Copyright is an intellectual property of an individual!

Hello future educators,

 As educators we must be ethical and understand the laws, and know how to apply it to school settings. In the article "Copyright 101" Kate Thomson presents educators with concepts of copyright. Copyright laws are made of two believes:

1. Anyone who creates an original,
tangible work deserves to be 
compensated for that work.
2. That person should be able to 
control how that work is used.

The use for the U.S copyright law Title 17 of the United States Code, Public Law 93-553, 90 Stat. 2541, is to protect the work (property) of the author. 

However, there is fair use of copyright which allows educators to use these copyrights for educational purposes. Meaning as long as one does not use the whole work for educational purposes. There are four in determining if the act was "fair,"

1. the purpose of the use, including

whether the use is commercial or

for nonprofit educational purposes

2. the nature of the work; for

example, is it a fact-based or

highly creative work?

3. the amount of the work used in

relation to the work as a whole;

generally, the greater the amount

used, the more likely that the use

is not fair.

4. the eff ect of the use on the market

or potential income for the work;

again, generally, the greater the

market or profi t effect, the less

likely it is that the court will

conclude the use is fair.

As a future educator this article is an eye opener. Educators must be aware of "fair use" of articles, readings etc, and demonstrate NETS*T by modeling to their students the legal way. For example I came to find out that it is okay to take out a section of a textbook to use in a lesson plan. However, it is against the law and unethical to make copies of the WHOLE textbook and distribute to ones students. The article implements educators to safely and legally use resources found online for educational purposes. 

By understanding the four factors that determine "fair use", as an educator one can use these factors to model ethical use. This covers Standard 4 on NETS*T, by Modeling Digital Citizenship and Responsibility, "advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources." We demonstrate the importance of copyright and how to appropriately site resources used in their work.

Thomson. K. Copyright 101. Learning & Leading with Technology. 32 (7).