Webpage Thematic Collection: Copyright, Fair Use & Creative Commons in Education

It is no secret that education is a field where copyright law is widely misunderstood. Many educators and students are under the misconception that they can do or use anything they find if they claim it is for "educational purposes." Copyright law has a place in education just as it does in the workforce. The internet makes it easier than ever to plagiarize information and use copyrighted materials inappropriately, so it is important that we provide students with the right information so they can make informed decisions.

 

The following websites provide resources that will help educators teach their students about copyright law and how to adhere to it as they write and create. Some of the resources can also be used by administration to educate teachers on following copyright law.

 

Edutopia is a website and online community that "increases knowledge, sharing, and adoption of what works in K-12 education." The site is sponsored by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving student learning. Edutopia places an emphasis on the following core strategies: project-based learning, comprehensive assessment, integrated studies, social and emotional learning, educational leadership and teacher development, and technology integration. 

"Five-Minute Film Festival: Copyright and Fair Use for Educators" is a compilation of videos that can help educators explain and teach copyright law and fair use to their students in a way that makes sense to them. Check out Mike Rugnetta's video titled, Should "Happy Birthday" be Protected by Copyright? It is sure to catch the attention of your students and get them thinking about copyright law! 

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-copyright-fair-use  

The Copyright Clearance Center is an organization whose goal is to make it easy for businesses and academic institutions get the licensing they need in order to adhere to copyright law. In addition, they provide some wonderful resources that teachers and managers can use to educate their students on different aspects of copyright law.  

This page contains many videos that can be used to teach about copyright law. Administrators can use the videos during staff development and teachers can use them to supplement their curriculum. The videos make a very complicated law much easier to understand. 

http://www.copyright.com/learn/media-downloads/videos/ 

The Purdue Online Writing Lab is a free source that can be used by teachers and students for help with research writing. From finding credible sources to using proper formatting, this site can help answer any research question you may have.   

This page explains how to determine whether or not a resource is a credible source. Students often times operate under the false assumption that if it is on the internet, is must be true. This page will help them analyze sources before using information for their research. 

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/02/  

FlickrCC is a portion of Flickr that contains works that are under Creative Commons Licensing. It is no secret that using images without permission is a huge issue that students and teachers face on a daily basis. This site will help them find images that they can use legally for their work. This page explains the different types of Creative Commons Licensing. Each artist may choose different rules for his/her work, so it is important to understand these options.  

https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Interview Reflection

This week, I interviewed a  library-media specialist at one of the public high schools in our community. She has been in this position for over 10 years and is in charge of collection development, circulation, programming, budgeting, overseeing the AV room, and managing support staff and student volunteers. I chose to interview her because I wanted to gain some insight as to what ethical problems she faces working in a 21st century learning environment with digital natives. 

I really enjoyed this interview process and learned a lot. I do very well working with and correcting students if I see an issue with the way they are using information. However, providing the same correction to teachers is much more intimidating to me. My interviewee provided me with some tips for how to help teachers when they are providing their students with instruction that does not comply with copyright law.

From the Interview:

Adams: Have you ever witnessed a teacher using information unethically or providing instruction to students that causes them to use information incorrectly in the library? If so, how did you handle that situation?

Interviewee: Unfortunately, this has happened more than once. With students, it is easy. I feel completely comfortable addressing their issue even with the teacher present. When a teacher brings his/her class into the library, I have set the expectations that I am the expert, so correcting inappropriate use of information is natural and expected. However, if a teacher is providing a student with false information, it is much harder to correct him/her on the spot. I think that it is important to allow the teacher to save face in these situations. Students need to have a high level of respect for their teachers and I do not want to be a reason for them to lose that respect. Information ethics, although a part of his/her job, is not his/her specialty. It is a complicated subject, and if you do not deal with it on a daily basis, it is easy to get confused. Normally, I will just pull the teacher aside and explain the issue to him/her. Most of the time, the teacher is very appreciative and immediately addresses the issue with the student without me even having to get involved. One a rare occasion, a teacher is not receptive and I have to follow up with the student myself. What happens outside of the library is hard for me to control, but I can make sure that the information provided within my walls is correct.

Conclusion
This is just one example of the valuable information and tips my interviewee provided me with during our appointment. I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to spend time learning from her on this occasion. She is very wise and has had a lot of experiences that I appreciate her sharing with me. I will most definitely be contacting her for advice when ethical dilemmas occur in my library in the future.

High School Library & Digital Citizenship: Collection Development Resources

Bibliographic Information

           Ribble, Mike. Digital Citizenship In Schools: Nine Elements All Students Should Know. 3rd ed. Duluth, ISTE, 2015. Paperback. ISBN: 978-1-56484-364-7. Price: $31.24

Summary

In this book, Mike Ribble provides information that will allow teachers and students alike to become productive and responsible users of digital technologies. He provides sample lesson plans for teaching digital citizenship to students as well as professional development activities to teach citizen concepts to educators.

