Preventing intellectual (near-) monopoly in digital education by developing free space for education technology development

Abstract

In this thesis I investigate possibilities for expanding freedom of choice in the development and use of digital education technologies. This thesis may be of interest to university policy-makers, students, professors, software-developers, or anyone interested in expanding freedom of choice in the development and use of digital education technologies.
This research aims to investigate possibilities for the creation of a free space in the cultural sphere for digital education technology to protect from intervention by intellectual (near-) monopolies. Intellectual monopolies are companies that build their wealth by excessive monopolising access to knowledge and converting it into intellectual rents, a type of intangible assets.
The thesis are examined against the background of an overarching perspective on society as consisting of three spheres. Legal-political sphere is to develop laws and regulations; Economic sphere is about production, distribution (trading) and consumption of goods; Cultural sphere is to generate idea and knowledge. In each sphere, there also are three aspects belonging to legal-politics, economics, and culture.
The thesis consists of two parts and adopts a macro-to-micro research framework. In the first part, the research focuses on the macro-socialistic level first and then zooms in to business level (education technology) by analysing existing literature. This part investigates how intellectual monopolies emerge, first in general and then more specifically in digital education technology, and how they reduce freedom of education. More specifically, the thesis identifies economic, legal-political and cultural factors that promote intellectual monopoly in the digital industry, and explains how intellectual (near-)monopoly in digital education (e.g. in online-learning platforms, LMSs or video-conferencing software) arises as a consequence of particular relationships between the economic, legal-political and cultural sphere, where governments and international organisations give laws and regulation (e.g. IP law, education laws and regulation, the standardisation of education) that support the concentration of R&D in a few giant digital high-tech companies and the growth of (near-)monopoly positions in the digital education technology market, enabling high-tech giants to extract what in this study is called ‘learning-related rent’ (tangible and intangible assets formed by controlling learning tools and learning content), and reducing freedom of education (the core component of the cultural sphere).
In the second part, the thesis zoom in further to the university level and examines the possibilities decision-makers at universities have to expand freedom of choice in digital education technology for professors and students through a case study of a Dutch university. An interview is conducted as the main method of the case study to collect data. From the interview results, legal-political, economic and cultural hurdles in establishing free space in choosing education technology in the cultural sphere have been identified.