Copyright and Fair Use

Copyright and Fair Use laws are designed to protect the original works and efforts of their author and without such laws, credit for their accomplishments would be taken advantage of by those who do not deserve it.  I do not feel it is the general mindset of teachers to “intentionally” display the works of authors to their students illegally, but it likely does occur in the classroom “unintentionally” at times. There are so many valuable resources for teachers that would be likely to help engage students that require advance permissions by the author.  Ignorance of the copyright laws is not a valid excuse so it is very wise for educators to become knowledgeable of the rules of copyright and fair use. I believe I would educate my students on, at minimum, the basics of copyright and faisr us laws before giving an assignment that would utilize the works of others.

This lesson has been very informative regarding the laws of copyright and Fair Use (http://www.copyright.gov/), especially for educational purposes.  The cheat sheet located at http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/pdf/db_area/archives/TL/2002/10/copyright_chart.pdf is a great asset to keep close.  The multitude of verbiage for the rules and laws of copyright can become overwhelming and the cheat sheet helps a great deal to break those laws down into digestible bites.  Online safety is critical in protecting our youth from the dangers of preditors.  It is essential that teachers assigning internet assignments make students aware of placing no personal information on the internet to avoid being harrassed or taken advantage of.

I have had little to no hands on experience in the classroom with copyright decisions as my time in the classroom has been as a substitute teacher so the material was already prepared for me to administer to the students, but I have to admit I was a bit intimidated by the thought of not handling copyright of materials when the day comes that I do make such decisions. I have learned the importance of being prepared when using the works of others and that it is important that the students know the rules also.