New research on student course-resource attitudes

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Ever wonder what types of course resources students are using? How they obtain them? How they feel about copyright or open education resources?

A six-country research project that surveyed over 1,000 students and conducted focus groups at prominent universities has shed some insight on the subject.

What was found was that students used a combination of print and digital resources and accessed both through legal and other channels. There were also strong hints that piracy is widespread and rationalized due to the high cost of textbooks and that the primary focus of students is on getting ahead at school. Finally, when considering using content in an education context, concepts such as copyright, plagiarism and piracy aren’t as clear-cut for student as it may be for others.