Copyright and education

Journal reflection week #3

Copyright laws and education

After this week, I feel like I have so much to learn about copyright. The need to keep reading and learning about copyright and infringement, the ways to use creative works in the classroom and digital classroom lawfully and how ignorant I have been on this subject matter.

I grew knowing of but not really understanding or respecting copyright. In Venezuela we have copyrights laws, but these were never enforced and completely unknown to the general public. We read about litigation procedures on Trademark and Plagiarism in the news but they were always resolved privately.

It was and still is common to buy cheaper ripoff copies of published and copyrighted books because they were cheaper and you could make copies of the chapters you needed to study for your class, for example. But it went way beyond only books. CDs with movies and music, top charts hits, old and new, were available to purchase at any corner. Biggest hits, Romanticas, Christmas classics, in any language. They were called “Quemaitos”. Even software for computers and who knows what else. If it could be reproduced in CDs, it was available on the dime.

On the other hand, Plagiarism was real . From middle school on, my Teachers taught us about the ethical conflicts of using other people's words without attribution or correct citation.Essays and papers had to always have a special protocol where all the materials used for research had to be identified and correctly attributed.

As I read the material for this week, first I started to panic. Then I kept reading the required and supplemental readings and learned about Public Domain, Fair use, and the TEACH act. And I stopped feeling so nervous. We can use copyright work for education under special premises but we need to be careful and always consult with our Librarian or other responsible district or school officials to avoid any infringement that might affect us and our institution. Public domain and creative commons license is a wide open toolbox of resources.

Because I knew I was ignorant, but being ignorant would not save me any infraction or trouble, most of the time I only used district approved websites and apps that were paid by school or district for our use in the classroom or digital classroom environment. I was also careful to not use Disney movies or movies from the Internet for educational purposes or end of the year entertainment parties.

Now that I also learned about creative commons license I will try to explore other resources that offer the possibility of using the creative work of people who have authorized its use for educational purposes. I also kept the checklist of Fair Use from BUY to keep myself in compliance with what can be used and what cannot be used in the classroom.

Overall I think in our digital age we have to enforce copyright laws but it needs to be simplified for this generation who are used to click away any informational need. And we need to strike a balance to continue to encourage creative works in arts and science meaning that copyright laws should not be so restrictive that it hinders creativity.