POST #4: Copyright

This module on the intricacies of copyright laws was very dense, yet helpful.  There are so many different components to grasp and the legalities can be very confusing. I am slowly processing this complicated information about copyright law, public domain, fair use and Creative Commons.

One standard assessed for our report cards requires that students be evaluated on how well they “use many reliable print and digital sources” and how well they “determine accuracy and give credit to sources.” For my students to succeed, I will need to introduce them to the many resources on the AEA website and explicitly teach them about their proper use and the need to follow correct citation practices.
I will need to create a lesson where they learn how to responsibly use someone else’s work. They will need direct instruction on how to check who owns it, how to get permission to use it, and how to give credit to the original creator. Understanding the terms involved with copyright laws will be central to my teaching. I plan to teach about the words “copyright”, “fair use”, “public domain”, “Creative Commons”, “patent” and “trademark”.

With its nearly 8 million royalty-free images that teachers and students can use, iClipArt seems like a wonderful resource to introduce copyright and fair use. For instance, since my students have the tendency to automatically do a “Google search” when they need a picture and grab the first one they see, I plan to not only model safe digital citizenship by using iClipArt for that task, but also give them direct instruction on the use of this tool, including how to cite the source.  Teaching the rules and practices for the appropriate use of copyrighted digital materials will be an ongoing practice in my classroom.

I have always found copyright scary and quite a bit confusing.  I still have questions concerning right and wrong but feel more confident that I have been doing the right thing.  I now will definitely use these resources from the AEA library as they as they will be a safer environment the resources have already been sorted, filtered and copyright information there.  I use youtube videos a lot to teach concepts and now I will search them from the aea resources first just to be safe as well as videos, clipart and audio.  I am going to pay closer attention to the materials I am using and printing for classroom use.  However, I also know I can't only use AEA resources so I will need to be mindful of what I am looking at as well as using in the classroom.  I now notice the permission granted notices on certain printed materials for classroom use and need to be aware of those things that do grant permission and those that do not.

Before working through the copyright module I was one of the teachers who thought it was restrictive.  Now I have a better understanding.  Educators are really given quite a bit of flexibility when using works for educational purposes.  I now understand guidelines to make sure I am being fair when using certain resources, which works can be copyrighted, and resources to use in determining copyright.  Understanding copyright will make me much more mindful going forward!

AEA Online resources are less worrisome to use than a general internet search of resources for many reasons, copyright determinations being one.  

After going through the copyright module, I feel I have a better understanding of what does and does not infringe upon copyright. Copyright isn't as strict as I thought it was, but I can see how it could easily be taken too far in the context of education, especially when it comes to linking to a resource. It’s also good to know that doing searches through these resources guarantees your students won’t stumble upon inappropriate content. It seems like this is becoming harder and harder to control. Knowing more about the resources that are available to us as educators, I know I will be more conscious of using those resources instead of just using Google searches to locate information. By using the online resources available to us, you can almost guarantee you won't be infringing upon copyright. I was surprised how specific the allocations for use of audio, images, and video were.

In this post, I will explain how my understanding of copyright changed. I will also explain what I will do with my approach with my classroom materials. I will explain what I will do with student use of our materials as well.

First, copyright has always been very confusing to me. There seemed to be many legal aspects. Whenever I wanted to copy something in the past, I would send it to our district print center. If there was a copyright issue they would notify me. Now, I feel much more informed. The Copyright BriefNOTES for Educators and Students brochure resource that was provided through this AEA self-paced course is so valuable. The questions and answer section, copyright law summary, helpful hints, and general copyright guidelines sections answer all of my questions.

Second, my approach to classroom materials has changed with this course. After reviewing all of AEA’s resources, I will use them exclusively in my classroom. I will refer to the brochure from the AEA to ensure that I follow the copyright rules for each resource. For example, BookFLIX and TrueFlix can’t be copied or redistributed. But, iCLIPART for Schools can have unlimited images, photos, and web art images downloaded for educational use.

