While reading Copyright Clarity, I honestly felt overwhelmed. I most definitely fall into the “close the door” category. I have not been directly taught about copyright and there are so many grey areas. I have my students use pictures in their projects that they get from the internet, and typically do not have them site them...with third graders that is just another step that will take time.
Transfomitiveness is definitely a good starting point for me to understand what and how it is appropriate to use others’ work. Fair use is also a fairly new concept for me. The four factors allow me to think about the work that I am using. I need to make sure I am thinking about the purpose, nature of the copyrighted work, the amount used, and the market impact when evaluating whether or not copyrighted material should be used. As they mention in Copyright Clarity, these are not the end all be all or checklist of what is considered copyright and what is not. So still we have it...GREY AREAS! Determining fair use requires us to really think about with the material is that is being used and how we want our students or ourselves to use it. To be honest, teachers have so much on their plate that copyright is typically the last thing on our mind.
Teachers are encouraged to collaborate and share materials. We often make a copy of what we are using for each person on the team for them to then make copies for their students. Is this not acceptable because I am not the one providing it to the students? Should I be making copies for all of the students in the grade rather than the teachers? Lines are still blurred as to what is acceptable and what is not. I guess this is why I have shied away from thinking about it ...it's still so confusing!
Creative Commons is what I used to insert images to my pecha kucha presentation. It is fairly easy to use and my second graders could figure it out with modeling by me. It also cites where the image is from which is pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding from the book is you can share copies with teachers but not xerox an entire book to share with them. Aren't you re-purposing the copy as the teacher will use it to fit he/she needs in their classroom.
Fair Use is what we use in our classroom and don't even know we have been using it for awhile. The four factors you list from the book give us a start at fair use and how to use copyrighted material in our classrooms.
I know we have digital citizenship lessons in our school but as for the district polices on copyright I need to ask. Are you familiar with the district polices of FCPS and your school?
I do believe it is another layer of learning about being a good digital citizen. I believe as teachers we need to be good examples. So doing our best to learn about it is a great first step. The copies from other teachers in my opinion is "just depends" - where did the resource come from? Most times it is perfectly fine - but it just depends on the original source and what it said about sharing. Most educational materials say just that "copy for educational purposes". But many of the stuff on teachers-pay-teachers says to only use for yourself and not share. So it just depends and our diligence to look for the source.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of being a good model - went to GMU fine arts center to watch Taj Express - it was amazing!! At the very beginning the audience was told to not take ANY pictures or video. You can probably see where this is going - a dad of preteens was taking several pictures - it was all I could do to control myself and not become the copyright police. I was SO annoyed that he was doing it AND after an usher asked him to stop. Just makes me very grumpy and that is the model for his kids - rules do not apply to him. Thanks for "listening".
Reading the information I felt more at ease with what I do. I truly feel like the majority of copyrighted works I use are being used for an entirely different purpose than for what they were intended. Most copyrighted work I find is used to start a analytical dialogue and to further discussion about curriculum topics. Or the works are used to help students defend their knowledge or clarify their understanding. To me, this is pretty different than what most works are created for.
ReplyDeleteWhen you mention the copies you make for others, the fair use questions then should become their responsibility.
Betsy mentioned the FCPS policies. I looked them up and I believe them to follow the fair use doctrine. I mean, it's pretty much word for word from the book.