Wk1Readings_Thomas Turner_Copyright Issues

Image by TilarX via Creative Commons Attribution License

It's as if the readings/viewing for week 1 was meant to be this week. The third and fifth grades at my school are in the midst of doing some end of the year 'research' projects with their students. I'm using the term research loosely here as all that I've seen over the last few days has been copying, and not research.

I began my conversations with the teachers with strictly conversation. I didn't want to pull a holier than thou attitude with them, however, I knew that what they were having their students do was breaking the law.

I took my verbal rebuke from the teachers in stride. Frankly, I'm the 'new' guy on campus and what do I know? I'm supposed to be the tech expert on campus. I don't flaunt this fact. I offer up my services when needed and I give advice when I see fit. But I couldn't keep my mouth shut on this one. Not when I saw 4 classes in a row using google images as their personal image gallery.

This isn't the first time that I've seen this sort of research happening in a public school. Most primary and intermediate teachers (again I say most that I've encountered, not all) conduct their research projects in this way. I've already spoke to my administration about educating our classroom teachers on copyright and fair use as we start the next school year. At this point it is moot to embark on it because the information would just sit there for 3 1/2 months and just go to waste.




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 I was able to glean a few bits of new information from our reading for this week.

1. First was learning that there really is no "time" frame limit to music or video that can be used as fair use. I was always under the impression, and had always been instructed that it was a 30 second or 10%. It amazes me that this misinformation has been allowed to permeate through numerous ed tech conferences and workshops that my district has given. 
2. I understand the concept of remixing. As I was watching "Good Copy/Bad Copy" and the part of the film discussing Techno Brega from Brazil I was having a hard time wrapping my head around how what they were doing with the original works was not copyright infringement. I agree with one of the comment that what they are doing works to increase the original artist's name recognition.
3. One of the most important things that I've learned during the EMDT program is the use of and attributing my work through a Creative Commons License. I love having the choice of how I want to copyright my work. As an educator it is in my nature to want to have what I create out there for people to use in a way that will help others learn. 

I can understand where the professional music and movie people take a hard line when enforcing copyright of their work. They are in the business to make money. It is understandable in a capitalistic society that artists will want to make money from their hard work. I don't think less of them for this, however, I do question the level of zealousness that they take. If only they would recognize the level of learning that could take place if they would step back and allow learners more access to their work. Until that day, creative commons (http://www.creativecommons.org) will be the place I will go to get work that other like-minded people have shared.


Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages Blog by Tom Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.