4.2 Safe, Healthy, Legal & Ethical Use
Candidates model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and technologies. (PSC 4.2/ISTE 5b)
Artifact: Copyright Presentation
Reflection:
The Copyright PowerPoint Presentation was created for ITEC 7445 Multimedia Design and Web Development and was perhaps one of the most enlightening assignments I completed during my tenure at Kennesaw State University. To complete this assignment, I extensively and carefully researched copyright law and fair use guidelines as they pertain to music. Because students and teachers both relate to music and commonly use music in the classroom or as a component of student projects, I thought it would be beneficial to examine how to use copyrighted music correctly and within fair use guidelines.
The artifact demonstrates my ability to model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal, and ethical use of music in the classroom. The presentation clearly explains how copyright law protects music, and explains how use of “first sale” music is still limited by copyright policies. Likewise, the presentation considers various facets of music use in the classroom that constitute or do not constitute fair use. For example, using lyrics or audio for educational purposes and reproducing less than 30 second of audio is generally acceptable, while making unnecessary copies of lyrics, posting copyrighted music to a website, or using unlawfully obtained music in the classroom does not constitute fair use. Most beneficial to the presentation are three scenarios that mimic specific dilemmas I have personally experienced concerning using music in the classroom. These scenarios help to illustrate how music can be used legally and ethically in the classroom in order to adhere to copyright protections and fair use guidelines.
I definitely learned a great deal about copyright protection and fair use by completing this presentation and realized that, despite my pure intentions, I had on occasion committed copyright infringement as related to music, even though my purposes were educational. While the “copyright police” will probably never catch the majority of copyright violations, it is important that teachers not only follow fair use guidelines for ethical reasons, but also teach students about how legally and ethically to use copyrighted material both inside and outside of the classroom. If I were to use this presentation in the future, I would add several slides addressing the student technology standards related to safe and healthy use of digital information and digital citizenship. Examples of how to teach digital citizenship to students of all ages would be a positive addition and would help schools understand how to approach this important component of technology literacy.
The Copyright Presentation was designed for the purpose of faculty development. Although teachers are required to sign documentation proving their understanding of copyright and fair use each school year, few take the time necessary to ensure that they themselves are not committing copyright infringement and are indeed adhering to fair use guidelines when using copyrighted materials. After studying common scenarios of copyright violations, educators should have a clear understanding of what constitutes infringement, as well as simple ways to avoid it. When teachers model safe and ethical use of information, they can then teach students appropriate use and improve their digital citizenship.
The Copyright PowerPoint Presentation was created for ITEC 7445 Multimedia Design and Web Development and was perhaps one of the most enlightening assignments I completed during my tenure at Kennesaw State University. To complete this assignment, I extensively and carefully researched copyright law and fair use guidelines as they pertain to music. Because students and teachers both relate to music and commonly use music in the classroom or as a component of student projects, I thought it would be beneficial to examine how to use copyrighted music correctly and within fair use guidelines.
The artifact demonstrates my ability to model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal, and ethical use of music in the classroom. The presentation clearly explains how copyright law protects music, and explains how use of “first sale” music is still limited by copyright policies. Likewise, the presentation considers various facets of music use in the classroom that constitute or do not constitute fair use. For example, using lyrics or audio for educational purposes and reproducing less than 30 second of audio is generally acceptable, while making unnecessary copies of lyrics, posting copyrighted music to a website, or using unlawfully obtained music in the classroom does not constitute fair use. Most beneficial to the presentation are three scenarios that mimic specific dilemmas I have personally experienced concerning using music in the classroom. These scenarios help to illustrate how music can be used legally and ethically in the classroom in order to adhere to copyright protections and fair use guidelines.
I definitely learned a great deal about copyright protection and fair use by completing this presentation and realized that, despite my pure intentions, I had on occasion committed copyright infringement as related to music, even though my purposes were educational. While the “copyright police” will probably never catch the majority of copyright violations, it is important that teachers not only follow fair use guidelines for ethical reasons, but also teach students about how legally and ethically to use copyrighted material both inside and outside of the classroom. If I were to use this presentation in the future, I would add several slides addressing the student technology standards related to safe and healthy use of digital information and digital citizenship. Examples of how to teach digital citizenship to students of all ages would be a positive addition and would help schools understand how to approach this important component of technology literacy.
The Copyright Presentation was designed for the purpose of faculty development. Although teachers are required to sign documentation proving their understanding of copyright and fair use each school year, few take the time necessary to ensure that they themselves are not committing copyright infringement and are indeed adhering to fair use guidelines when using copyrighted materials. After studying common scenarios of copyright violations, educators should have a clear understanding of what constitutes infringement, as well as simple ways to avoid it. When teachers model safe and ethical use of information, they can then teach students appropriate use and improve their digital citizenship.