In the first part, identify five principles related to copyright and Fair Use that you find particularly important for the ways in which you see using copyrighted materials in your teaching.
As a Social Studies teacher that will assign projects that require research and multimedia, the 5 principles that stood out to me were:
- Giving the author credit does not let you off the hook.
- Using less than a certain number of words from an author's work does not automatically constitute fair use
- Fair Use materials can be used, but is dependent on the purpose one is putting them to (i.e. whether they are utilized for commercial or educational, non-profit purposes)
- Anyone who exploits any of the exclusive rights of copyright without the copyright owner's permission commits copyright infringement
- Non-commercial use is often fair use.
In high school I was not taught much about copyright protection until my 12th grade government class. As far as my future students are concerned, I think that education is key. Teaching the basics of copyright law at the same time students are learning how to conduct research and utilize multimedia properly is critical. When I have them create projects, I need to have them provide a list of sources and check their origin. I'm not sure how I would handle a situation where a student infringed on a copyright. What do you think?
Copyright Issues
ReplyDeleteCopyright issues are important to discuss with students across disciplines. While people may assume subjects such as social studies and English are the only subjects that these issues may apply to, there are many instances across all disciplines in which copyrights can cause problems. There needs to be a meeting set up with the students and their parents to discuss the use of copyrighted materials being given to the students and created or used by the students. The students must recognize that they must give credit and get permission for copyrighted material. I think the discussion can also make the students feel special because they can feel real ownership of their work.
Social studies is a subject in which a lot of the information used for discussions are primary documents or other artifacts. There needs to be a good understanding of what it is okay to be copied or borrowed from and the process of getting permission from copyrighted material. By having ownership of their own work, they will understand the importance of ownership and getting permission from the author or artist.
Posted by Laura :) at 6:46 PM 0 comments