Archive for December 23rd, 2010

Supreme Court Grants Leave to Hear Song Previews as Fair Dealing Case

Fair dealing is heading back to the Supreme Court of Canada.  This morning, the court granted leave to hear an appeal of SOCAN v. Bell Canada, the case in which the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed that 30 second song previews can constitute fair dealing under the Copyright Act since […]

Read more ›

December 23, 2010 10 comments News

Canadian Education Faces Technology Tipping Point

Canadian universities and colleges have undergone a remarkable technological transformation over the past decade.  Ten years ago laptops were relatively rare in classrooms, yet today virtually every student comes to buildings outfitted with electric outlets and Internet connectivity at each seat equipped with one.  Course websites were once little more than places to post a syllabus and a list of readings, but today they feature podcasts, webcasts, the actual course readings, and space for ongoing discussion and debate.

While technology has become a core part of the educational process, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes it has often been treated as a complement – rather than a replacement – for traditional educational materials.  Libraries still spend hundreds of millions of dollars on physical books and journals, some professors still generate paper-based coursepacks, and the schools themselves still pay millions of dollars in copying licensing fees.

The two-track approach may have made initial sense, but the costs of maintaining both are increasingly forcing universities to consider whether technology can replace conventional approaches. The tipping point toward using technology as a replacement may have come this year when Access Copyright, the copyright collective that licenses copying on Canadian campuses, demanded a significant increase in the fees associated with photocopying articles and producing printed coursepacks.

Read more ›

December 23, 2010 11 comments Columns

Canadian Education Faces Technology Tipping Point

Appeared in the Toronto Star on December 19, 2010 as Canadian Education Faces Technology Tipping Point   Canadian universities and colleges have undergone a remarkable technological transformation over the past decade.  Ten years ago laptops were relatively rare in classrooms, yet today virtually every student comes to buildings outfitted with […]

Read more ›

December 23, 2010 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive