Re: definition of "asynchronous" on-line course delivery

On Apr 25, 2000, Lori K. Harris-Ransom <harrisransom[_at_]email.msn.com> wrote:
>
> An expert I am not on the subject of copyright issues relating to
> higher education, but I was asked, and did give a recent presentation
> on the subject. (As I am sure many of you can relate, as the only
> business law professor on staff, I am expected to know all points
> legal :-)).
>
> Anyway, an interesting discussion came about at my presentation and
> I'd like to throw it out to the forum.
>
> As many of you are aware, perhaps the most definitive, albeit not
> exhaustive, guidance for on-line course development can be found in
> the Copyright Offices Guidelines. However, these guidelines as they
> relate to distance education specifically do not apply to asynchronous
> course delivery on-line, only to real time delivery. Soooooo, the
> following question is one that we lawyers just love: What is the
> definition of "real time" course delivery? Could it be defined as a
> semester long course as a reasonable interpretation?

Hello, Lori!

I'll take a stab at your question and throw out my opinion for what its worth. To me, anything "real time" specifically implies that the course sessions are live and interactive akin to what takes place in an internet or AOL type of chat room such that students who are enrolled actively participate and can interject comments amongst each other and back and forth with the instructor during the actual real time session.

The opposite model for distance education would be akin to what existed in the pre-information age as "correspondence school" courses where materials were sent out from the school to the students by mail, students would complete assignments and then return their written assignments for grading. Certainly, this type of education still exists, although with current information technology, assignments can be distributed and examinations taken by students using a limited access internet structure. However, I do not qualify this latter example as "real time", but define it as asynchronous because there is no immediate and direct interaction between the instructor and the students.

I hope that provides some insight. I'll be anxious to see what other contributors have to add.

Robert S. Gurwin
Attorney At Law
Chicago, Illinois
<bob[_at_]gurwin.net> Received on Thu Apr 27 2000 - 16:49:41 GMT