Several
years ago I ran into a situation that made “fair use” a term of interest for
me. During the season when I was home
raising my children, I came into contact with some homeschooling mothers who
asked me to teach a high school English class for a group of their children. I
agreed and in the process of enhancing the curriculum, I went to the school
where I had taught to seek some counsel from my former colleagues. While there,
I was given some materials that I could use for my students. As I prepared my
lessons, I would take items to be copied to a local printing company that is
affiliated with a local college. There were signs placed above the copier that
said, in effect, that no copyrighted material was to be copied in that
establishment. (They were very large signs with very large letters that sort of
had the feeling of yelling!) Now, I only had ten students and some things I
wanted to use, I had ten of, but other things, like vocabulary worksheets, would
have to be copied. I remember thinking that I wasn’t reproducing the
information for sale and that I wasn’t planning to do anything with it other
than teach some kids how to write more effectively, so I would analyze all of
the items I wanted to use and proceed only with the things I couldn’t live
without…all the while feeling like I was a criminal! Now, as I look back on that experience, I
realize that I was utilizing materials for the purposes of teaching and that
would be considered “fair use.”
This story
illustrates the perception by many, though, that any use of copyrighted
material without the permission of the author is considered copyright
infringement. There were provisions passed in copyright law allowing “fair use”
of copyrighted materials when the beneficial value of the material to society
outweighs the material value to the owner. These provisions open the doors in
many ways for educators, but like my copy shop, many are very worried about
legal backlash from copying anything that isn’t original. As a result, there
has been a great deal of uncertainty and sometimes disengagement by teachers
who could, legally, utilize material to better educate their students.
On November
11, 2008, a panel of media literacy educators released a “Code of Best
Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education.” In this Code, they begin
by discussing the fears that have plagued educators regarding what is legal and
what isn’t legal with regard to copyright materials. “Some educators close
their classroom doors and hide what they fear is infringement; others
hyper-comply with imagined rules that are far stricter than the law requires,
limiting the effectiveness of their teaching and their students’ learning. The Cost of Copyright Confusion for
Media Literacy (centerforsocialmedia.org/medialiteracy)” The
Code, then, was produced to help educators better understand what “free use”
allows, and addresses some of the common myths associated with copyright usage.
So
first, let’s get some definitions out of the way:
“Fair
use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment
under some circumstances – especially when the cultural or social benefits of
the use are predominant.” (http://mediaeducationlab.com/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education-0)
“Media
literacy is the capacity to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate
messages in a variety of forms.” (http://mediaeducationlab.com/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education-0)
I’m sure we would all agree that media literacy
is a fundamental in the educational landscape today. So an understanding of
this code will allow us to move ahead educationally without the fear that we
are somehow using materials illegally.
The Code explains that there is no
exact measure or rule of thumb for utilizing copyright materials, but they
offer five categories or practices in education that are clearly covered in
free use law. These categories are:
1.
Classroom teaching with copyrighted
materials
2.
Copyrighted material within the
curriculum
3.
Sharing teaching materials
4.
Student work
5.
Sharing student work
Those who collaborated in writing this
code express the need for educators to take a responsible stand for their usage
decisions. If what we are sharing enlightens or better educates our students,
then we have the right to share. However, we should take responsibility by
giving proper credit where credit is due and teach our students to properly
cite sources. “Educators need to be
leaders, not followers, in establishing best practices in fair use.” (http://mediaeducationlab.com/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education-0) As my mother would say, just use wisdom!
In
addition to sharing the five practices, the Code of Best Practices dispels some
common myths. The myth I chose to share with you relates to the story I told in
the beginning.
“Myth: Fair use is too unclear and complicated for me; it’s better
left to lawyers and administrators.
Truth: The fair use provision of the Copyright Act is written
broadly—not
narrowly—because
it is designed to apply to a wide range of creative works and
the
people who use them. Fair use is a part of the law that belongs to everyone—
especially
to working educators. Educators know best what they need to use of
existing
copyrighted culture to construct their own lessons and materials. Only
members
of the actual community can decide what’s really needed. Once they
know,
they can tell their lawyers and administrators.” (http://mediaeducationlab.com/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education-0)
I’m pretty sure that the intention of
copyright law is to protect creative content. One example I heard makes the
most sense. Copyright laws prevent one textbook writer from cutting and pasting
bulks of text from another textbook and then slapping their own name on it. It
is intended to prevent plagiarism and wrongful ownership of original work. I think that in most instances, educators
have far more freedom than we ever imagined. The truth is that most teachers
tend to be pretty decent rule followers and just don’t want to get into trouble. I encourage you to take the time to read
through the Code of Best Practices for your own understanding. And then,
utilize the freedom you are given to educate!
