Response to “Steal This Preso! Copyrights, Fair Use, and Pirates in the

Classroom”

Strand: 2009: Week in the ClassroomURL: http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=449

Thomas J. Ehrensperger, July 26, 2010

Overall Concept The author, Mathew Needleman, points

out that many teachers and students routinely violate copyrights, partly from not caring, but also from misunderstanding the “fair use doctrine’

Major Points “Free to you” does not mean “free Reproduction of work requires permission, except as

narrowly defined for education purposes (really educational, only within classroom, only for students

Creators of intellectual property (plays, for example) have the right to royalties on their work

OK for limited purposes like movie reviews, but otherwise require permission of owner and author

There is such a thing as royalty-free work in the “public domain”, but there’s not much of it

Can get music, etc. legally and usually freely from ‘Creative Commons’ we site

Still images require only the photographer’s permission

Questions or Ideas for Further Exploration

With all the piracy of music, etc., are most people even aware of the legal aspects of these things anymore?

Do school administrators usually bother to inform teachers of the Fair Use Policy, or enforce it in any way?

Contribution to My Professional Development

Being fully aware of legal issues is very important

I now know that “creative commons” sites and material exists

Ideas for Applying These Tools to Teaching

First, I need to set an example for my students, by addressing these issues in my own work and presentations

I need to ensure that my students do not violate copyright law when doing assignments

I need to discuss the reasons behind copyright law in general

Being a software author myself, I’m very aware of these issues already, and will continue to highlight the copyright and permissions notices in my own products, so students get an example of just whom is being protected by copyright lay (me! … and them!)