Supplementary Scenario - Learning Management Systems and Copyright


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HOST
Welcome to this podcast exploring Canadian copyright law and User Rights. 
In this podcast we will take you through a fictional scenario that illustrates how copyright and Creative Commons licensing influence K-12 educators in their use of educational resources in their teaching. 
Please note that the scenario in the podcast is best understood if listeners know  the definitions of Canadian copyright and Fair Dealing.  
We spoke with Jim Swanson, a Calgary lawyer who specializes in Intellectual Property and copyright law to address the issues highlighted in this scenario.
Note also that although the following material covers Canadian copyright law, it is not to be taken as legal advice. Copyright law is constantly evolving and Jim’s remarks may not be applicable in all cases.
Our scenario takes place in a high school. A Science 10 teacher  is currently using a publisher’s textbook that is provided by her school but would like to provide some extra support for her students, because for some of them English is not their first language. The teacher goes online and searches, “Science 10 Alberta” She finds a resource that is created by the publisher and called  “Learning Resources for Students with Disabilities: Science 10.” She wants to share this resource with her students. 
We asked Jim if she can add it to her Moodle Learning Management System, which is only open to her students and their parents or to an open blog? 


JIM SWANSON
I don’t really have enough information to fully comment, but I have to assume the textbook itself is protected by copyright. From the title of the online resources, it says learning resources for students with disabilities, it sounds like the resources i made available for the purposes of use by students with disabilities, but not the general student population. So it sounds like it’s a substitute for the entire textbook but it’s made available only for persons with disabilities. It’s therefore unlikely that the teacher could rely on Fair Dealing to essentially provide the entire book to someone who does not have a disability. And I tend to doubt that limited understanding of English is going to be considered a disability. So there’s likely a license associated with this online resource, so the teacher would want to read that license and ensure that her use of the resource is permitted by the license. The key to any license, and license is just permission to do something that otherwise you could be sued for, the key to that is you have to fit within whatever’s granted in it. Because you have to assume whatever is not permitted in the license is prohibited, unless you consider it under Fair Dealing. The fact that the LMS may only be open to students and parents is  actually a bit of a red herring. If you’re making copies or performing or displaying a work that is subject to copyright to groups of people, even if it’s a limited group that’s still likely to be “display” or “communication to the public” (because these are members of the public even though it’s maybe not a large group- it’s not your immediate family so it’s probably the public) and that would mean it’s infringement of copyright. Unless you have permission.


HOST
This scenario highlighted the importance of understanding the distinctions between copyright and Fair Dealing, and between private and public use.
We hope you have enjoyed listening to this podcast and will take some time to explore other podcasts in this series, including additional scenarios featuring K-12 teachers and how their creation and use of educational resources may be influenced by Canadian Copyright Law.
Special thanks  to Jim Swanson for being a part of this podcast series.   
This resource was funded by the Alberta Open Educational Resources Initiative, which is made possible through an investment from the Alberta government.
In keeping with principals of Open Education, this podcast is available under an open license, CC-by-SA.
The music "AM-Trans" and "Cash Rules" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, Share-alike 4.0 International license.


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