References
Code of
Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education | Media Education Lab.
(2008, November 11). Retrieved February 25,
2015, from
http://mediaeducationlab.com/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education-0
Just like you, I can remember a time when our county had purchased a Social Studies book that came with many wonderful books, but the problem was there was only one of each of these books and at the bottom it said not to reproduce. These were really good books that I desperately wanted to use in my classroom. They had wonderful stories and great activities to reinforce the skill. I was terrified of making copies fearing that a parent, administrator, or coworker would see that I had copied that page and that I would get fired. The mindset that I had is the same that many educators have. If I copy this then I will get sued or fired. I never realized there was a fair use policy that helped to protect educators. I feel that a lot of good educational resources are not used for fear that copying or sharing might get a teacher in trouble. I think that this is something that needs to be brought to teachers’ attention. I think that if more teachers knew about this, then it would help eliminate the confusion about what can or can’t be copied or what can or can’t be used in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteKaren did a lovely job on her post! I too, have been in the same situation, for not only school purposes but also as a youth leader-teacher and a Sunday school teacher. So many times, I have printed off materials for use ONLY in those particular settings, for no other uses and felt guilty, like you said “all the while feeling like I was a criminal”. I know the feeling all too well! We all in education seem to be rule followers and sometimes, we tend to follow to steep, but it’s always a good practice in my opinion, to be careful!
ReplyDeleteThere does seem to be some grey areas in concern to fair use and the “rules of thumb” for guidance. As an ungrad student, I always heard, it’s ok to use this or that as long as you are doing so for ‘educational purposes’, this area seems to be ‘grey’ or ‘flexible’ as well. According to the code of best practices in fair use article, as long as the item occurs within an educational setting, if it were to be challenged they would be more likely to receive special considerations. I believe one of the most important considerations is to ask, why is this item being used? What extend and what for? Just as the article discusses the “four factors”.
“(judges refer to four types of considerations mentioned in the law: the nature of the use, the nature of the work used, the extent of the use, and its economic effect…”
Which in turn, does still leave plenty of room for considerations, analysis and varying interpretations.
Karen Team 2,
ReplyDeleteI have been in a similar situation as in the past 2 years as my students have been having to use ebooks to complete their assignments in one of my Business courses. The material was sometimes written in a manner that was above the reading level of my students and so I would “rewrite” the instructions in a way they could understand. I would also put in the footer of all of my instruction the source that I originally retrieved the information from. Now while that was solely for educational purposes, I still felt like it was probably still wrong to do. Today, I have reverted from doing that any longer and have just made it practice to explain what the instructions are saying to students since I have several classes with similar books that we must use to obtain Microsoft certifications in my courses.
After reading further down into your blog, I liked your statement about teachers being responsible and giving credit to supplemental materials they use as well as being an example to our students to ensure that they give credit where credit is due when they use other’s works. I do agree with you in that there are lots of teachers who could be utilizing more resources in their lessons who are afraid that they would be breaking copyright/fair use laws. This is very unfortunate because with the kids we teach today, we are tasked with coming up with creative ways to keep them engaged, which involves using outside sources.
Karen, your article gave me a great sense of insight. I attended Georgia State University and all I could think about while reading your article was the GSU Library Copyright Lawsuit. Copyrights and “fair use” are extremely touchy subjects and just makes me nervous writing about the subject. I like the fact that you list the definitions to Fair Use and Media Literacy; this gave me a great understanding of the content. As an educator I constantly question if I can use a material and what is considered siting a source. The information you listed concerning The Code and the categories within The Code helped me understand the meaning of Fair Use and why it is so important. If an author or creator has worked to create or write a material then he/she should be given credit for their research, creativity, and hard work. My takeaway from your post is that Fair Use and Copyright are about honesty and the respect of the writer.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your tale when it comes to being though as copyrighting someones work. I had an experience like this in one of my undergraduate classes that a teacher thought I was doing the same lesson as another classmate of mine for an assignment we had to complete. This was not true at all. The ideas were similar at certain points because we had to create a lesson on a set of books but the whole lesson in itself was different from the other classmates. This can become a similar issue when you collaborate with another person on an assignment for a class, project, or program and this person might take credit for your idea. I have seen use of the vocab problem you stated when a teacher borrows the vocabulary words for students learning from a program like Imagine It! from SRA Learning, which is a reading program that an elementary school I visited has utilized in their curriculum.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually comforting to read! I can totally relate to your feeling "like a criminal." You hear a LOT about copyright, and not really a lot about fair use. I agree that copyright is an attempt to prevent plagiarism, and that isn't what we as teachers are doing. We do have more freedom than we probably think!