Reasons for Purchase

Mike Ribble has presented his nine elements for digital citizenship to audiences all around 

the world and he is the founder of the ISTE Digital Citizenship PLN.

Author also wrote Raising a Digital Child: A Digital Citizenship Handbook for Parents, which was a featured book by Choice Reviews in 2009.

Bibliographic Information

           Fromm, Megan. Ethics and Digital Citizenship. New York: Rosen Publishing's Rosen Central, 2015. Hardback. ISBN: 978-1477780664. Price: $30.25.

 

Summary

This book discusses the ethics of journalism for students who are growing up in the digital age. Readers will learn about important issues such as censorship, self-expression, and social media.

Reasons for Purchase

Positive Review from School Library Journal in 2015:

“How do we differentiate between a blog and news website? Withprint journalism outlets on the decline and self-publishers on the rise, how can we determine what information is truthful? What ethical obligations do reporters have? These are some of the pertinent questions that this series explores. Well written and well researched, with sharp insights, powerful photographs, and relevant examples, this set is a winner. Issues of great interest to teenagers, including censorship, self-expression, and social media, are explored in great depth. Fromm seamlessly weaves moments from history into contemporary debates. Although this series seems timely, most stories will not become dated even as social media develops.”

Author, Megan Fromm is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University as well as a content/curriculum developer for the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda at the University of Maryland and a faculty member at the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change. She has won several awards for journalism, including the Society of Professional Journalists Sunshine Award and the Colorado Friend of the First Amendment Award.

Bibliographic Information

           Hsu, Jeffrey. International Journal of Cyber Ethics in Education, 2011. E-Journal. ISSN: 2155-6903 Price: $260.00

Summary

This is a quarterly-published journal that provides readers with state-of-the-art research on the impact and general principles of ethical computer use in an educational setting. Some of the topics covered include: teachers and ethical use of computers, plagiarism and intellectual property rights, and ethical issues in e-learning.  

Reasons for Purchase

The author, Jeffrey Hsu, is an Associate Professor of Information Systems and Decision Sciences at the Silberman College of Business, Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has a lot of experience with technology and education and has written many papers and book on topics that relate to cyber ethics.

This journal is included in many well-established resource directories including ProQuest Technology Journals and Google Scholar.

Article Analysis for "Youth, Creativity, and Copyright in the Digital Age"

Barns, Rosaline Fay, Miriam Simun, Urs Gasser, and John Palfrey. "Youth, Creativity, and  Copyright in the Digital Age." International Journal of Learning & Media, Spring 2009, 79-97. https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/3128762.                         

 

In this article, the authors address the copyright and ethical issues that today’s young people or “Digital Natives” confront on a regular basis as they use online tools to be creative. This article provides a sample curriculum with practical ways for educators to teach their students to be ethical digital citizens.

Years ago, copyright was really only a concern for those who were involved in producing, publishing, and distributing music and other creative works. However, modern technology has now made copyright law something that we all should be concerned with. Unfortunately, even though it affects all of us, many people are unaware or confused by copyright, and therefore they may exhibit unethical behavior simply because they are uninformed. Some simply believe that the law is “unreasonable” because technology makes it so easy to copy, download, and share information (Barns, et al. 2009, 80) and they knowingly practice unethical behavior with digital media.

The authors spend the first part of their paper explaining different parts of copyright law, such as fair use and creative commons licensing. Fair use allows individuals to use copyrighted materials for purposes such as “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching scholarship, or research” (Barns, et al. 2009, 81). It can be very confusing and subjective. Creative Commons licensing provides a way for authors to “treat their own work as common cultural resources” so individuals can use them to be creative (Barns et al. 2009, 82).

This study defined “Digital Natives” as “young people born before 1980 who have grown up in a networked world and have the skills to use digital technology” (Barns, et al. 2009, 83). The participants were middle school, high school, and college students. They participated in focus-group sessions where they discussed their experiences with digital media and their understanding of copyright law. The participants were widely confused about what constitutes copyright infringement. Many of them believe that as long as something is available online, then it is okay to use.

This research from this study indicated that many young people “consume, distribute, and create content without accurate knowledge of the rights, restrictions, and implications of copyright law” (Barns, et al. 2009, 90). This study determined that young people need guidance and support in order to “operate in legal and empowered ways in the digital world” (Palfrey, et al. 2009, 80).

After completing their research, the authors also created the Creative Rights Copyright Curriculum, “[consisting] of interactive learning tools” in order to provide a resource that educators can use to help teach their students about copyright law. The curriculum includes a “fair use tool,” a “mashup game” for realistic practice, an “interactive timeline” and a “case study” (Barns, et al. 2009, 92). 

As a librarian at a PreK-12th grade campus, copyright and fair use are terms that I am very familiar with. I love the curriculum that the authors proposed because it is interactive. Instead of just a list of rules and terms to memorize, it provides students with hands-on, practical tools they can use in order to become responsible and ethical digital citizens. I would like to see a staff development version for teachers so that they are informed and can model what it means to use digital content ethically for their students.