic to me. However, I feel it’s important to always reference where I get my ideas and inspirations so I generally go with it.

I’m somewhat surprised this type of thing hasn’t become more mainstream. It’s really pretty easy- not to mention that since my current school doesn’t have remote access this provides a way to access my school files even from home. The question is if I’ll decide to make the time to throw up all my resources from classes I’ve taught in the past. Maybe. No promises.

As for the remixing- I would much rather have my work tweaked than just used verbatim. For me, it’s mainly about seeing how other people would get at the same ideas. Hopefully it would open up new perspectives and new ideas for myself as well.

It looks like you want at least two requirements: attribution and share-alike. And, if you don’t want anyone to make money off your stuff, you could include non-commercial. So maybe this is what you are looking for? http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Thanks for the pingback, I really am glad that I’ve influenced your choice in some way. I really do believe these are important choices around content, and I’m so glad to hear you are moving this direction.

All the best.

And dammit, Ben, this is such a good idea. I have folders upon folders worth of handouts, lessons, materials, etc. that I think I’m going to put up on the web myself. It’ll also be a good excuse to teach myself how to install and maintain a wiki on my web hosting account.

It doesn’t have to be your best stuff, especially if you want people to share and re-mix. Teachers will tweak stuff to fit their students, curriculum, local school culture, etc., and it’s not a reflection on the original work; in fact, I’d rather have my stuff tweaked than used as-is – it means the teacher is putting careful thought into the implementation rather than just grabbing something that looks useful without any regard for goodness of fit.