UB Buzz

Colleges Face Strict New File-sharing Rules

Today (July 1) is the day that colleges and universities that receive Title IV funding were to have implemented file-sharing rules under the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008.

Among other things, according to CNET, the schools are required to:

• Provide students a description of copyright law and campus policies with regards to violations of copyright law. 
• Combat copyright violations on campus networks using technology-based deterrents.
  
• Offer alternatives to illegal downloading.

Recording Industry Association of America President Cary Sherman noted that although many schools have taken it upon themselves to monitor file-sharing activity, the new law—with the threat of loss of funding—carries extra weight.

"It's the first time ever in the history of dealing with the issue that Congress is holding schools accountable and requiring them to address the problem," he said. "Here you have Congress saying 'Get off the sidelines and deal with the problem.' It's an important signal." 

Online Learning Continues to Grow

Since we're in the middle of National Distance Learning Week, it is fitting that a new report by the Sloan Consortium says that online enrollment rose by more than twelve percent from a year earlier. More than 2,500 colleges and universities nationwide participated in the 2008 Sloan Survey of Online Learning. The report finds approximately 3.94 million students were enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2007, the most recent term for which figures are available.
Increased fuel costs, unemployment, and the downturn in the economy are expected to increase online student enrollment further over the next year, says study co-author Elaine Allen, Research Director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College.
The complete survey report, "Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008" is available as a PDF download here.