Discussion: OPTIONAL Copyright

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2014-03-11T13:40:48-06:00

OPTIONAL Presentation

We talked about copyright in class this week, so you do not need to view the presentation here. But we're posting it in case you want to review what we talked about!

This week we are learning about copyright law and how it applies to teachers. As you might expect with anything related to law, copyright issues are not black or white, but murky and open for debate. However, there are some basic guidelines you can use to make informed choices about how to be ethical in your use of created works.

Why is copyright important for you? Well, some students say it's so they won't be sued. That is true, but I don't know what the probability of you actually getting sued will be. Besides, I think there is a better reason. We should try to follow copyright law to the best of our abilities because, simply, it is the right and honest thing to do, and our students will learn from our examples and pick up on our attitudes towards this subject. We owe it to them to teach them proper digital literacy in the 21st century, which includes how to consume and use the media they are bombarded with like the air they breathe all day long.

So I am no lawyer, but in this presentation I will give you a few basic guidelines for understanding copyright law and what it means for teachers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK8s4Nd2kcc

Links for Further Study

You can also view the library's copyright presentation (from which my presentation has been adapted) here: http://lib.byu.edu/sites/copyright/about-copyright/basics/. The library's copyright office is a great resource, and they can answer any specific answers you have!

Also, check out at least some of this video that not only teaches fair use well, but does so by implementing fair use principles itself! Plus it's entertaining!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJn_jC4FNDo

Discussion

What other questions do you have about copyright and fair use?