Hick's+Ch.+5+Presentation-+Emily+and+Jenna

===﻿ Hello Ladies! Here are the questions and sites we would like to discuss in our presentation. Please explore the sites and respond to the questions by Tuesday (April 5th) at Midnight, thank you!:] ===

QUESTION 3:
===As teachers using digital media in our curriculum, we need to be aware of copyright and fair use issues. Watch the video by the Center for Social Media. After the video, scroll down to the Code of Best Practices in Fair use for Media Literacy Education (2008). Read Principle 4 and 5. After reading the principles, do you feel more protected knowing the limitations of fair use? Do you think many teachers are familiar with these? Are there any looming issues that need further development? ===

Responses:
__**Carrie's Response: **__ I am glad you shared this video and fair practices website because it is something I have wondered for years. This is a little off topic but an example on how students can get in trouble for copyrights---I didn't like taking home my band folder to practice because it was huge and I would sometimes forget it--not good for the only Bass Clarinet player in the band, so I would make copies of the music at church. Well one day, someone random was in the copy room and saw me making copies of my music, that person was ready to turn me in (I was like 14) and I was banned by my pastor from making copies. At 14, I didn't understand the law of copyrights and how people really do take them seriously. As a teacher we have to be careful what we use and how we use it. With that being said we have to teach our students from an early age what good practices are. Students need to know how to cite creative materials they are using and know where they are publishing their work. The Hicks chapter gives many sites students can share their work---but what if someone random sees copyright material on there? That could mean trouble for teachers and districts. I am glad I now know the limits and what fair use is---I might if I do a digital project share these guidelines with my students so they understand as well. I do not think many teachers understand the code of best practices---I think many teachers have a mind set that no one will know if they do it and it doesn't matter if they break the law. I am not sure if there are any other issues ( I can't think of any) but I am interested to see what others say.

﻿Carrie your example of copying music is one reason understanding Fair Use is so important! (It was not off topic.) We do need to impart this knowledge to students at an early age. The need to discuss Fair Use and copyright is even more pertinent with students working with digital medias at many age levels. ~Em

Meghan's Response: I really appreciate that you have mentioned copyright issues and fair practices into your discussion forum for this week :) With the advent of new technologies, I think it is becoming more challenging for teachers to determine when infringements & copyright issues occur.

I agree with you Carrie! A key component of our role as a teacher utilizing digital writing is helping students understanding fair use! Since our students are publishing their own work... they need to be aware of intellectual & legal ramifications. "Students have to understand how posting anything online or through digital media will reflect on them... and how their digital writing could, and, most likely, will be distributed in ways that are beyond their control. " (Hicks, 2009, p. 101). Thank You So much for showing us this resource... I have gained tremendous insights into the provisions of fair use... and I plan implementing these ideas when I teach my students about copyright. Once my students have established an awareness of copyright.. I will then discuss plagiarism and cheating.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">I too, don't think many teachers understand best practices. I think many teachers have good intentions... but, unfortunately, whether they are aware of it or not... they break copyright laws.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">I ideally would introduce this at the beginning of the school year... I was wondering what others thought?? When would you teach copyright & fair practice issues in your classroom?

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">﻿Your quote from Hick's (2009) is so dead on! Students do need to realize that anything they publish online can be "distributed in ways beyond their control." I think students sometimes get tunnel vision while working on a digital media project and think that the teacher and other students will be the only audience; however, if the piece is online, the audience then expands to practically any and everyone. I think teachers need to explicitly explain this to students and continually stress this point so that students are mindful authors of their works.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Your suggestion of teaching Fair Use along with plagiarism and cheating would be a good introduction for students. I think that you could easily set aside an entire lesson on Fair use and copyright and a complementary lesson for plagiarism and cheating, likely with the plagiarism/cheating lesson first. I think we need to stress to students that whatever they take and use from someone else is not only wrong but it's like stealing their time and efforts. For instance, a three minute video online could take up to thirty hours of preparatory work and actually filming. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/z6BcKlphhf8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">~Em

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Dr. Jones' Response: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">I greatly appreciate what both Meghan and Carrie have shared here and I too agree with their opinions that this was a very useful concept for us to focus on for our discussion this week. I am not sure if others would agree with my thinking, but in reflection on Meghan's question about "when to teach copyright & fair practice" I would think it would be a good idea to introduce the concept when students are in the revision stages of their composition process -- this way there would still be time for them to make adjustments if it became clear they were infringing on copyrights, and it would not interfere or limit their initial brainstorming process when the goal is simply to generate a wide range of possible ideas, images, links, and so on, which might be useful in the development of the piece.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I agree with you Dr. Jones and Heather about teaching Fair Use and copyright in the revision phase of writing. It would certainly allow students to reflect on their pieces while keeping in mind the possible larger audience of the world, especially if the piece would be exposed to the public. Teaching it during the revision process would also promote stronger pieces from the students, as they will be properly scaffolded while creating their digital media pieces. ~Em

<span style="color: #ff00b1; font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿ <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿Heather's Response: <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif;">I really enjoyed watching the fair use video that you found! My only experience with fair use was in one of my undergrad classes (Computers for Teachers), but we just barely touched on it and then had a little quiz. I'm sure it was part of the curriculum for that class, but it was not covered well and I remember thinking "What is fair use? I do not understand this at all..." I'm sure that many teachers feel that way and it really is a shame that it is almost glossed over in our education as preservice teachers. I do feel that I understand fair use better after viewing the video because it an excellent job of highlighting the major points. I like how the spokesperson in the video said the best way to deal with fair use is to encourage discussion about it and to use it. I agree that this should not be ignored in hopes of not getting caught. We need to understand it and our students need to understand it too. I think that I would like to teach my students about fair use in conjunction with teaching them about research practices. In my opinion, this is where it would be the most appropriate to introduce to younger students and then it could be revisited during revision, like Dr. Jone's suggested.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I'm happy you had some exposure to fair use before our class! It's unfortunate your teacher didn't stress the importance of it to you earlier. I think we need to convey the intricacies of fair use very clearly to students. As I mentioned in my response to Meghan, we need to stress the importance of fair use. And like you said, talking about fair use will only help understand it better.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In response to other teachers understanding of fair use, my experience as a student has led me to believe that many teachers are completely unaware of fair use and some blatantly abuse copyright with the hopes of not getting caught. I think workshops on Fair use and copyright would benefit entire districts and protect everyone from having any legal issues. As for the teachers that abuse copyright and hope to get away with it, that is not setting a good example for our students. As teachers, we need to be role models that act with sound judgement, whether or not we think our students will pick up on our behavior or not. ~Em

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">We look forward to our discussion today! Thank you so much for all your responses!!!!