Greetings from a tired language teacher,
Three weeks of class left this semester and I think it is safe to say students and teachers alike are a bit exhausted. But this week, like every other in the life of an educator, resulted in great learning for all of us. This weeks' lessons were many but I think highlighting what I learned about Fair Use is most beneficial to those of you who dedicate yourself to teaching.
In general there is a belief among educators that we can use just about anything for the purposes of teaching and we won't get in trouble. In this digital age there is a plethora of delightful images that we cut and paste without thought spicing up our lesson plans, activities, and handouts. However, what I learned is that under Fair Use there are four criteria that would be considered in a legal setting if sued for violating unauthorized use of an image or video. That's right, we could be sued.
In the FLTMAG article Teaching Materials in the Digital Age: Using and Sharing Images and Video Responsibly written by Alison Hicks and Courtney Felt we learn that a court would consider if it was used for profit or not, if the nature of the image was changed from how it was originally intended, the impact usage had on its ability to profit, and how much of the copyrighted work was used (3).
This may not have been overly important when our teaching took place solely face to face and visibility of what we used was limited to our classroom. But times have changed and our presence online expands daily as we post our lessons and activities in learning management systems, we create educational blogs, wikis, and web pages, as well as, videos.
The question I suggest we ask ourselves is: Have I borrowed anything be it an image, video, or activity that I need to cite? If the answer is yes and especially if it is part of our online presence then it would be wise to do so. In doing so we show that we value the creativity of others and we model for our students proper conduct in the digital world.
Well, now that I have reflected on this lesson learned. I think I will go check my previous posts and as the old saying goes "not just talk the talk, but walk the walk".
Happy Thanksgiving
HI Theresa,
ReplyDeleteThanks for summarizing the important points we have learned this week.
"In general there is a belief among educators that we can use just about anything for the purposes of teaching and we won't get in trouble. "
Well, I must admit that I am one of these educators. "I do this for my students, so nothing is wrong." That's what I used to think when I borrow something. After week 7, I need be more copyright conscious and more careful. Digital media make teachers' life easier and more fun, but at the same time, make our life more complicated and more dangerous.
I think you were pretty right on, and I shared the interpretation, that if it is posted on a wiki, an educational blog or a publically shared webspace, that's where we need to be really credulous and particular in ensuring all copyright compliance. I do understand how time consuming teachers jobs already are, so I think, in the classroom for reference, there is not that big of a threat of being sued, though the artist/author should still be cited. Its the online space where it's really important to be conscious, like you've mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post and summaries of readings. The one thing that surprises me is that as educators we are encouraged to implement a wide range of tech in our curriculum: LMS, blogs, web pages, but for me personally the issue of copyright was just brought up in passing and not really emphasized, yet it is an important aspect of using technology that we need to understand and adhere to.
ReplyDelete