The internet is truly an awe-inspiring place to explore. It always amazes me how easy It is to log on for a very specific answer, yet end up in a completely different place. Or better yet, the internet provides a great resource to continually dig deeper and deeper to find the answers I am looking for. As an educator, there is an ample amount of resources available to learn and the utilize for learning and teaching. The same applies to students as well, especially those who require a quick answer or solution. The only “problem” is that these resources often have a legal contract around them known as a copyright. The question that comes to mind is, what are the impacts of copyright on educators and students?
Copyright grants protection for the original creator and their work from being stolen and/or used without permission (U.S. Copyright Office, n.d.). Copyright also allows the creator the right to reproduce their own work, distribute their work publicly, and display or perform their work publicly. I have heard many stories from students that say they have downloaded copies of music, tv shows, and movies. The general excuse I get from them is that they aren’t doing anything wrong because an app on their phone is allowing them to do this. In our current world, there are plenty of apps that really ride the border of the grey area when it comes to copyrighting material. Just because the app itself isn’t illegal does not mean the way in which it is used isn’t illegal. Students and people in general don’t truly understand this concept. In addition to this, it is extremely easy for a student to simply copy and paste an image from google to use on one of their projects. This is where we must reference a few different categories of copyright, which include, fair use, creative commons, and public domain licensing.
Fair use is a component of the Copyright Act that grants specific scenario’s in which copyrighted materials can be used as a transformative purpose without the copyright owner’s permission (Wistrom, 2015). Fair use has four factors that really open the opportunities for use in education. In Stim’s article (2013), he describes the four factors as:
The purpose and character of your use
The nature of the copyrighted work
The amount and substantiality of the portion taken
The effect of the use upon the potential market
One example would be that my students take a video clip and edit in their own sound effects, they are transforming the original video that was found on YouTube. If there is content hosted under creative commons licensing, then users are authorized to use the content exclusively in the way the creator deems appropriate. A big example of this is open-source software. The public domain is content that is not protected by copyright and may be freely used by anyone and everyone. I try to encourage my students to look for content in the public domain first, because it does take additional effort to ensure that all sources are appropriately attributed to the creator. We must be sure to follow these guidelines so that we avoid copyright infringement, not to be confused with plagiarism, which is taking others work and claiming it is your own. This can often occur in education. If we are using google apps for education, Eric Curts (2016) offers some great tips on how to manage student cheating and plagiarism.
Teaching our students about copyright laws and how not to infringe them is of vital importance. The concept itself is a struggle to teach, simply because it is a struggle for those students who are engrossed in instant gratification to take the time to appropriately cite their resources. It is easy to continue copying and pasting away with little regard to the potential repercussions of copyright infringement. By teaching our students the laws of copyright, we are performing our duties as digital citizens and preparing our future digital citizens in an appropriate way. With an effective use of copyrighted materials, students and teachers alike will be able to enhance their teaching and learning process in and out of the classroom.
The following is a list of resources relating to learning about Copyright:
References
Bond, P. (2017, August 31). Copyright: The card game – U.S. version. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://paulbond.info/blog/copyright-the-card-game-u-s-version/
Common Sense. (2017, December 21). Copyrights and Wrongs (9-12). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/lesson/copyrights-and-wrongs-9-12
Copyrightuser.org. (n.d.). The Game Is On! - Copyright. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.copyrightuser.org/educate/the-game-is-on/
Curts, E. (2016, January 01). Addressing student cheating in Google Apps. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/01/student-cheating-google-apps.html?m=1
Stim, R. (2013, April 10). Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/#the_nature_of_the_copyrighted_work
U.S. Copyright Office. (n.d.). Copyright in General. Retrieved March 10, 2018, from https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html
Wistrom, E. (2015, August 31). Explaining Copyright Law and How It Applies to Teachers: What You Need to Know About Fair Use, Making Copies & More. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-methods-tips/6623-understanding-copyright-law-and-fair-use-for-teachers/