mLearning Hub - How eLearning Goes Mobile

Is there a DRM solution for mLearning?

Let us start off with the definition of Digital Rights Management (DRM):

DRM is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices. It may also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices. (Wikipedia)

Translated this means keeping parties from copying, distributing, replicating or otherwise pirating your copyrighted digital content without your consent. Is this possible for mLearning content? Yes and no. There is no perfect solution nor silver bullet, with all methods having disadvantages. In some instances DRM is simply not possible. So what do you do?

Success with protecting your content is directly related to how vigorously you wish to protect your content. Ask yourself, "how valuable is the content I wish to protect?", and then compare that to, "what amount of resources am I willing to dedicate to protecting the content?"

Key Items to Consider with DRM

Is the DRM method hard to implement? What are its technical requirements?
Will the chosen DRM solution make the product hard to use? Will it require my users to obtain special software? Will they have to pay for this software?
Will the chosen DRM solution limit the scope of mobile devices my product will successfully work on?
Will my targeted mobile device demographic require multiple forms of DRM?
More and more users in the mobile realm purposely avoid DRM protected content. Will this negatively effect your customer base?

Building a Wall

With DRM you are basically building a "wall" around your content. The bigger the "wall", the harder it is to get around, however all walls can eventually be bypassed or broken down. DRM is no different. No matter how well protected, someone somewhere will be able to break down your "wall" and gain unfettered access to the content. You just need to determine how difficult you will make it to bypass your "wall". This will in turn determine how much effort to put into building your "wall".