Third Floor

Policies & Copyrightsfor e-Learning

Shaping e-Learning altogether

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Define

• A set of decisions which are oriented towardsa long-term purpose or to a particularproblem.

– Policies are applied from governments,companies, organizations but also individuals

Policies on e-Learning

Study

• On the case of e-Learning in universities in 9 countries across the world

• International agencies participated

• The scope of the research covered 2000 to 2005

Patterns on e-Learning Policies

• Stage 1: Governments act to make e-learningpossible,

• Stage 2: Governments work to integratee-Learning into the education system, effectively,to mainstream e-learning

• Stage 3: A transformative role for e-learning isseen, with changes to views of learning and tothe nature and operation of the tertiaryinstitutions and the tertiary system

Policy Initiatives

• Strategies to develop physical infrastructure

• Focusing on building and ensuring quality in e-learning

• Moves to create a system wide approach to e-learning

• Embedding e-learning and aiming for sector efficiencies

Physical Infrastructure

• All regions and countries had undertaken policyinitiatives designed to provide access to thephysical infrastructure supporting broadbandaccess, which is considered essential for effectivee-learning provision.

• Notably, the level of broadband uptake is far lessthan policy-makers anticipated, suggesting thathaving built it, not all sectors of society have seenthe need to expand their Internet use

Quality in e-Learning

• Provision of support, information and guidance for learners

• Professional development and support for tertiary teachers

• Leadership development

• Development of high quality e-learning content

Systematic Approach

• Development of collaboration & cooperationbetween the institutions comprising thetertiary system

• Awareness of the benefits of e-learning and tocontinue to build demand for e-learningservices

• Support for research initiatives and policyevaluation to ensure informed decision-making

Sector Efficiencies

• As the e-learning environment matures there arepolicy moves to embed e-learning by making itintegral to broader strategies for teaching andlearning

• Policy alignment is a key issue at this stage. Sectorefficiencies were sought through the integrationof information systems and the development ofsynergies between institutional activities

1995-2005

• For 10 years considerable investments havebeen made to equip educational institutionswith computers, software programs, localnetworks and Internet access

• Recently, policy emphasis has switched frominfrastructure and connectivity to content,services, and practice

• the investments made in ICT-enabled teachingand learning has not yet brought about theprofound changes in educational practicesthat would better align educationalinstitutions with the requirements of theknowledge society.

• eLearning will become pervasive only when faculty change how they teach – not before.

Issues coming from Policy Initiatives for e-Learning

Issues (1/4)

• Conceptions of e-learning

– Misalignment of definitions of e-learning

• Supply of and demand for e-learning

– Ask why there would be demand in the first place

• Strategies for disadvantaged and under represented groups

– Policies must include them as well

Issues (2/4)

• Current emphasis on e-learning is restrictive

– emphasis on e-learning is narrow (e-development)

• Engagement with research

– Disconnection with the rich and long tradition of distance education

• Maturity of the policy landscape

• Distinction between integrated and standalone policies

Issues (3/4)

• Policy alignment

• Distinction between centralised and decentralised policies

• Tension between state, national and supranational policy initiatives

• Economic imperative underpinning e-learning policy

Issues (4/4)

• Greater emphasis on formal aspects of tertiary education

• A global education market

• Lack of debate and critical dialogue

Digital Agenda for Europe – 2011 report

• Digital content (upcoming actions)

– Directive on Collective Rights Management

– Green Paper on audiovisual content

– Directive on orphan works

– Directive on enforcement of intellectual property rights

– Directive on re-use of Public Sector Information

Digital Agenda for Europe – 2011 report

• Interoperability & Standards (upcoming actions)

– Regulation on European Standardization

– European multi-stakeholder platform on ICT standardization

– Market players to license interoperability information

Digital Agenda for Europe – 2011 report

• Technology (upcoming actions)

– Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)

– State Aid Guidelines on Broadband Deployment

– Rural Development for 2014-2020

• Digital Literacy (upcoming actions)

– Indicators of digital competences

– Online interactive platform for consumer education

Copyrights for e-learning

Definition

• Intellectual property rights (IPR) are, broadly, rights granted to creators and owners of works that are the result of human intellectual creativity.

– These works can be in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic domains.

– They can be in the form of an invention, a manuscript, a suite of software, or a business name

What does it protect?

• Copyright protects the expression of an idea,NOT the idea itself

• The creator, author or maker of copyrightmaterial is normally the first copyright ownerof what are known as their exclusive or“economic” exploitation rights

Who’s the owner?

• The author of a work is the first owner ofcopyright in that work.

• If a work is created by an employee in the courseof employment, the employer is the first ownerof copyright subject to any contrary agreement

• In the case of works created by students in acollege or university, copyright ownership restswith the student unless there is a validagreement stating otherwise

What are the rights of the owner?

Copyright owner has the following rights

• to copy a work

• to issue copies of a work

• to rent or lend the work to the public

• to make an adaptation of the work

• to perform, show or play the work in public

• to communicate the work to the public

How can I use licensed work?

• With the permission of the copyright owner through the copyright statement

• By seeking and obtaining permission directly from the copyright owner

• By means of an assignment of copyright in writing from the copyright owner

Education

• In the education context relevant exceptions include:

– Fair dealing for non-commercial research and private study, criticism and review

– Non-exact copies of works for teaching purposes in educational establishments (such as copying material by hand)

Current Status

• Today the default copyright status for creativeworks is “all rights reserved”

– Practical impacts on the process of creativity andcultural, scientific and educational development

• This impact is felt particularly in an age ofinexpensive Internet-based publishing,copying & distribution of creative works

Before “copy-pasting”, ask…

• Where is the content used?

