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Infobits is a service that we have been proud to share with the academic community since 1993.

Carolyn Kotlas, Editor
TL Infobits
email: kotlas@email.unc.edu

CLEARING UP COPYRIGHT CONFUSION

"The fundamental goals of media literacy education--to cultivate critical thinking about media and its role in culture and society and to strengthen creative communication skills--are compromised by unnecessary copyright restrictions and lack of understanding about copyright law, as interviews with dozens of teachers and makers of media literacy curriculum materials showed. . . . [As a result,] teachers use less effective teaching techniques, teach and transmit erroneous copyright information, fail to share innovative instructional approaches, and do not take advantage of new digital platforms."

In "The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy," the report's investigators argue that, much as documentary film makers have done, "media literacy educators from K-12 to university level can articulate their own shared understandings of appropriate fair use in a code of practice." Such a code could provide guidance for educators and clear up misconceptions that hinder the legitimate use of copyrighted works.

The report, published in September 2007 by the American University Center for Social Media, in partnership with the Washington College of Law's Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and the Media Education Lab of Temple University, is available at http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/Final_CSM_copyright_report.pdf.

STATISTICS ON THE STATE OF EDUCATION, U.S. AND WORLDWIDE

The Sloan Consortium's "Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning," a report on the state of online learning in U.S. higher education, is "aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education." These questions include:

-- How many students are learning online?

-- Where has the growth in online learning occurred?

-- What are the prospects for future online enrollment growth?

-- What are the barriers to widespread adoption of online education?

The report, and previous years' editions, can be downloaded at no cost at http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/index.asp.

The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is a consortium of institutions and organizations committed "to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines." Sloan-C is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. For more information, see http://www.sloan-c.org/.

Each year, since 2001, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) publishes the "Education at a Glance" report, an "annual round-up of data and analysis on education, providing a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators on education systems in the OECD's 30 member countries and in a number of partner economies." Main areas covered in the reports are:

-- participation and achievement in education

-- public and private spending on education

-- the state of lifelong learning

-- conditions for pupils and teachers

The current and all past "Education at a Glance" reports are available online at no charge at http://www.oecd.org/document/30/0,3343,en_2649_39263294_39251550_1_1_1_1,00.html.

The OECD's mission is "to help its member countries to achieve sustainable economic growth and employment and to raise the standard of living in member countries while maintaining financial stability -- all this in order to contribute to the development of the world economy." As one of the world's largest publishers in the fields of economics and public policy, OECD monitors, analyzes, and forecasts economic developments and social changes in trade, environment, agriculture, technology, and taxation. For more information contact: OECD, 2 rue Andre Pascal, F-75775, Paris Cedex 16 France; tel: +33 1.45.24.82.00; fax: +33 1.45.24.85.00; email: webmaster@oecd.org; Web: http://www.oecd.org/.

EDUCAUSE LIVE! SEMINARS

EDUCAUSE Live! is a "series of free, hour-long interactive Web seminars on critical information technology topics in higher education. Each seminar is delivered live using online audio and video/image presentation technology, allowing you to interact directly with the host and guests through your Web browser." Past seminars are archived and available for online viewing. Past seminars on information technology topics include:

"Cyberinfrastructure: A Campus Perspective on What It Is and Why You Should Care"

"IT Governance: Establishing Who Decides"

"Top-Ten Challenges of the Academic Technology Community"

"Developing and Implementing Successful Intellectual Property Policies for Online Courses"

"The Information Commons and the Future of Innovation, Scholarship, and Creativity"

You can access forthcoming and past seminars at http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?SECTION_ID=34&bhcp=1.

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. The current membership comprises more than 1,900 colleges, universities, and educational organizations, including 200 corporations, with 15,000 active members. EDUCAUSE has offices in Boulder, CO, and Washington, DC. Learn more about EDUCAUSE at http://www.educause.edu/.

HALLOWEEN LINKS: GRAVESTONE STUDIES

This year our annual Halloween article provides links to two gravestone studies websites:

Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS)
http://www.gravestonestudies.org/

The AGS "was founded in 1977 for the purpose of furthering the study and preservation of gravestones. AGS is an international organization with an interest in gravemarkers of all periods and styles."

The Farber Gravestone Collection
http://www.davidrumsey.com/farber/index.html

"The Farber Gravestone Collection is an unusual resource containing over 13,500 images documenting the sculpture on more than 9,000 gravestones, most of which were made prior to 1800, in the Northeastern part of the United States. The late Daniel Farber of Worcester, Massachusetts, and his wife, Jessie Lie Farber, were responsible for the largest portion of the collection. This online version of the Farber Gravestone Collection is sponsored by the American Antiquarian Society."

Information Technology Services at UNC-Chapel Hill

Teaching and Learning

TL Infobits - October, 2007

EDITOR'S NOTE: PERMISSION TO USE INFOBITS

CLEARING UP COPYRIGHT CONFUSION

STATISTICS ON THE STATE OF EDUCATION, U.S. AND WORLDWIDE

EDUCAUSE LIVE! SEMINARS

HALLOWEEN LINKS: GRAVESTONE STUDIES

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