Policy
Brief: Copyright of Internet Resources
Executive Summary:
Our
students and teachers are relying heavily upon internet resources when
researching topics and planning lessons; therefore, materials obtained
from the
internet are becoming the primary form of information for our school
population. Our school has found the
need to develop an updated AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) for our students
and
staff to ensure that copyright guidelines for internet resources are
being
followed. Such an AUP
states the appropriate uses of materials obtained from the internet in
regards
to what teachers can use in their classroom or what constitutes as fair
use;
and what internet materials students can use/cite in their school
papers and
projects. Furthermore, our district
needs to implement a strategy for promoting awareness of copyright/fair
use
laws. A team of administrators,
teachers, and relevant staff will be gathered to write the policy and
develop a
set plan for implementation and
teacher-student awareness.
Overview of Issues:
Public
Domain: Many teachers that utilize internet resources
to teach are under the impression that if something is on the internet,
then
that resource is open to the public for fair use. This is no longer true, as “these
days, almost all things are
copyrighted the moment they are written, no copyright notice is
required.
Postings to the net are not granted to the public domain, and don't
grant you
any permission to do further copying” (1).
Educational
VS. General Use:
Although fair use guidelines are not
as strict for educational use, there are still several limitations to
the
amount of content utilized from a piece of work, the duration of time
the piece
is used, and the amount of copies made.
Therefore, there is a need to produce a policy that promotes
teacher
awareness of the proper steps for using internet resources in their
classroom,
including written, audio, and visual works.
The school policy also needs to cover the guidelines governing
the use
of internet resources by the student population. In
our highly technological society, awareness
of copyright violations cannot be neglected, and should be taught as
soon as
students are capable of using internet resources. The following
concerns will
be addressed in the policy:
Policy Options:
Promoting
awareness of internet copyright/fair use policies within our district
will
consist of a two-step process to ensure that all members of the
learning
community are legally using and citing borrowed materials:
·
STEP
1:
Teacher Awareness: Once
a policy has been developed, there is a
strong need for teachers to be trained on the fair use guidelines for
both (1)
their personal teaching use, and (2) the use of internet resources by
their
students. Steps include mandatory
teacher in-service trainings to distribute, review and discuss the
newly
adapted school policy. Prior to the
start of the school year, teachers will be engaged in two a two-hour
sessions
to complete discussion of both topics. All
teachers will be provided with a chart similar to the one found on this
website: http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm#Fair
Use Matrix for Teachers
o
PROS: By
making attendance mandatory, this will
ensure that all school members are aware of the newly adapted school
policy. Rather than having a single
staff member trained (the technology coach), all teachers will be able
to
independently and legally use internet resources. This will allow the
technology coach to focus on other tasks and school technological needs.
o
CONS: The
small amount of in-service time written
into the teachers’ contract will be used to go over the new
internet policy
(rather than discussing other pertinent topics). The
goal is to utilize one year to discuss
the policy, and then train new teachers independently as they join the
school
district.
·
STEP
2: Student Awareness:
Student awareness can occur via two mediums (1) each teacher can
be held
accountable for discussing/teaching the internet copyright policy, or
(2) the
school could schedule age-appropriate sessions for each grade level.
o
Option
1 allows for teachers to specifically gear the internet policy lesson
toward
their students’ needs. In addition,
each
student will have access to a computer during such training. However, each teacher will need to be held
accountable for teaching their own class.
Fidelity of treatment and consistency may suffer.
o
Option
2 allows for fidelity of treatment and consistency in regards to the
newly adapted
policy as students are grouped by grade levels to receive the training. However during such trainings, students will
not have individual access to a computer due the classroom-sized
computer labs.
·
FOLLOW-UP:
Both options will involve continued classroom
follow-up of policy guidelines. Teachers
will be provided with resources to implement such follow-up with their
class.
References:
1.
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
Templeton,
Brad. 10 Big Myths About Copyright
Explained. (October 2008).
Retrieved: July 5, 2010