• Is the content protected by copyright?

• Who is the right’s holder?

• What is the protected content used for?

Reality check

• In the digital environment an enormousamount of the material we wish to access willbe subject to copyright law

• As digital technologies inherently reproduceand communicate material in their normalprocess of operation; by mere use we activatethe potential for copyright infringement

Full potential achieved?

• While the new digital technologies possess anenormous capacity to disseminate knowledge,copyright law will play a key role indetermining the legality of any such act

• What’s the use of having 2.000.000 resourceswe cannot share?

Creative Commons

• Prof. L. Lessig and his colleagues from Stanford University introduced them

• Lessig’s vision was for a space in the Internet world where people could share and reuse copyright material without fear of being sued – a creative commons

Creative Commons

• Creative Commons is a world wide projectaimed at building a distributed informationcommons by encouraging copyright owners tolicense use of their material through opencontent licensing protocols and therebypromote better identification, negotiation andreutilization of content for the purposes ofcreativity, education and innovation

Baseline Features (1/2)

• The following features are common to all Creative Commons licenses:– licensees are granted the right to copy, distribute,

display, digitally perform and make verbatim copies of the work into another format;

– the licenses have worldwide application that lasts for the entire duration of copyright and are irrevocable;

– licensees cannot use technological protection measures to restrict access to the work;

Baseline Features (2/2)

– copyright notices should not be removed from all copies of the work; and

– every copy of the work should maintain a link to the license;

– attribution must be given to the creator of the copyright work (BY)

Optional Features (1/2)

• Copyright owners can choose from among the following optional license conditions:

– Non-commercial (NC): others are permitted tocopy, distribute, display and perform the copyrightwork – and any derivative works based upon it –but for non-commercial purposes only;

Optional Features (2/2)

• Copyright owners can choose from among the following optional license conditions:

– No derivative works (ND): others are permitted tocopy, distribute, display and perform exact copiesof the work only and cannot make derivativeworks based upon it;

– Share alike (SA): others may distribute derivativeworks only under a license identical to thatcovering the original work

Mixing & Matching (1/2)

• By combining the baseline & optional features, the users end up with the following licenses: – Attribution (BY) – It lets others copy, distribute, re-use and

build upon your work, even commercially, as long as theycredit you for the original creation

– Attribution-Non-commercial (BY-NC) – It lets others copy,distribute, re-use and build upon your work, as long as it isnot for commercial purposes and they credit you as theoriginal author

– Attribution-Share alike (BY-SA) – It lets others re-use andbuild upon your work even for commercial purposes, aslong as they credit you and license any derivative worksunder identical terms

Mixing & Matching (2/2)

– Attribution-Non-commercial-Share alike (BY-NC-SA) – Thislicense lets others re-use and build upon your work, as long as itis for non-commercial purposes, they credit you and theylicense their new creations under identical terms

– Attribution-No derivatives (BY-ND) – This license allows use ofa work in its current form for both commercial and non-commercial purposes, as long as it is not changed in any way orused to make derivative works, and credit is given to the originalauthor

– Attribution-Non-commercial-No derivatives (BY-NC-ND) –It only allows a work to be copied and shared with others in itsoriginal form, and only for non-commercial purposes and wherecredit is provided to the original author. This license does notallow the creation of derivative works, or the use of the work forcommercial purposes

Licenses

• The CC licenses are expressed in three ways: – The Commons Deed, a simple, plain-language

summary of the license, complete with therelevant icons;

– The Legal Code, which is the “fine print” an authorand the users of his or her work need to be surethe license will stand up in court

– The Digital Code, a machine-readable translationof the license that helps search engines and otherapplications identify the work by its terms of use

CC make copyright laws redundant?

• Creative Commons rely on the power ofcopyright ownership and law to structureopen access downstream.

– CC is not anti-copyright, rather it uses copyright asthe basis for structuring open access. In this senseCC is designed to provide a new model formanaging copyright in digital content

Open Educational Resources

• Creative Commons and other types of opencontent licenses provide the basis on which toshare and re-use open educational resources

• In the sharing and re-using of learning objects,research results, publications, or othermaterials for educational environments opencontent licensing will increasingly play a role

Challenges (1/2)

• Need to be clear that the person or entity thatprovides permission under a Creative Commonslicense is indeed the copyright owner

• Be mindful of the moral rights obligations thatCC licenses confirm – namely that of attributionand preserving the integrity of the copyrightmaterial.

Challenges (2/2)

• Whether re-use in education will be classed ascommercial or non commercial as increasinglyeducation providers are required to engage inrevenue generating activities

• CC are perpetual and irrevocable, meaning thatonce you license your material you cannotchange your mind; it is licensed forever

Conclusions

• In a digital world where educational users willincreasingly engage with a culture of cut andpaste, remix, collaboration and instantInternet access, open content licensing willprovide a vitally important facility for sharingand reshaping knowledge in the name ofculture, education and innovation

Third Floor

Policies & Copyrightsfor e-Learning

Next stop: 4th Floor – Introduction to Metadata

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