Test comment - please note process for accepting and then delete.

Ter

- Terry Anderson

I made it through most of my undergrad classes by photocopying other students' textbooks and coursepacks, and through two recent summer classes by just reading them on Google Books. In the first case, I couldn't afford books AND tuition AND rent AND food, so I prioritized; in the second, I just didn't like the classes or want the texts badly enough to pay for them. It seems like a limiting battle to pick, policing a student's morals over copyright, when so many students are making the choice to buy, borrow, or steal a book within economic constraints that don't make it much of a choice at all. Couldn't the instructor's energy be directed towards the inaccessible education system putting the student in that position in the first place, helping to make future theft less likely?

Could be rather complex for instructors to police copyright as "fair use" could be interpreted differently in different countries. After all, not all AU students are studying in Canada. Personally, I like the idea of a movement to more open material so we focus on the material and the question of policing becomes mute.

Most university libraries keep a copy of required textbooks on reserve, and some schools have specialized loan programs operating in conjunction with the campus bookstore to give access to books for students who can demonstrate financial need. A scenario like you suggest? I'd recommend that the instructor make a referral to the student financial aid office, or the student association, or both. It's more meaningful for the professor to try to help a student in that situation than to reach for broader goals of 'changing the system' that might have limited impact to the 'here and now' situation. And it might also help to open doors to bursary programs and assistance that the student might not have known about.

Way to use the internet to help people solve presboml!
- Johnette