Demonstrating Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom
- Jessica Casillas
- Sep 9, 2020
- 2 min read
Jessica Casillas
Lamar University
September 6, 2020
As teachers we have been creating lessons, pulling images from the internet, and playing videos for our students and sometimes with little care of who’s work it is. We are under the impression that it is fair to use the content because it is for educational purposes and no one is making money off of it. Also, copies are made regularly without considering if the work is protected. We often receive material for the district or curriculum team and think it is fair game. We can change and use it however we wish. This couldn’t be further than the truth. There are several ways that teachers can use their knowledge of copyright and fair use- to demonstrate and practice respect for authors' work- for students.
Teachers can become familiar with the terminology and understand what it is to violate copyright laws. According to Bailey (2013), copyright infringement is to break with the terms of the law that protects the actual owner of the copyright, who is the creator. Plagiarism is when a person takes someone else's work and presents it as their own (Bailey, 2013). Plagiarism can involve content that is not copyrighted. I think of students who copy something from the internet that they didn't site, while copyright infringement is when some uses another person's protected work and was not given permission. As teachers we must inform them on the types of violations. Attribution is like giving credit for copyrighted work. Not giving attribution to a person's content, can be both plagiarism and copyright infringement. An example of transformation is when a library uses changes content for the disabled (ie. Scanning, translating, changing into digital formats) (Stim, n.d). To determine if plagiarism or copyright infringement has taken place, the owner of the content must be determined.
To determine if the use of the work is fair use one must consider the purpose, the nature, the amount, and the effect on the market (McCord, 2014). Teachers should consider if the type of medium they wish to use. The chart provided by Halle Davidson is helpful to determine what is fair use according to the medium. Important points to remember are that teachers should not use materials to make a profit, they should consider how much of the content are they wishing to use, and if they have the source to link on digital resources. When in doubt, they should site or credit the author and link documents to their source.
Overall, acknowledging copyright laws is showing respect to the author and it is a powerful lesson to teacher students. They will learn valuable skills, not only by observing their teachers, but by investigating the owner of the content they wish to use.
Sources
Bailey, J. (2013, October 7). The difference between copyright infringement and plagiarism. Retrieved from Plagiarism Today: https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/10/07/difference-copyright-infringement-plagiarism/
Hudson Institute. (2015). A 21st century copyright office: the conservative case for reform. Washington D.C.: Hudson Institute. Retrieved from https://learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3.amazonaws.com/5c082f78d4ba4/2595237?response-cache-control=private%2C%20max-age%3D21600&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27Hudson%2520Institute_White%2520Paper%25282%2529.pdf&re
McCord, G. (2014). Fair use: The secrets no one tells you. Digital Information Law. Austin, TX. Retrieved from
Stim, Richard. (n.d). Fair use: what is transformative? In determining the fair use, what makes the use of copyrighted work "transformative"?. Nolo. Retrieved from https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/fair-use-what-transformative.html
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