News You Can Use
from Wrong With school district budgets strained, educators may be tempted to make photocopies of a chapter of a book and give it to students instead of buying the book. The temptation though, if acted on, would be illegal. The laws surrounding copyright, especially in the face of both budget issues and new technology used in the classroom are especially important to understand. As educators use more and more technology in the classroom—finding videos, web articles, blogs and vlogs to share with students—legal experts say everyone who uses anything that is not their own needs to understand what’s called fair use (see box for details). The following are some common copyright questions answered from the National Education Association’s, The Copyright Primer for Librarians and Educators by Janis Bruwelheide.
Can a teacher download images from a fee-based service and share them with colleagues? No, not without checking to see if the company the photos were purchased through allows for the sharing. The same is true for someone who chooses to collect materials online and gather them into a new body of work with a new title. This is a derivative work and requires permission from any bloggers/authors who originated the work. Check with the authors first. Usually you will receive permission for the compilation for non-profit use.
Can I or my students use music in a presentation?
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Yes, just don’t let the music out of the classroom. When it comes to music or movies educators and students are in the clear if the material is both obtained legally and used for educational purposes. But remember, the classroom rule—any presentation with music must not be placed online, like Vimeo or YouTube; that may require special permission.
What about photocopies? Can I make copies of workbooks or standardized tests to prepare my students for exams? No. Things like workbooks and standardized tests are “consumables,” and are not considered fair use. The same is true for photocopies of entire books or entire chapters in mass quantity—it is not allowed. You are however allowed to make multiple copies for classroom use if the material is for one course, is no longer than a short poem or essay (2,500 words or less) or an excerpt from any work that is no longer than 10% of the entire document. The same educator is allowed to copy materials for one course during one class term nine times per year. Copying is not allowed to avoid the purchase of more materials. Instead of sharing the material in its entirety, think about creating a link on your presentation for the information.
October 2014 • www.maineea.org
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