Finally, student use of materials will change in my classroom as well.  I have never had a lesson with my students on copyright. I think that would be very appropriate to teach them in elementary school about the copyright laws and how they are affected by them. This is a lifelong thing they will need to know. My lesson would include not only how the copyright affects them in the classroom but also how it affects them as they are researching at home and using digital resources at home.

I definitely thought copyright laws were more restrictive in classrooms than they really are. I had no idea our AEA provided so many different ways to find information to present in our classrooms that do not infringe on any copyright laws. I now realize it is much safer, smarter, and valid to find resources such as audio books, videos, pictures, and research sites through our AEA digital resources. I am guilty of using videos such as Bill Nye in Science because of his engaging views on various topics, but I now see I have more options that do not put me at risk of not following copyright laws. I will keep in mind that I should only be using about 10% of materials that I have not sought permission to use, just to be cautious. I will also remember that if I am using a resource for direct educational purposes I am probably OK.

I have learned from the AEA Online Resources course, that it would be easier to use the information from the AEA Online Resources website.  I remember some of the copyright laws we had to watch out for and all the Works Cited pages created.  It was a long, lengthy process.  I haven't had to think about copy right laws for decades.  I just followed the teachers lesson plans and assumed they had that covered.  

This course did refresh and update my thoughts on the copyright laws.  I was not up to date with the online stuff at all.  I had no knowledge or do not remember anything about Fair Use or Creative Commons laws.  We were taught to take a sentence or paragraph and rewrite it in our own words.  I found this course very interesting and it showed me so much about online resources and the copyright information.  There was so much information, it is a lot to understand and digest.  I would have to really study this with my dyslexia, to try and get everything straight.  Itis a lot to learn and figure out.  The AEA Online Resource would be such a better, less complex way to get information to the students.  I think it opens up the learning fields for the teacher to give to the students.  They might not have to fear as much with, "Am I infringing on Copyrights?"  
I also would express to the students to make sure they are not plagerizing themselves or breaking the law with copyrights.  

Thank you for including the copyright module in this course! As many others have stated, copyright laws are confusing, and, as an educator, it is so important that were are good role models to our students in our use of materials. I didn't know that through the Fair Use law that teachers have more leeway to use resources in education. I appreciate the four criteria: 1. purpose, 2. nature of copyright work, 3. the amount used in relation to the whole, and 4. effect upon market in value of work when thinking about fair use. Teaching my students about copyright using the question-Are you being fair to the creator? will get them to think from the creator's perspective. I often use the adage "Put yourself in his/her shoes" so it will work here as well. Students are so accustomed to 'copy and paste' so educating them on copyright is essential.

I use google classroom so it is easy to share a link with students, which this module has taught me is better than copying the material to share with students. As my students research topics to share or present, I will teach them about public domain and Creative Commons.

Lastly, I truly appreciate the wide range of resources available to us through Iowa AEA online. It is comforting knowing that my students and I can use them during our time together knowing that they are fair and reputable sources.

Before I began the course, I felt I had a pretty good knowledge of Copyright. After taking this course I became more familiar with some of the terminology and gave me an update of some of the more modern technology such as using videos. To be honest, maybe I have been a little too strict with copyright throughout the buildings I work in. I guess I have heard too many horror stories of districts having to pay massive fines when they would purchase one copy of a piece of software and then install it throughout a whole computer lab. I do also remind students to see the citation tools that are within the databases by saving them to their Google Drive and then add them to their works cited page. As the technology progresses and teachers use things from all over the web, I find it harder to track and many teachers still feel they do not always need to acknowledge where they get their pictures and teaching materials. It is a work in progress, I send out the reminders a few times each year and hope for the best!

