An Online, Interactive Approach to Copyright and Intellectual Property Law Education EDUCAUSE Midwest, March 2007, Chicago Christine Greenhow, Ed.D. J.D. Walker, Ph.D. Daniel Donnelly, B.A. Bradley A. Cohen, Ph.D. Digital Media Center and University Libraries, University of Minnesota

Copyright [Greenhow,C., Walker, J.D., Donnelly, D. & Cohen, B.A.] [2007]. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.

Agenda Fair Use basics Need for copyright education in academic settings The copyright website and Fair Use Analysis (FUA) tool Research project and findings Next steps

Fair Use Basics  Copyright law Section 107 explicitly provides for “fair use” of copyrighted work  Fair use enables us under certain conditions to make free use of copyrighted works without permission

Fair Use Basics In determining whether a particular use is fair, four factors must be considered:  purpose and character of use;  nature of original work;  amount and substantiality;  market effect.

Why is copyright education important in academia now?  DMCA and TEACH mandates  Institutional risk and compliance  Technology rich learning environments  Confusion and ignorance cost liberty and $

CIE Web Site – FUA Tool

 Copyright Information and Education (CIE) site:  Fair Use Analysis tool: CIE Web Site – FUA Tool

Questions about Fair Use or the tool?

Does it work? Evaluating the FUA tool Research Questions:  Does using the FUA tool encourage participants to reach accurate conclusions about the legality of the educational use of various materials?  Does using the FUA tool improve participants' thinking about the issue of fair use?

Methodology Quasi-experimental design Purposeful Sample Selection  59 graduate students (e.g., TA’s or instructional designers) Data collection: complex scenarios  1 scenario w/o FUA; 1 scenario w/ FUA

Methodology Quasi-experimental design Data analysis: Scoring Rubric  understanding of 4 factors  quality of reasoning  accuracy of conclusions  confidence

Findings and Discussion Use of the FUA tool positively affected: understanding of the four factors quality of reasoning about fair use …but had no effect on: accuracy of fair use conclusions confidence levels

Findings: Understanding Understanding of the four factors was: measured on a 0-3 rubric-based scale conceived as grasp of the factors plus application to case

Findings: Understanding Understanding of the four factors: improved when FUA tool was used (effect sizes > 1 SD) was weakest of nature of the work was strongest of purpose of the work

Findings: Reasoning Reasoning with the four factors was: measured on a 1-3 rubric-based scale conceived as thoroughness and plausibility of arguments for the fair use conclusion

Findings: Reasoning Reasoning with the four factors: improved when FUA tool was used (effect size > 0.5 SD) …but was overall weak in absolute terms (possibly due to lack of effort)

Findings: Accuracy Use of the FUA tool did not improve accuracy of fair use conclusions Why? Perhaps cases were too easy. The vast majority reached correct conclusions.

Findings: Confidence Use of the FUA tool did not increase participants’ confidence about their decisions Why? Perhaps increased awareness of difficulty of topic.

Findings: Qualitative Data Sources: student responses to scenarios and focus group Themes: dominance of purpose factor confusion about balancing tendency to get lost in the details of particular cases

Conclusions An interactive, online approach to fair use/copyright instruction can work …but these issues are much more difficult than you might think

Next Steps Replicate findings in an authentic context Replicate findings with faculty members Address dominance of purpose factor Partner with other institutions for inter-institutional research

Questions?

Thank You! Christine Greenhow, J.D. Walker, Daniel Donnelly, Bradley A. Cohen, See our forthcoming article on copyright education: Greenhow, C., Walker, J.D., Donnelly, D., & Cohen, B.A. (In press). Fair use in the digital age: Using online tools to teach decision-making about fair use and copyright in higher education. To appear in Innovate