XLS Commons
Posted on June 10, 2009
Filed Under Guest Columns, r3 | 4 Comments
Several months ago, Drew McClellan (of Drew’s Marketing Minute) presented a social media marketing effort that used a fake resident to promote a new condo complex. He asked if it was a social media faux pas or social media smart. Much discussion ensued. (You can read the blog post here.)
Last week, I came across an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. It highlighted professors who use fake students to promote “real” learning online and increase retention. Those professors proclaim success, students and critics cry foul. (You can read the article here.)
After reading both the blog post and the article, do you think the marketers crossed a line? What about the professors? Are they somehow different lines?
-Jessica
Posted on April 2, 2008
Filed Under Guest Columns, Operational Efficiency | Leave a Comment
From time to time, we will have contributions from guest columnists. The following is by Samantha Hines, the Distance Education Coordinator and Social Sciences Librarian at the Mansfield library. [Keith]
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Reserve readings have been available for ages in libraries. These allow you to share readings with your students that are spontaneous, relevant to the course, and timely. The library maintains access to these materials, regulates how long each user can have them, and makes sure they are returned on time and in good condition. Over time reserves have grown to incorporate recordings of lectures, relevant media content, and other objects useful for instruction (one library where I’ve worked had an entire human skeleton on reserve!). And with the growth of the Internet and digital technologies, access to reserve materials is no longer restricted to the library building. In fact, with Blackboard access and a scanner, professors can post their own readings and materials directly into their course shells, bypassing the library altogether but preserving access to materials.
A key consideration with all of this, however, is copyright. There is no particular copyright protections or permissions for reserve collections. Access to reserves is primarily supported via fair use, and materials available online are covered by fair use and the TEACH Act. If the materials you are placing on reserve or posting online for your course are not spontaneous and timely (i.e., the same set of articles and book chapters every semester), that would be seen as a violation of fair use and a good indication that you may need to develop acoursepack through the UM bookstore. For a checklist of fair use guidelines, see http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/checklist.htm. For guidance regarding coursepacks, see http://web.umtbookstore.com/umtbookstore/coursepacks.htm. Copyright also affects the use of media, especially in the distant classroom. Copyright laws more stringently protect media. While the library has the capability to digitize and post audio and small portions of video material in our reserve system and provides equipment that allows you to do the same, the rules regulating the use of this content in online teaching are much more restrictive. Feature films you may show in your face to face classroom, for example, are essentially forbidden from digitization and inclusion in online courses. However, I and the other librarians can help you find other alternatives to these resources–there are often equivalents available freely online.
At UM, the onus is on the instructor of a course to ensure the materials used in teaching both face to face and online classes meet copyright law, but you don’t have to determine it alone. I am glad to help determine if and how much of particular materials can be used in your teaching (although I am required to point out that I am not a lawyer, and my advice should not be construed as legal advice). There are several online tools and guides that can be used in the determination, such as the fair use checklist mentioned above, the University’s copyright guide (http://libguides.lib.umt.edu/content.php?pid=3857), and the library’s reserves guidelines (http://www.lib.umt.edu/gen/copyright.htm).
Please feel free to contact me with your copyright and/or reserve questions and concerns at samantha.hines@umontana.edu or 243-4558.