My understanding of copyright has changed because I feel I need to be extremely careful in what I share and show and use as a resource. I have lately been asking the resource author more often if I am allowed to use their information. I’ve learned that the practice of Fair Use gives me a little more leeway but I will now and in the future use more of the AEA online resources for that piece of mind. I can also ask our media specialist if I am uncomfortable or uncertain about the use of something. My physical education students don’t use resources on the internet that could cause issues with copyright rules and regulations, however, if I do projects in the future that would need information I would use the AEA online site for resources I knew was safe for everyone involved.
Something really interesting and new I learned is that the symbol © does not need to be present or be filed by the U.S. copyright office and that personal works are already considered copyrighted. That was an “aha” moment- I need to be very careful with any type of use. It’s very important to give credit to the source and with permission even for copies, showing, listening to or even performing. A use of these things need either to be bought for this use, or given permission to use.

Upon reviewing the Copyright moduleI realized that many teachers use materials
that they probably shouldn't in the form they are using them. For instance, teachers should not show a recorded lesson or videos for students who may have missed a day or were absent.  That happens all the time at my school.  Also for best practice teachers should include within their syllabus warnings that students are not allowed to re-use the resources outside the classroom. This will protect the teacher from the beginning.  Teachers just need to give warnings to students about copyrighted material because even taking screenshots can be a copyright issue that will fall back on the user, not the teacher. We do American Gothic Parodies in 4th grade. A parody is not copyright because it will fall under the Fair Use act.  Many things fall under the Fair Use act and students and teachers just need to use common sense when they use resources.  Note where their information came from and use links.  Using links and embedding videos under the Creative Commons act will be blessed with permission from the creator.  The best part about all of this is that AEA Online has sorted and filtered the copyrighted material and it is labeled so the material that you can use is all ready to go. Very convenient for school age children.

Copyright is something I have thought about when preparing for a lesson or project, but it is actually not something I have spent much time learning about.  Surprisingly I may have learned more about Copyright from this course than I did in graduate school.  I believe I was one of the teachers that tended to err on the side of caution when it came to copyright because I was not well enough educated.  It makes me feel better about both my past and future use of materials in the classroom to know that there are certain restrictions in place that allow educators to use materials in reasonable ways without fear of breaking the law.  
Considering copyright law makes me even more likely to use resources from the AEA because so many of the resources have clear copyright approved usages.  In the past I have made copies of pages from books that I used in the classroom.  I only had a couple copies of small sections and I made sure to get them back from the students when we were done reading them.  It simply wasn’t reasonably possible to have 40+ copies of every book that I wanted to take examples from.  In the future if I have to make copies of any work I will be careful to abide by the fair use guidelines to insure that I am not violating copyright.  I will also make sure that if I want students to access sources outside of the classroom that I am linking them to legal copies.  I like the idea of flipping the classroom using online resources like video lectures or lessons.  The idea of having students watch a video at home that introduces a new skill or concept in order to be able to practice it in the classroom is exciting to me.  However, I will have to make sure that the videos I have the students watch are legal versions and are not being copied by the students for any reason.  

After completing the section on Copyright, I learned it is not quite as restrictive as I had thought. At the same time, there were somethings that I hadn't considered could be a possible copyright breech. With that being said, I feel the best route to go is to utilize the resources that have been collected and are available through Grantwood AEA. I frequently went to Google to find resources first. That will no longer be the case. I love the peace of mind that the online resources that are available through Grantwood AEA provide. I won't ever have to worry if I am utilizing their resources because they have already made sure that is the case. As Kinders, my students ability to search the web is still pretty limited but it is never too early to introduce digital citizenship and that not everything on the internet belongs to them.

Copyright has always made me a little nervous because I didn’t want to use too much material to be considered illegal.  I am especially nervous this year with the online learning aspect of my teaching.  I sometimes struggle with what I can share with parents and students while they are at home learning.  The module on copyright has cleared a lot of things up for me and has made me a little less nervous about sharing materials with students and parents online while they are at home.  I have tried to create a lot of my own material to share with my students who are working at home so I know that I am being safe.  I used to show a lot of books being read aloud on youtube without even realizing that it breaks the copyright law.  Now I get a lot of my online read alouds from Bookflix or other trusted sources.

