Worlds in Collision: Copyright, Technology, and Education
Copyright laws are complex and vary from country to country. This is a problem that has begun to appear in the online learning environment. The issue, according to author Stephen Marshall, has direct ramifications on the open source software used by educators in online learning environments. This article explores some of the details surrounding the conflict between Web 2.0 technologies, their use in online learning, and the implications for copyright laws.
The author spends the first half of the article exploring the background and basis of copyright protection laws in the United States and in other countries. Marshall feels it is important to look at the international implications because of the Internet and of online education's global reach. For purposes of demonstrating the implications of copyright laws, an example of a student project involving different images and music is presented in the article.
Marshall believes that the rapid introduction of open source software and its use in online learning will create a major challenge for educators. He believes that this new technology is good and should be incorporated into online learning, however the global trend to maximize profits will cause copyright laws to conflict with this software's use. Because of this, educators need to address this issue as a community in order to prevent future issues.
The author ties copyright law into higher education in a way that I hadn't quite considered. Before reading this article, I would have thought copyright to be more of a cost issue as opposed to anything else. I always understood, and the author reiterates in this article, that copyright laws exist so that owners of material can make money from the possession of those materials. As the world has become more cost and profit driven, and at the same time, more litigious, then I would have assumed that this issue of copyright was directly related to funding issues in higher education. Marshall points out his belief that the copyright issue has more to do with free access than anything else. When copyright laws prevent educational uses of material on the Internet, then access to a potential learning tool is restricted.
The author believes that there are several options available to address this issue. Most of these options, in the author's opinion, are not really viable options. In many cases, educators can simply ignore existing copyright laws as educational use in the United States is often covered under fair use statutes. A second option is to simply not use copyrighted material that is inaccessible. A third option presented by the author is to pay copyrighted material fees and then use whatever material is needed for the class. However, the author believes that none of these options are sustainable into the future as a viable option for dealing with copyrighted material on the Internet. He believes that, inevitably, laws and regulations that govern material on the Internet will prevent free and unencumbered access to copyrighted material on the Internet. If these laws don't exist now, they will exist down the road. The end result will be that higher education will be left out of the decision making process in regards to copyrighted material access.
What the author presents as the most viable option is that educators must collaborate with educators, governments, and lawmakers around the world to establish an educational clause that will allow information readily available on the Internet to be used for educational purposes. Marshall believes that this type of international agreement is possible with the caveat that educational institutions must have a set of standard by which they use copyrighted material. These standards would task the educators with using the material for educational use and demand a certain level of ethics. I think this idea of a Utopian - type agreement across financial and national boundaries is a great target to reach for. However, the pessimist in me does not see how the solution presented by the author could be any less realistic. The idea that nations could sit down and agree on a set of standards that would allow users from around the world access to copyrighted material seems more than just a little idealistic. I think at some point, institutions of higher education must take the proverbial "high - road" and closely adhere to existing national laws for moral and practical reasons. In my opinion, there exists too much room for foul play without hard standards and laws that govern the use of copyrighted material. I also believe that copyrighted material - in most cases - is material that some individual owns. I do not think the government or international community has the right to confiscate that property and give it to other free of charge. In the case of copyright law, I think individual rights trump the rights of the educational institutions.
Marshall, S. (2008). Worlds in collision: copyright, technology, and education. Innovate 4(5). Retrieved 15 October, 2008 from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=528.