Posted by SusanS on Jun 09, 2015; 7:41pm
URL: https://nabble.aealearningonline.org/POST-4-Copyright-tp535p594.html

As crazy as it  might sound, I actually enjoyed learning about copyright laws and guidelines in the last module. In this digital age, other than hearing about movie infringement by China or teens illegally downloading music, neither which applied to me, I have't given it much thought. I thought the projects I had student complete were mostly protected because of their limited size and scope and because they were for educational purposes only. For some reason the 10% concepts stuck in my mind and I have had students quote that as well in conversations with other students, so obviously they learned that myth as well.

I especially enjoyed learning about the types or categories of materials that can and cannot be copyrighted. Having some of those guidelines posted in a classroom might also develop greater student awareness of copyright concepts.

We make a lot of effort to talk to our students about "plagiarism" in writing, but not so much when it comes to the use of public images, music, poetry etc.  After completing this course I have a much better grasp of the complexity of the topic and realize that a resource for better understanding copyright is available to me here. I'm not so sure but what we shouldn't have students  and teachers review this module before they do any type of project or creative work for class.

Certainly the AEA resources have provided us with a much safer forum than google for "fair use" of materials. Once we educate our students about that, it will give them another reason to use our available AEA resources that have already been vetted. This unit has motivated me to be more cognizant of the sources I use and the sources I allow students to use.  Helping my students develop an understanding of copyright infringement will now go hand in hand with our learning of what constitutes plagiarism.