>
> Several years ago, less than 10, many of the schools in our district used
> the old Electronic Bookshelf computer program. EB was the original
> teacher-made comprehension program that existed before anyone heard of AR.
> One school in the district had many quizzes that were created by the LMS,
> parent volunteers and other media specialists who took the district offered
> EB inservice. Tests were on floppy disks that were duplicated and shared
> with any other school that bought the program. School district lawyers got
> involved when EB asked us to stop sharing. They were concerned that
> purchased tests were mixed with school made tests. Bottom line was we were
> no longer allowed to share.
>
> My take is that AR has the rights to all tests made with their program.
> Without their software we could not create the tests. Their software is
> different from "creativity" software such as Kid Pix or Powerpoint.
>
>
In AR, each test has a number, and there are specific numbers set aside for
teacher-made tests so they could not get mixed with purchased tests. If the
program allows teacher-made tests for each teacher to make, but forbids
sharing, that would reinforce my thought that it is profit driven motivation
rather than any of the other things that they are claiming. (Not to imply
that profit is bad, since without the motive of profit, Renaissance Learning
would never have made the program at all.) Most of us do not have the time
or staff to make numerous tests and might have to purchase them, where if we
could share, that would significantly increase the number of tests we could
enter on our own.
Your second point gives me pause however. Certainly we could make tests, as
we have done for years, before anyone thought of AR or EB or any of the
others, but using their system is a different matter. After thinking about
the use of their system, I think Carole Simpson had the logic right. She
pointed out that if using their system gave them ownership of the tests,
then Microsoft could claim to own this message since I used their software
to write it.
I guess my thoughts at this point would be that Renaissance Learning has a
right to restrict sharing as part of the license agreement, but that they
cannot claim copyright as the reason behind that policy.
--
Gail Smith, Librarian and Technology Coordinator
Edison Regional Gifted Center, Chicago
gsmith@edison.cps.k12.il.us
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