Harvard’s Terry Fisher and Bill McGeveran (supported by EFF’s Derek Slater and the Berkman Center at Harvard) have just published a fantastic white-paper on the ways that copyright can present barriers to educators, called “The Digital Learning Challenge: Obstacles to Educational Uses of Copyrighted Material.” The paper provides an exhaustive, lay-person-friendly guide to the minefield of copyright in the classroom, as well as good, realpolitik solutions to the problems:
Drawing on […] case studies, other research, and comments made by a cross-section
of scholars, lawyers, librarians, and educators who participated in two day-long
workshops organized as part of the project, the following emerged as the most
significant copyright-related obstacles to educational uses of copyrighted material:* Unclear or inadequate copyright law relating to crucial provisions such as fair use
and educational use;* Extensive adoption of “digital rights management” technology to lock up content;
* Practical difficulties obtaining rights to use content when licenses are necessary;
* Undue caution by gatekeepers such as publishers or educational administrators.
(via A Copyfighter’s Musings)