The use of media in the 21^st century classroom is becoming more and more prevalent and important, however, are we using copyrighted materials in legal and ethical ways?  The recording and film industries recount numerous stories of illegal downloading and peer to peer file sharing by students, so clearly there is need for more instruction for students.   But as teachers, do we really understand Copyright and Fair Use, and has our district established clear guidelines?

Section 107 of the Copyright Act allows for fair use of copyrighted materials.  Yet what this means exactly is confusing to students, teachers, school districts, and even lawyers.  Teachers ask, “Can I use a part of this video in a lesson?” or “Can my students use an entire song in a presentation?”  The answer may vary according to whom you ask.  Sometimes, the teacher may be given Hall Davidson’s Copyright and Fair Use Guide for Teachers (http://www.halldavidson.net/copyright_chart.pdf), or the teacher may be asked to follow adopted practices aligned to Temple University’s Media Education Lab (http://mediaeducationlab.com/).  Both can be good resources to end the Copyright and Fair Use confusion, and are a great starting point to help districts formalize and communicate their Fair Use policies.

Creative Commons

A great resource for finding licensed images and other media is www.creativecommons.org.   This site allows creators to upload their images, music or videos and license their works that can then be legally modified or adapted for use by others.  Teachers and students can use Creative Commons to search sites like Google and flickr to find these licensed works.  The licensing restrictions are noted, however, in most cases, all the creator asks in exchange is for attribution by citing the URL.  This website helps students understand the legal issues of copyright and enables them to use media legally and ethically.

Dana Greenspan

CTAP  Region 8