Technology+Report+-+Copyright

Technology report: Copyright

Copyright is the right under law to reproduce, publish or distribute a particular body of work. The author is usually the owner of the copyright unless he or she has signed over rights to someone else. This is important for classroom teachers to understand so that we properly instruct our students on copyright and fair use. Teachers cannot expect students to comprehend copyright infringement or fair use if the teachers themselves do not understand and follow it. Copyright extends to digital media in the use of internet materials, video and music downloads as well as information copied into presentations.  Classroom teachers must understand the limitations of fair use for educational purposes so that they themselves are not violating it. Fair use applies to the use of books, poems, video clips and other media for educational purposes. However, there are limits to the amount of material that can legally be copied. For example, according to Hall Davidson, printed works such as articles, essays or stories must be under 2,500 words. Longer works must be no more than 10 percent or 1,000 words whichever is less. Hall Davidson has created a printable chart that is legally available for download to let teachers know what is and is not acceptable use.  As administrators, it is equally as important that we understand what copyright is and how fair use applies in our schools. “But in the final analysis, it is the administrator who bears responsibility for the actions of stakeholders in all roles in the education environment.” (Davidson, 2005) Therefore, it is very important for administrators to arrange for copyright and fair use training for teachers on a regular basis. This is not a subject that should be taught one time and then expected to be remembered forever. This is especially true with the ever-changing landscape of technology and the free exchange of information. Teachers and students must be taught to give credit to the author of works they use. If teachers choose to post copyrighted material to a website, it must be password protected so that only the students of that class may access it.  The University of Texas has also created a Copyright Crash Course that outlines the guidelines for fair use of multimedia materials in the classroom. While the authors themselves state “While only the courts can authoritatively determine whether a particular use is fair use, these guidelines represent the participants'**** consensus of conditions under which fair use should generally apply and examples of when permission is required.” (“Fair use guidelines”, 1996) With that said, the best option is, if unsure cite your source. Give credit where credit is due and there will not be any doubt as to whether or not copyright was infringed upon.  Finally, school leadership should encourage all teachers to use the Fair Use Checklist created by the Columbia University Copyright Advisory Office. (Buttler & Crews, 2008)  Although this checklist is linked from our district library page, it is not as well known to teachers and is therefore, not utilized enough to ensure that fair use guidelines are being followed. I recommend that the checklist, available on the Columbia University website previously mentioned, be printed and distributed to all teachers in the district at the beginning of each school year along with the chart by Hall Davidson. This could be included in annual copyright training and as new information is added based on new digital technologies; the new information can be included as well.

Davidson, H. (2005). //Copyright and fair use guidelines for teachers//. Retrieved from [] // Fair use guidelines for educational multimedia //. (1996, July 17). Retrieved from [] Buttler, D. K., & Crews, K. D. (2008, May 14). //Fair use checklist//. Retrieved from []