Coursepack on a CD for distance education
- August 24, 2004 @ 8:23amthorburn says:This question was asked by a coordinator of distance education:
"One of our faculty is wrestling with a problem that some of our online students have downloading documents from either our course sites or the library sites. Since some of these files get to be fairly large and it would take the students hours to download using a dial-up modem, he would like to put the information on a CD and send it to them rather like a course pack. I cautioned him about possible copyright infringement issues and he asked if it might be possible to send the files on a CD for loan only. See his suggestion below:"
" What about sending the CD to the students as a loan from us? They would have to send the CD back at the end of the course in December. They would treat the CD the same way that they would if it was a loan from the library. Here is what an
accompanying text might look like:
Dear students:Â Please find enclosed a CD that contains the
references for this on-line course. The material it contains is
copyrighted and may not be reproduced, such as making a copy of the whole CD.Â
We are sending you the CD because in the past many students had problems downloading the references directly from the Web, mostly due to low transmission speed and large file sizes. At the end of the course, we will ask you to return the CD back to us, as you would for a book from the library. Thus you may want to keep the envelope for return at that time."Â
What do you think of this scenario. Your advice would be much appreciated."
Sara Blaszczak
Resident Librarian, University of Illinois at Chicago - September 1, 2004 @ 1:44pmCarrie says:Sounds like an excellent plan. The preparatory remarks that will be included with the loaned CD are great.
Score one for the instructor!
:) - September 1, 2004 @ 2:21pmthorburn says:Carrie,
Can you help me explain the difference between a coursepack on paper or on CD? The instructor is willing to obtain permissions for whatever number of copies to make for the students in her class, and charge students a reasonable cost for the CD. The only difference as far as I can tell is that she copies the articles once to CD, and the student prints them once, so two copies are made. Is that why the loan arrangement is necessary?
Sara - September 3, 2004 @ 11:42amCarrie says:[quote]Carrie,
Can you help me explain the difference between a coursepack on paper or on CD? The instructor is willing to obtain permissions for whatever number of copies to make for the students in her class, and charge students a reasonable cost for the CD. The only difference as far as I can tell is that she copies the articles once to CD, and the student prints them once, so two copies are made. Is that why the loan arrangement is necessary?
Sara[/quote]
Upon re-reading your earlier post, I jumped the gun with my "great idea" response.
Now I re-read and see we are talking about a coursepack. Sorry.
I don't think there is a difference between a coursepack on paper or a coursepack on CD. The students could be mailed the course packs in paper format - apparently they are paying for the copyright permission fees - just like they would with a CD.
If they are paying for the content, they can keep the CD if they want. They may or may not make paper copies from the files in the CD and these would be personal copies for educational purposes (fair use copies), probably generated just because it is easier to read.
I think a nice copyright notice on the CD is still a good idea. I like the explanatory paragraph too about why they are receiving the material in the CD format.
Not legal opinion, of course just trying to think this thru - the students are paying for materials required for the course. So they own those lawfully acquired copies. So they don't have to give them back. But they shouldn't make copies for other people because other people did not pay for the copies. Right? - September 7, 2004 @ 8:47amthorburn says:Carrie, thanks for clarifying the issues so well!
Regards,
Sara Blaszczak
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