Thing 6 - Copyright in the Digital Age

Fair use is a new element of the copyright policy that I have not investigated prior to this class. For the most part my understanding of copyright policy is its restrictions. Namely, if I am not the creator then I cannot use material without copyright infringement. My exposure to copyright has always been what I am not allowed to do versus what is considered the range of fair use. The districts that I have worked for have tended to be cautious and restrictive in guiding teachers about copyright rather than open to exposing the permitted zone of use encouraged by fair use policy. Yet with media technology changing so rapidly and becoming such a prevalent means for accessing information, it is logical that this fair use aspect would become an entry point for pulling this information into the classroom.

Some of the "discoveries" that I have made is that there is more permissible use than I had understood. I am not required to seek written permission for all media literacy used in the classroom if its use in the classroom has social/cultural benefits. I was surprised to see fair use defined as "flexible". I had believed that there was a formula of tolerable use and this is not the case. I took from the reading that excessive caution is not what fair use policy recommends. I am learning that thoughtful use of media for curriculum development and implementation is probably permitted by the fair use policy.

As I look ahead in my teaching, I need to do more research regarding fair use policy and photos/images. When I or students want to add images to projects is this considered fair use for educational purposes? Is citing the source of the pictures enough? What about images on share cites like Flicker? I also want to investigate the use of target language songs, audio clips, and podcasts in the my classroom. Once upon a time, I had to travel to a country for "realia". Now, I have access to more authentic resources than I can ever use in a classroom. Fair use policy suggests that I may have more legal access to this and its use in my classroom than I previously knew.