Copyright law and distance nursing education.

The authors present essential information regarding the copyright law and online education. This information provides the reader specific aids to assist in designing and implementing distance education courses within the bounds of the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act and fair use guidelines. From their research, the authors, who are distance education experts, offer a wide array of educational and legal data to inform nurse educators.

Using film clips to enhance nursing education.

Film clips in nursing education provide a unique way to promote active learning. Several methods for using film clips and combining them with other teaching strategies are discussed. Suggestions for the use of popular clips, logistical aspects of showing clips in class, and legal issues associated with copyright are addressed. Faculty are encouraged to use this strategy to evoke emotional responses, generate discussion, enhance clinical decision making, and provide vicarious learning.

New visual technologies in court: directions for research.

Litigation is being transformed by new visual communication technologies, including videoconferencing, PowerPoint, and computer animations. Yet the effects of these visual technologies on legal decision making are largely unknown. In order to understand better the most pressing issues surrounding technology in the courtroom, psychologists, lawyers, and representatives from technology companies and funding agencies attended a Research Conference on Courtroom Technology organized by the Federal Judicial Center. The goals of the conference were to identify issues raised by courtroom uses of new technologies that could be illuminated by empirical research and to suggest designs and methods for conducting that research. This paper emerged from that conference. The authors provide an overview of considerations that should guide research in this area, including a framework that takes into account features of the technology, the audience, and the legal strategy of the user of the technology. They outline a paradigm for conducting such research, illustrate it with several possible empirical studies of varying levels of experimental and conceptual complexity, and identify directions for subsequent research.

Assistive technology for postsecondary students with learning disabilities.

An increasing number of students with learning disabilities are attending postsecondary institutions. To meet the educational demands of these students, support service providers will likely rely on assistive technology. This article lists types of assistive technology appropriate for use with persons with learning disabilities at the postsecondary level and discusses ways in which assistive technology enhances learning. Additionally, an overview of legislation that has had an impact on assistive technology at the postsecondary level is presented. Issues involving assistive technology programs at the postsecondary level are discussed. Postsecondary assistive technology program components, device selection, and training guidelines also are outlined.

A federal perspective on special education technology.

This article examines more than a decade of changes in special education research and in the use of technology. It discusses evolving research and projects funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and raises questions about the use of specific methodologies and about whether children with disabilities are being prepared for the world in which they will live. And, finally, it describes OSEP's Technology, Educational Media, and Materials strategic program agenda that will drive future planning and priorities.

Legal and ethical aspects of proprietary rights to federally funded media programs.

This article attempts to place in proper perspective the legal and ethical aspects of proprietary rights as they apply to federally funded media programs. Brief reference is made to the recently enacted revision of the Copyright Law, Title 17 of the U.S. Code. Distinction is made between the common law and statutary copyright protection afforded to the creator of an original work. The 'Fair Use' doctrine and the 'Rights in Data' clauses of the general provisions of the Federal Procurement Regulations are discussed in detail; so is the use of Talent Consent and Waivers and Easements of Copyright.