This week we discussed at length Copyright law, specifically Fair Use, and how it affects us as educators. In short? Without a thorough understanding of Fair Use laws, we simply cannot be effective instructors.
Fair Use is a sticky wicket, mostly because there is so much misinformation out there circulating as fact. Teachers are warned about the dangers of Copyright fraud, and that at any moment we or our students could be subject to auditing by the elusive Copyright Police.
In truth, many “guidelines” for Fair Use and appropriate Copyright practices do not follow the actual legislation at all. They are typically written by media companies who want to keep teachers and others from using their materials without their permission (i.e. without paying license or royalty fees).
In truth, educators need to be aware of five main indicators of Fair Use:
- Tranformation: are you and/or your students using the Copyrighted material in a new, innovative way to deepen understanding?
- Purpose: Why are you using this particular material? (ex: it is an example of the German sense of humor or gives perspective into how Germans think culturally about a specific topic)
- Nature: Are you intending to use the material in the same way or for a different reason? Are you expecting to make money off of the use? Are your intentions ethical?
- Amount: How much of the material do you intend to use?
- Market Impact: Is your use of the Copyrighted material going to take market business away from the original creator? Are they going to lose income if you use the material?
It is a relief to finally be accurately informed about Fair Use. As a German teacher, it is essential that I incorporate authentic materials into my instruction. Students must be exposed to German that was created for and is used by Germans! Music, images, short films, newspaper and magazine articles are all part of these authentic cultural materials. It would be a disservice to my students to expose them to anything less (i.e. textbook or teacher-created “stand in” materials for the real thing). I can now evaluate my use of these Copyrighted materials, and make my own decisions as to how I want to use them (and how I want my students to use them as well) in my classroom.
Laura: I like your summary of of Fair Use for educators. I was glad to finally get a thorough explanations (and one that I could actually understand!). I will definitely keep a copy of Copyright Clarity and refer to it often. I feel a lot better about using information I found on the Internet in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteYes! I love how you mentioned bringing authentic German materials to class. It's important while learning a language that we expose that to our students, if not they are missing out. Using copyright and fair use actually gives us more freedom to share these authentic materials with our students.
ReplyDeleteI am curious how copyright works internationally. I assume you'd just follow American law, being in America, but posters would have to follow the law of whatever their location is...
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