Fair Use and Copyright Laws

It is very important to abide by all of the copy right and fair use rules that are established.  Teachers must ask themselves many questions as to the work that they want to copy.  Like, is this covered under fair use?  Or, is this copyrighted material?  Without adhering to these rules, one could be held accountable for literally stealing someone else’s work.  This is not the example that any teacher should model for impressionable students.  We should exhibit characteristics that we would desire for the students themselves to display.  I hope that the students in my classroom will see me as one who encourages honesty and an appreciation for other’s work.  So the first thing that I will do to encourage such behavior is to do my best to adhere to the fair use policies and copy right laws.  I will, also, post the Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers chart that was suggested in our lecture and I will explain the importance of following the guidelines provided.  I will also use any situation that arises from “unfair” use as a teachable moment to encourage the students and allow them to learn from their behaviors.

Online safety should be a concern for every parent and teacher.  We all should desire for our children to access information from the internet safely and without being introduced to inappropriate material and harassment.  As students are required to do more and more research on computers, they can be exposed to many opportunities that are negative.  Cyberbulling is just one example of the negative issues that are faced by young people today.  Parents and teachers should place filter software on computers that children have access to.  But, they cannot rely on them to “babysit” our children while online.  We must also talk with young people about what they may see as they surf the web and what is expected of them if they encounter these negative situations.  Keeping the communication lines open and training them to handle themselves appropriately online can increase the online safety of those in our care while online. 

This week’s activities have taught me a lot about this very important topic.  Before this unit, I believed that any copying of material was illegal for anybody without approval.  I now know that there are some exceptions to the rules for educators.  The copyright quiz I took showed that I still have room to learn more about it, though.  Some situations seem so innocent and yet are illegal based on the information that I have since reviewed.  Even some of the sites I visited confirmed how confusing and unclear the laws can be for educators.  I will continue to educate myself on the laws and fair use rules and will try to be a good example to those around me.

References:

A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright, retrieved on February 20, 2011 from http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm

"Cheat Sheet" for Copyyright and Fair Use, retrieved on February 20, 2011 from http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/pdf/db_area/archives/TL/2002/10/copyright_chart.pdf

Bullying UK (2011), retrieved on February 20, 2011 from http://www.bullying.co.uk/