For this week's assignment, we will continue our discussion on copyright and educational fair use. First, please review the materials and reading assignments on the Class Five web page and then post a comment in which you discuss your reaction to any of the resources, readings, or in-class discussions that deal with copyright, educational fair use, digital rights management, etc.
You may discuss your opinion and/or experiences related to any of these topics, ask questions about items you feel are confusing, or bring up other related issues that you would like us to address in more detail in class.
8 comments:
I was hoping there would be comments already posted for this week, but alas, nothing.
I enjoyed the handout Dr. Robin gave us in class. I think there is a great misunderstanding among teachers about what can be used in the classroom. I previously considered anything game unless it was being sold, but apparently we can even sell copyrighted materials in certain cases.
I feel that copyright is something similar to censorship, and so I'm naturally against it. However, there should be systems in place to distribute money to those who creatively produce the products we like to use. Who knows... I like to think that in a perfect society, everything is free. Maybe someday.
I really enjoyed “The Fair Use Guide Offers Copyright Shelter”. I agree with their statement that Fair Use is a flexible interpretation of the law and it very well might be strangling educators because it has not adjusted to current needs. Educators need to claim their right to use Fair Use instead of being scared into submission, in turn, we need to teach our students so that they can appreciate copyright and learn how to use copyrighted material in an effective and meaningful way for their own learning. I also agree that when it is used properly, Fair Use can assist students in developing critical thinking skills and communication skills that are necessary in 21st century thinking. Maybe if educators provide a positive example of how to use copyrighted materials in the classroom and encourage students to do the same, fewer people will violate copyright. Maybe…
While watching the video that accompanied the article, I saw “SchoolTube” flash across the screen. I had not heard of it before, so I looked at it and found it to be quite cool. It’s all student produced or video of student performances. I looked under the Arts and Entertainment category and found student productions of plays, like Beauty and the Beast, which could be used in the classroom to talk about literary terms or character development, etc. Very cool!
There is a LOT of confusion where I work when it comes to copyrights. Regularly, we get updates on options regarding copyrighted material from our librarians. Unfortunately, these individuals don’t seem to be as well informed as possible. Rather than blame big corporations on overzealously protecting their intellectual property, I prefer to chalk this situation up to weak governmental oversight and a weak court system that allows small and medium businesses to get wallpapered when they step out of line. If the federal courts would throw out more frivolous lawsuits and slap the real offenders, that is, the attorneys for these media sharks, we wouldn’t be living in an environment of fear and confusion. While I applaud the intent of these messages and have sent much of the information to our library manager, I don’t intend to boldly go where our college hasn’t gone before. That is, until or unless someone above my pay grade blesses a change in policy, then, I’m just not going to be the first. I guess Big Business triumphs again (sigh).
This week has been extremely difficult for me...so I apologize as I have not read all of the readings for this week and won't get to it until this weekend or next week. I will speak on my experiences, however, with copyright issues.
My district tends to be more conservative than others, especially when dealing with technology. My principal in particular is a stickler about copyright to the point that we are unable to show any videos other than what is available to us through UnitedStreaming (using a paid subscription to this video library). I received a large collection of children's storybooks on DVD that I received as a gift when I started teaching Kindergarten. The videos were purchased at a teacher supply store and are from Scholastic. They even contain a disclaimer that the videos can be used by classroom teachers. I, however, have had to pass them along to a friend at another school since I am unable to show these in my own classroom. I feel that my children miss out on many possibilities and opportunities because of this strict interpretation of copyright law.
After reading the articles, my conclusion is that there is no conclusion but only prudent behaviors in the use of copyrighted materials for education purposes. The fair use guide prepared by the education lab at Temple University coupled with a general policy of attribution seems to be a reasonable guide for classroom behaviors. I have only come up against copyright laws a few times before this class and never before addressed the issues associated with ripping DVDs. In studio classes I have always believed “anything goes.” In a sculpture or painting class, I allow students to freely borrow, plagiarize, or copy the work of other artists. In an art history class plagiarism is strictly forbidden and attribution is demanded. I usually wind up talking about sources of ideas more in studio classes and insist more on documenting sources in an academic class. This seems to be a double standard. I allow students to freely appropriate materials and ideas for art but not academics. More consideration of the problem is needed.
Like Bruce, I would generally allow students to appropriate material from other artists or designers in their work because so many contemporary artists do the same. However, in many school districts, there is a strict "no-copy" policy because administrators do not wish to deal with copyright issues and because they want students to learn to draw from life. I can understand wanting to teach drawing from life instead of from a photograph, but so many interesting works of art, particularly new media, will incorporate popular images and videos in their work. Not allowing students access to these materials severely limits the scope of their work, and I was unaware of much of what was happening in the art world until college as a result. I do think that high school students at least should be able to copy and appropriate images.
I personally would not use anything that has not been repurposed, deconstructed, or used to make a specific point in a presentation. I would not just show a video to keep kids entertained (and most districts would not allow this anyway.) However, I have shown an entire music video to show aspects of surrealism used in popular culture, and I purchased the video from i-tunes. I still think that this is "fair use" because the video was too short to crop and because it was used to illustrate a specific aspect of visual culture. What do you think?
The issue of copyright is a serious one. Having written and produced printed books and materials which can easily be copied and the copyright violated, and which I do depend on for some income, as well for my reputation, I do fully understand why individuals want to protect their property. I can also understand why the industry that depends upon their media products for income would try to protect their holdings.
However I also believe that as long as media materials can be copied they will be. Personally, as a classroom teacher and planetarium director for many years, I would get source material wherever I could find it. Sometimes these were in the form of images out of magazines and books, and sometimes film or videotape. The fact that there is so much more of the material readily available today, and that there are methods to easily copy and incorporate virtually any of the material into my own products, or others with similar interests, means that it is going to happen.
But, I think that the Fair Use laws are fair particularly when it comes to educational uses. As long as the entire work is not being copied and redistributed for commercial purposes, generally the individual instructor is safe. Unfortunately I don’t think that the law is well understood and my own experience with lawyers is that they tend to be outrageously off base in terms of how to apply the law.
I had a recent experience with this, working at the Smithsonian Institution this past summer. Several years ago I created a montage to describe the history of space station concepts, and I placed my copyright on this since most of the drawings were my own artwork – though based on dozens or hundreds of earlier concepts. For my work at he Smithsonian, I was going to have a copy of the poster enlarged to have available to refer to at the presentation. Our in-office lawyer would not permit me to make a copy of my own work. I made my own copies and brought them anyway – disregarding the legal advice that I could not use my own material the way in which I wanted. The poster as useful and I used it dozens of times over the course of ym week at the Smithsonian event.
Here is a good article on copyright rights and fair use especially as relates to education and research:
http://www.nih.gov/catalyst/2008/08.09.01/page01_copyright.html
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