Copyright Assignment

Looking through each of the copyright links made me realize how little I knew about using, publishing and sharing material. It is important for teachers to understand how they can appropriately and legally use resources in the classroom.

I liked the Fair Use chart on the Fair Use and Guidelines page. This chart helped to break down how to apply Fair Use to different types of materials. I think that educators need to be more careful about reproducing and sharing materials that are used in the classroom. One important guideline mentioned on this page was to aim to use only the necessary amount of information as possible.

Another important issue addressed on the Fair Use and Guidelines page was the place of ethics in regards to copyright infringement. Teachers need to realize that using the defense of “It is for educational purposes” is not a blanketed right to use and reproduce copyrighted materials. If we are going to hold our students accountable for citing sources and not plagiarizing, then we as teachers must learn how to monitor our own practices. I found the Fair Use and Teachers section extremely informative. I think that teachers need to be better informed about how to protect themselves from violating copyright laws. Perhaps this would be a great topic for a Professional Development day.

One interesting point discussed on the Keeping it Legal page was the issue of the boy using a surf picture in his class project. Though it would fall under Fair Use for him to use this picture in his report, it became a new issue when the teacher decided to publish the report on the web. Jamie McKenzie brings up the important issue about how to manage and protect information being viewed on web pages. I think that he offers very practical advice at the end of the article when he advises teachers to request permission to use resources. McKenzie also brings up the importance of teaching our students to respect the work of others. This issue receives a great deal of attention when it comes to sharing music files over the Internet. We must teach our students to honor the rights of individuals.

The Stanford page provided a great deal of information about copyright issues. I found the section on reproducing text materials particularly important. Also, I had no idea about the rules for the reproduction of music.

I took the Shakedown Cruise at Copyright Bay and found the quiz to be very thought provoking. I had to really think about my answers and there were several questions where I found myself opting for the safest choice rather then the correct answer. As a teacher, I need to be familiar with fair use and copyright laws so that I can help my students learn how to use information found on the Internet safely.