Copyright and Fair Use

For this assignment we were asked to read The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use. Teachers are the number one target for copyright problems because of the amount of information that is relayed to students. We were given a quiz to see if we know what is permissible and what is not. The quiz was there to enforce how little things we use in our everyday lives could be considered stealing.

1. A student snaps in half a CD-ROM the teacher really needed for her next class. The teacher decides to make a back-up copy of all her crucial disks so it never happens again. This is permissible.

True. Technically, this should be done in the library. The law allows archival copies, and, in some cases, lost, stolen, or damaged originals may be replaced with copies if the originals are unavailable or unreasonably priced.

I agree with this completely because if this is being used for educational use then it is not being sold to other people that are going to try to claim it. The major thing that makes me think that this is fair is in the answer it is clearly stated that the "law allows archival copies, and, in some cases, lost, stolen, or damaged originals may be replaced with copies if the originals are unavailable or unreasonably priced" this makes it so it is not being sold or stolen.

3. A school has a site license for version 3.3 of a multimedia program. A teacher buys five copies of version 4.0, which is more powerful, and installs them on five workstations in the computer lab. But now when students at these workstations create a project and bring it back to their classrooms, the computers (running 3.3) won't read the work! To end the chaos, it's permissible to install 4.0 on all machines.

False. Alas, the teacher bought a product that isn't backwards-compatible and should complain to the manufacturer. It's likely the law would deem it reasonable to install 3.3 in the new machines (after removing 4) until the issue is resolved.

I think that this is completely unfair for the teacher but fair for the manufacturer. Yes the teacher did purchase four copies of the product but she did not purchase the same amount of computers as the class has and it is unfair for her to copy his software. That is completely stealing and she needs to complain about the product not reading.

6. A middle school science class studying ocean ecosystems must gather material for multimedia projects. The teacher downloads pictures and information on marine life from various commercial and noncommercial sites to store in a folder for students to access. This is fair use.

True. The Web may be mined for resources. Download away (of course, don't hack into subscription sites)! But remember: you can't put these projects back up on the Web without permission from the copyright holders.

I am so glad that this is stated : "you can't put these projects back up on the Web without permission from the copyright holders." This makes it clear that you are able to use their pictures or information but you must credit it when you put it back out to the public.

7. An elementary school designs a password-protected Web site for families and faculty only. It's OK for teachers to post student work there, even when it uses copyright material without permission.

True. If the site really is protected, then this is considered OK. The school should monitor its Web hits, though, and make sure the outside world isn't sneaking in.

This was very confusing to me? Why would this even be an issue if it is dealing with students and families and they are given the password I do not see the problem here...I guess that is why is is aloud!

8. A student film buff downloads a new release from a Taiwanese Web site to use for a humanities project. As long as the student gives credit to the sites from which he's downloaded material, this is covered under fair use.

False. Educators may use "legitimately acquired" material without asking permission, but many file-sharing sites are suspect in this area. Use common sense to determine if those peer-to-peer resources are legitimate or pirated. (You can also check copyright ownership at www.loc.gov or www.mpa.org.)

So because he is using film the law change and I agree with that completly. Like it says in the answer, "use common sense to determine if those peer-to-peer resources are legitimate or pirated" so this is also helping you to make sure that not only are you not stealing the matieral that is being used but you are also getting real information and film that everyone knows they are in.

13. A history class videotapes a Holocaust survivor who lives in the community. The students digitally compress the interview, and, with the interviewee's permission, post it on the Web. Another school discovers the interview online and uses it in their History Day project. This is fair use.

True. That's the other side of fair use. Just as you can use other people's intellectual property for educational purposes without permission, so can your own be used.

This is a great example of how you need to claim your own work if you want. Compressing an interview and asking is great and if you want others to be able to use it then you will need to post the rules of use that you want. This will ensure that no one else is taking the credit you deserve.

Maine Memory Network

The "Maine Memory Network" was a great resource that we can all use. Being a social studies major this will come in handy many, many times. I went on and looked at Hermon, my home town, to see what our history was like and it was amazing! Things have changed so much and I can not believe how many fires we had in the early 1900's!! I could use this in the classroom all the time, we could have the students compare and contrast the differences and make maps showing how things have changed or put on a skit after researching the history of the town and acting out the differences. I saw these examples from other school examples and so not only is this helpful in information but it is a useful tool to be able to think of fun lesson plans for the students in Maine!

How to help someone use a computer

"How to help someone use a computer" is a very useful article for everyone because it helps people that are looking to help and also people that do not know things about computers. Something that stuck out with me is "if its not obvious to them, its not obvious" what an easy statement but it is so true. It would be so easy to judge a person that does not understand technology as much as we do and make them feel dumb. I can see myself say "well it is obvious".. and that would not help the situation at all it would just make things more tense and stressful. This will be something that i will tell myself often. An important rule "Never do something for someone that they are capable of doing for themselves" We are trying to help them, not do it for them. Whatever they are working on is their project, not ours.

I can use this information for the rest of my life. It is great for our class o be reading this because we will be groups and have to do projects with other students that may not know as much we know and we need to stay calm and be a resource that can help. We can always refer back tho the ideas and advice from this article.

Web 2.0 Educator

The Web 2.0 Educator I choose is Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis. First I choose her for her awesome name but then as I read through some of her blogs I found her to be so intelligent and funny! I love the lay out of her blog and I can not believe how many adds she has! Go her! She post poems and quotes and funny but knowledgeable things, and seems to be a huge advocate for technology in the classroom and a Mac lover like myself. I think that I will enjoy her blog a lot!

Type I and Type II Technology

While reading the Type II Applications of Technology in Education: New and Better Ways of Teaching and Learning by Cleborne D. Maddux and D. LaMont Johnson I was able to understand their terms greatly. In my own words I would consider Type I to be the misuse of technology in the classroom, mainly because the teacher is unsure or unwilling to learn how to use the technology. Because of this students are at the disadvantage. Examples of this would be not having an available computer in the classroom, not teaching computer skills as a class in elementary school because the sooner you become comfortable with technology the easier it will be in the future and the last example of Type I would be not upgrading the technology in schools. I understand that it is a major expense but it will eventually pay off, students will be able to use faster internet for better research, better programs for their projects and new techniques that could be used in the future work field. It will engage much more of the student population. Type II is a lot more familiar to me and my generation. I consider Type II to be using new programs and new technology on a daily bases, teachers teaching students new thing and students teaching teachers! Type II is having the world wide web at out fingertips, much like it is now. I was never in a school that did not have multiple computers in each room for all students use. We had a MAC lab in elementary - high school and our high school refurbished old air box computers, gutted it out and put new hard drives and MAC programs on all of them. We had a computer for over half the population of the school! That is a ton of computers! We were on the cutting edge of technology, being a school about ten years old. We had a great facility and teachers that kept up with technology. My example classes were Video Production where we made movies ALL the time, and I was anchor for the school news that we filmed and edited daily to show over the TVs in each classroom. I also took a desktop publishing class, that may sound boring but we did projects on almost every program that was offered on the computers. Other teachers and people in the community would have us putting their news out and we were getting graded on it! The last class that is a great example of Type II was Web Design. So many people took this class and were making their own webpages for school news, sports updates and homework that teachers wanted put on the web. This class alone sent 14 kids to NESCOM (New England School of Communications) in Bangor in just my senior year! I think that integrating technology has to be done for every student and we see this in our classes this year with blogging our homework! There should not be a future school that does not offer the highest technology that they can afford!!