COPYRIGHT CLARITY

Educators are challenged to provide students with learning activities that allow them to build creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills in the context of civic literacy and global awareness.  Students of this information age must learn to use multimedia texts, tools and technologies effectively.  They are encouraged to develop new ideas through creative play and self-expression.  We need to provide them with opportunities to apply critical thinking in responding to information and ideas while making responsible ethical judgements.  They must also be allowed to participate in working collaboratively with others to get projects done.  21^st-century learners are now encouraged to share their work with a larger, audience, so understanding copyright and fair use has become crucial to educators and students alike.  However, there is widespread misunderstanding of the so called “educational use guidelines” and much confusion surrounding copyright which has a price.  To begin, most teachers do not teach about it because they themselves do not understand it. They often depend on technology resource teachers or librarians to cover it with their students. It also limits the distribution of curriculum materials and resources, thus affecting students’ overall media literacy learning.  As a result, students do not learn that copyright is designed to protect both the rights of the owners and users in order to promote creativity and innovation.

Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning by Renee Hobbs is a wonderful resource for every educational organization to own. It really clarifies the purpose of copyright and encourages educators to use the legal rights granted them, as well as students, under the doctrine of fair use. The U.S. Constitution says, “The purpose of copyright is to promote the spread of knowledge and innovation.” Copyright law promotes this goal through the doctrine of fair use. “At the heart of copyright law, the doctrine of fair use states that people have a right to use copyrighted materials freely without payment or permission, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research” - Section 107: The Fair Use Doctrine of the Copyright Law of 1776. There are no concrete rules or guidelines, rather, it is an evaluative thinking process that requires one to use reasoning and judgement on a case by case analysis of the context and situation of the unlicensed use of copyrighted material.  There are four factors to consider: 1) the purpose and character of the use; 2) the nature of the copyrighted work; 3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and 4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.  Transformativeness is also a component we must use in ethical decision making, and ask ourselves, “Has the user added value or re-purposed the work? Is the copyrighted work used in a different way and geared toward a different audience than the original audience?”  Additionally, fair use allows teachers and students to use images outside of Creative Commons or “copyright free” images, and use what is necessary to accomplish our goals. We can further ask, “How will my use of the materials affect the copyright owner’s ability to profit from their work? Will my use of this work cause excessive economic harm to the copyright owner?”

Learning about copyright and fair use is an important part of digital citizenship. As a librarian, it is my responsibility to facilitate this learning for both teachers and students, but it is NOT my responsibility alone, nor is it solely the technology resource teacher’s responsibility.  As the book explains, ALL teachers need to play a part. The Loudoun County Public Schools website states, “To leverage technology for learning, students need to understand how to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly online.  As a result of our commitment to student safety and learning, all LCPS schools will implement the nationally-recognized Digital Citizenship curriculum available through Common Sense Media.  Participating BYOT schools will earn Digital Citizenship Certification through implementation of the Common Sense curriculum.”  Now, how each school goes about accomplishing this is different.  Last year, it fell completely on my shoulders, as I know is common in many schools.  I am challenged with working with my administration, TRT, and technology committee to develop a shared responsibility of this curriculum among the staff and outline for accomplishing this goal.