Wow! As an artist I thought I knew a lot about copyright, turns out I was wrong! I did not realize that copyright went so in depth. The several different types of copyright was very interesting. I also did not know that there were copyright laws in the 1700s. It really surprised me about YouTube as well. I plan on exploring YouTube for Schools or Google Apps for Education.

After having completed the copyright module I am more aware of copyright laws.  I have had a long career in education and I have learned some information on copyright that I did not know before.  I use an online curriculum with my students that I have a license to use with the students.  However,  I never knew that you could not copy textbooks.  It was also interesting to me to learn that only certain percentages of music, photographs, and other works could be copied. I did not know as much as I thought I did about Fair Use  guidelines for teachers. Much of the material I use from the internet comes with the statement that it is intended for classroom use only and can not be copied to make money off it.  I am sure the students I have content area teachers go over copyright laws with them, however when I go back to school, I will discuss copyright use with them and not just assume they have that knowledge.

The copyright module was very helpful and broke things down to understand everything pretty easily. I like how the AEA had made it simple for users to help us with copyright. For example, I use iClipart a lot and also promote this to students and staff. When I help teach lessons, I talk about copyright and how to filter images so they can be used. It's important to teach students that all images on a Google search for example are not okay to use for a project. Otherwise when it's comes to print materials, I like how the module broke it down for the different types. I learned a lot though this module and I know I will still refer back to it often in case I am unsure of something or if anyone else has a question.

It was helpful to learn about Creative Commons and the Teach Act.  It was good news to find out that as a teacher that I have more leeway than I though regarding copyright restrictions.  For instance, I now know that I can show copyrighted materials as a teacher within my classroom setting as long as it's directly related to my learning standards/objectives.. I appreciate knowing about the 10% rule, as well, and that most content can be shown in my classroom without breaking copyright laws.   At the same time, I'm more sensitive now to my students' habit (and mine, frankly) of lifting images from google search for use in presentations/power points.    

The best news for me as an educator after taking this course is that my students and I can legally use the resources on the AEA Digital Resources page confidently.  For instance, my students can use the clipart resource as their first option rather than performing a google search.  I can show American History  or Learn 360 movie clip for my IEP students in their social studies classes without fear of using a disreputable source, of an ad popping up, or an inappropriate image/audio clip catching us off guard.  I can't say that I'll completely stop using google search; however, I have several of the AEA digital resources now bookmarked and intend to make these resources my first or second stop when searching for resources.

Thanks for including this unit in the course.  

I have always worried about copyright issues as a teacher.  I am often second guessing myself if I am using material correctly or not.  The copyright section was very helpful and I am thankful that the AEA has provided schools and teachers like me many tools to use that we know are fair to use in the classroom.  I feel better knowing that we are using material in the correct manner and making sure that works are given the credit they deserve.  One thing I did do, as well as others had posted, was to take down my website from this school year.  I am also thankful that students now have an easy way to cite sources using the resources from the AEA.  I really like the feature that many of the tools have, in terms or copying the MLA bib entry or inserting the information right into Easybib.

Having completed the copyright module, I now have a better understanding of the laws, as well as my rights concerning copyright.  It is still a scary concept for me, but I think using Iowa AEA Online materials instead of other online resources, I feel more protected and within legal limits with my teaching.

Every year I teach a six week Writing unit, where my 5th graders learn to write a research paper.  In the past we have used several books (checked out from the AEA library) and I have avoided doing much online research because I am leery of copyright rules as well as my student’s digital citizenship and safety. However, because of this class I now feel more comfortable teaching my students how to safely navigate online and find quality primary and secondary sources for their research.  

I feel more comfortable allowing my students to work on their chromebooks independently through the Iowa AEA Online materials while I help students individually on their research and their reports.