Technology+Report

Copyright issues in our school district are clearly defined in our handbooks as well as on our webpage but as concerned educators we must rethink how we handle this information. In this new digital age we think of technology in many positives lights, but we must see how the ease of this new information is changing the way we should treat copyright laws. Hal Davidson wrote in his article Copyright Primer for Administrators “As new technologies become increasingly common and integrated into all areas of school instruction and business, an up-to- date education on what is and is not a legal use of resources remains a crucial element of a workable 21st century literacy.” Consider also that the writers of the original Copyright Act of 1976 had no idea the amount of media we would be protecting in our district. From books, CD’s, DVD’s, images, artwork, software and prose our district has a lot of areas to monitor when it comes Fair Use. Anything that was thought up can be fought for and we do not want or need any type of litigation. The problem is not just one in regards to our students but really for our district to make sure we are using the laws correctly as well as educating everyone on the legalities of such use. As educators we tend to concentrate on the written problems with copyright laws. Mostly on proper citation and plagiarism but our students think nothing of directly cutting and pasting information from the web without permission or even citation. Did you know that their is plagiarism detecting software programs available? In the article //Actions Do Speak Louder than Words: Deterring Plagiarism with the Use of Plagiarism- Detection Software// by Bear Braumoeller of Harvard University professors used a Essay Verification Engine or EVE to look at the amount 180 political science majors used plagiarism. In the trial run alone “1 in 8 papers was deemed problematic to either casual or blatant plagiarism.” Such small cost tactics could have a great push to steer students from early ages in the right direction. Students use photographs, artwork and direct information from the web without thought and without much warning. They have little consequence to do so and the only check and balance is their teachers. In all honesty a teacher cannot know the content of every site. Teachers need to educate students on creative commons and demonstrate how to use such sites as [|http://www.creativecommons.org] or even [] in order to show what is usable and what is theft. District policy also needs to be directly given not only to students and staff but to parents and guardians as well, with hopes that they will actively monitor their students at home and question such work ethic. Educators themselves can be found in every district pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in regards to copyright and most specifically the Fair Use right, in Section 107 of the US Copyright Act. This section permits the usage of copyrighted material for particular purposes, such as teaching, scholarship and even research. While this is a great loophole for us as educators it is heavily misused in our classrooms. Data can be easily copied and shared, such as movies computer programs and books at the copy machine. While such small acts of copyright infringement seem beneficial for our tight budgets and small timelines they could be catastrophic for our district and careers. The standards for policy on copyright need to be administered to staff yearly and copy usage of all types need to be monitored. This with a thorough re-teaching of the guidelines of our district in regards to copyright to staff, students and parents should drastically cut down the risk in regards to copyright in our district.

References:

Davidson, Hal June 2005 Copyright Primer for Adminstrators //Technology & Learning// pg s2

Retrieved 5/8/10 from website http://creativecommons.org/

Braumoeller, Bear and Gaines, Brian Dec 2001 Actions Do Speak Louder than Words: Deterring Plagiarism with the Use of Plagiarism- Detection Software //PS: Political Science and Politics//. Retrieved on 5/8/10 from []