Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Math Website Evaluation
I tried several times using programs from the virtual manipulatives archive in the classroom.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Plagiarize This
I first studied copyright law in an undergraduate course on law and economics. Economically speaking, copyright law should encourage a balance between the socially optimal levels of innovation, versus the availability of intellectual/artistic material to the public. Copyright law encourages innovation by ensuring that author's receive due credit for their work, financially or otherwise. Overly restrictive copyright law, however, would inhibit innovation by stifling the spread of information.
When considering how copyright law applies to the field of education, special attention must be given to the proliferation of educational material for students. This is why the "fair use" doctrine is so important. As it applies to the classroom, the fair use doctrine allows copyrighted material to be shared to a group in such a manner that would otherwise be illegal. In the long term this is essential to promoting innovation because a more educated society is all the more capable of coming up with new insights that lead to the exponential growth in human knowledge.
Financially, copyright protection grants an author monopolistic power over his or her work, much like patents do. As such, the author can reap profits from his work that would not otherwise be possible. Sometimes this power can go to far, as currently occurs in the educational textbook industry. A few large companies dominate the educational publishing business and use their market power to gauge excess profits from students. This power gives rise to some of the shady practices in the industry, such as coming out with a new edition that is only a few words different from the previous one, just so old copies will have to be retired and students will have to purchase them new. I would like to see educators and students fight this specific practice by demanding more compatibility between textbook issues, so that an old edition could be functional with copied updates to keep up with new editions. Especially in subjects where current updates are not very essential (i.e. level I Calculus is not going to change very much in the next few years) it is a wasteful practice to constantly come out with new editions. Wherever such inefficiencies occur, copyright law should adapt to accommodate for the greatest net benefit to society.
When considering how copyright law applies to the field of education, special attention must be given to the proliferation of educational material for students. This is why the "fair use" doctrine is so important. As it applies to the classroom, the fair use doctrine allows copyrighted material to be shared to a group in such a manner that would otherwise be illegal. In the long term this is essential to promoting innovation because a more educated society is all the more capable of coming up with new insights that lead to the exponential growth in human knowledge.
Financially, copyright protection grants an author monopolistic power over his or her work, much like patents do. As such, the author can reap profits from his work that would not otherwise be possible. Sometimes this power can go to far, as currently occurs in the educational textbook industry. A few large companies dominate the educational publishing business and use their market power to gauge excess profits from students. This power gives rise to some of the shady practices in the industry, such as coming out with a new edition that is only a few words different from the previous one, just so old copies will have to be retired and students will have to purchase them new. I would like to see educators and students fight this specific practice by demanding more compatibility between textbook issues, so that an old edition could be functional with copied updates to keep up with new editions. Especially in subjects where current updates are not very essential (i.e. level I Calculus is not going to change very much in the next few years) it is a wasteful practice to constantly come out with new editions. Wherever such inefficiencies occur, copyright law should adapt to accommodate for the greatest net benefit to society.
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