ReplyDeleteI have been in a very similar situation to you making copies. If a workbook doesn't specifically say, "do not photocopy," can we copy it for educational purposes? It seems like we've always been steered away from that, however, does it fall under fair use? Copyright and fair use aren't always crystal clear, but it is comforting to know that fair use does exist!
I completely understand how you felt when you were making those copies! I recently wanted to use a portion of a text and had to check with my media specialist on the rules and guidelines before I made copies. I found comfort after speaking with her knowing that I could safely use the passage. Another classmate suggested that we provided information to parents on this topic as well as the students because the parents often do not know or even think about copyright laws. This would help students and parents when working on projects at home. I am pleased to hear that educators are still out there that do question whether or not they can use materials. I think sometimes people forget that someone else worked hard to create something and they deserve the credit.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the fair use guidelines are written broadly provides some comfort, but also anguish. You want the rules to be specific, so that you know exactly what you can and cannot do. But you don't want to be disallowed from doing too much with materials. The most intimidated I've ever been about fair use is when posting materials for sale on teachers pay teachers. As more and more teachers profit from their original work, it's important to know that the picture of Anna and Else you pasted on a class worksheet, can't be sold to others.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. What makes sense in an individual's head is what is usually permitted when considering fair use. Teacher's especially like to make sense of the situation and do what they feel is acceptable. We have all seen it, a teacher needs to use a particular part of a book for a lesson, so what does she do? She takes that book and copy 5-10 pages 25 times for each student in her class. Her logic is simple...she's using that information for educational purposes and not to make money. However, just because it makes sense to her, that doesn't mean it's acceptable. You're right, the intention of copyright law is to protect creative content and to prevent plagiarism and wrongful ownership of original work. It’s also not limited to, books, poetry, movies, video games, videos, plays, paintings, sheet music, recorded music performances, novels, software code, sculptures, or photographs. Teacher won’t necessarily search for this information, so it’s imperative that the media specialist enlighten and inform to ensure fair use is acknowledged and supported.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your Mom! Use Wisdom. However, your blog sincerely helped me with some measurements with which I could use when trying to discern and apply that wisdom as it relates to “Fair Use”.
ReplyDeleteAs a classroom teacher and a future media specialist, I have always been in the “realm” of copyright and fair use, but can’t say that I have fully understood when and when I can’t copy something. For example, I am currently teaching poetry & elements of poetry in my 4th grade class. As students build their reading journals with information about poetry, I want to provide them with a couple examples of poems that they can annotate and label for comprehension/ understanding. I have copied a couple that can be glued into their journal for them. The entire intent of this is to further my students understanding and save time for my students so they are most focused on the elements in the poetry- not devising poems themselves at this point. I am also not infringing on the author / publishers financial gains, nor am I trying to pass the work off as my own. I believe that this example would lend itself to your category listed as # 1.) Classroom teaching with copyrighted materials.
Thanks for your post! I found it informative and easy to read.
I agree with your Mom! Use Wisdom. However, your blog sincerely helped me with some measurements with which I could use when trying to discern and apply that wisdom as it relates to “Fair Use”.
ReplyDeleteAs a classroom teacher and a future media specialist, I have always been in the “realm” of copyright and fair use, but can’t say that I have fully understood when and when I can’t copy something. For example, I am currently teaching poetry & elements of poetry in my 4th grade class. As students build their reading journals with information about poetry, I want to provide them with a couple examples of poems that they can annotate and label for comprehension/ understanding. I have copied a couple that can be glued into their journal for them. The entire intent of this is to further my students understanding and save time for my students so they are most focused on the elements in the poetry- not devising poems themselves at this point. I am also not infringing on the author / publishers financial gains, nor am I trying to pass the work off as my own. I believe that this example would lend itself to your category listed as # 1.) Classroom teaching with copyrighted materials.
Thanks for your post! I found it informative and easy to read.
I am so happy to hear that I am not alone. As a teacher, I did also question my rights to copying materials for a lesson. I felt like a copyright violator. I didn’t know about "Fair Use", my excuse was “everybody is doing it.” And I must admit, that this ignorance has hindered me. Once I was considering being a vlogger. I decided against it mainly because I worried about copyrighting issues. It is good to know that I may be protected by "Fair Use".
ReplyDelete