Week 5 Copright and Fair Use

Week five is already upon us and I am back with this week's new topic: Copyright and Fair Use.

                Copyright and Fair Use is a huge topic in our current age because of all the media and educational materials that have been streamlined with the use of the world wide web.  Before teachers can effectively teach the ins and outs of this topic, we must understand it ourselves.  First and foremost, we must understand that anything that is created uniquely from an individual immediately is protected by copyright laws.  For instance, if we wanted to use an image from a professional photographer for a class power point lecture, we must ask the author for permission to use this image.  On the other hand, if the author of this image has acquired a creative commons license for this picture then we may be able to use the image with no prior permission.  Understanding the individual permissions is the key to understanding what is completely copyrighted and what is not.  As shown in a video resource made available in my class, creative commons licenses can have specific permissions that will allow some to freely use it and some not at all without permission.  One example of a creative commons permission is to allow or not allow commercial use of the piece of media. 

                Once we as teachers understand the details of copyright we can then effectively teach our students.  Novella Bailey, a middle school teacher in New York City, created an educational video that explained a very effective way to teach students about these topics.  A few major keys that Ms. Bailey brought up were as students begin to develop an understanding of the topic, having them use “I agree” and “I disagree” statements with evidence to defend their choices allowed the students to challenge and extend their knowledge on forms of media that they use on a regular basis.  Many students had no idea that some of the practices they do with media could possibly fall into the copyright realm.  Teaching students how to cite material that they have used from an oustide source is another key in the process.  Summed up, we as teachers must explain what is copyrighted, how much of a certain material can be used under fair use, how much information can be used before proper citations are required, and after students have used creative commons material, how to ethically share their “remixed” content. 

                Downloading music and movies online is a big topic of late and even bigger for our students that have been born into this age of technology.  Some of the ethical issues around music and movie downloading are: is the content allowed to be downloaded for free, if it is purchased can one share it with those who have not purchased it, and if it is purchased can someone remix that material and share it for their own benefit.  These issues obviously play right into the topic of the day and should be addressed at some point if not be the main focus of the copyright lesson.  As Ms. Bailey did in her educational video, she used examples that her students might stumble upon in their own use of media and had them decide what violated copyright and what did not.  Showing examples and cases of what has been accused and charged with copyright infringement would also be beneficial for the students because it gives them some what of a baseline to begin at.

Until next week. #staytuned