Student Responsibilities

This course requires between 8 to 12 hours per week in class-related work.  This is a serious commitment - but it will be rewarding. It is a peer to peer learning experience. You won't learn anything if you don't share your understandings with others.  The class will be divided into groups of several students each; you will collaborate with these students throughout the course. There are two primary responsibilities in this course:
 
(1) Weekly Readings and Discussion Questions.  Each week, students should complete the assigned readings, and discuss the relevant discussion questions with the other students in their group and with the course facilitators in Office Hours.  You are not required to submit written answers to the discussion questions, but participating in a discussion of these topics will increase your understanding of the materials, and should also be a fun way to interact with your classmates!

(2) Bi-Weekly Case Scenarios.  Every two weeks, each group will be responsible for submitting a group response to a Case Scenario (for a total of three case scenarios).  The assigned readings and other resources will assist you in responding to the Case Scenario questions.  The Group answer should demonstrate your understanding of the assigned reading material and should include original thoughts and synthesis.  Do not just summarize readings.  Making connections between the week's readings and either previous readings or previous discussions is strongly encouraged.   

(a) Submitting group responses.  You will submit your group responses to the Case Scenarios via the official p2pu forum for the course, available here: http://p2pu.org/node/5642/forums.  Because this is a peer-to-peer learning experience, all participants will be expected to share your responses to the three Case Scenarios with the whole class on this forum.  You will retain copyright to your answers and can re-use them how you want.  (The course organizers would like to use student contributions for future courses and other educational uses, so we request that you license them under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.)

(b) Grading. Case Scenarios will be graded on a Pass/Fail basis according to (1) the degree to which they completely answer the questions asked, (2) the degree to which they demonstrate understanding of the assigned reading material through proposing practical solutions, and (3) the degree to which original thinking is evident in the writing.

(c) Commenting on other groups' responses.  Although it is not strictly required, we strongly encourage you to log on to the Forums and check out the other groups' responses to the Case Scenarios, and use the discussion thread to add any comments you may have on the other groups' work.  Be constructive!

Office Hours & Facilitator Contact Information

Each week, one of the course facilitators will hold "Office Hours" in an open chat room, and will be avaiable to answer questions about readings, discussion questions, and any other class-related matters.  Office Hours will be announced on the weekly course pages (linked below or under Course Materials) and e-mailed to the group.

If you have substantive questions about the course materials or discussion questions, please use the Forums or Office Hours.  The facilitators will be periodically reviewing the forums, but you may also find that your classmates may be able to assist you, and the Q&A will be available for other students to see as well.  If you have an urgent question, please send an e-mail to c4e.usa@gmail.com with "Response requested" in the subject line.

Schedule

Each "Week" begins on a Wednesday and ends the following Tuesday.  Case Scenarios are due (posted in the Forum) by 11:59PM every other Tuesday (individual deadlines listed below).  The first two Case Scenarios will be posted when the course begins, and the final Case Scenario will be posted approximately halfway through the course.

Week 1 (Sept. 15 - Sept. 21) - Copyright Law and the Public Domain

Week 2 (Sept. 22 - Sept. 28) - Copyright Owners, Exclusive Rights, and Infringement

    Case Scenario #1 - Due Sept. 28

Week 3 (Sept. 29 - Oct. 5) - Limitations to Copyright: Fair Use

Week 4 (Oct. 6 - Oct. 12) - Limitations to Copyright: The TEACH Act, the First Sale Doctrine and Library/Archive exceptions

    Case Scenario #2 - Due Oct. 12

Week 5 (Oct. 13 - Oct. 19) - Other Roadblocks to Use of Copyrighted Content

Week 6 (Oct. 20 - Oct. 26) - TBA

    Case Scenario #3 - Due Oct. 29