By Terri Macdonald. The Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) report entitled Copyright and the Digital Economy was tabled in the Parliament of Australia on 13 February.  Copies of the full report and a summary can be downloaded from ALRC website. The report makes a number of important policy recommendations about the way copyright law works in Australia. The most important recommendation is to introduce a general fair use exceptions regime to replace our existing specific purpose fair dealing exceptions. The ALRC is also recommending changes to statutory licences that apply to educational institutions. More...

From 17 to 21 February the UNESCO will hold its flagship Mobile Learning Week, which focuses on how mobile phones can improve access to education material in the poorest areas of the globe. This year, the emphasis will be put on teachers as the pillars of our education systems and key actors in the digital revolution to promote inclusive and better learning everywhere. Several key challenges and opportunities will be discussed, such as ensuring equity of devices, online safety, limited mobile-friendly content and the need for teacher training. As UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova puts it “On its own, technology is not enough. Empowerment comes from skills and opportunities to use them. It comes from quality content that is inclusive, that draws on local languages and knowledge systems”. See also EUCIS-LLL position paper on Opening Up Education.

By Bardiac. As most semesters approach, I get several emailed questions asking (politely) if I'm okay with students using e texts in my classes.  This is especially common with Shakespeare.
I hate them using etexts for Shakespeare.
First, they want to use the totally free etexts, which seem based on 19th century editions (they're free because they're long out of copyright).  But they don't really get any information about the 19th century editions, which often come with no glossing, no line numbers, and editing choices that made sense in the 19th century, but which are very different from the choices editors make now.
So there's always that delay of a few seconds while the etext folks try to figure out where we are based on asking someone to read them a line. More...