Copyright Issues and Educators

The area of copyright issues where media use is concerned is fraught with challenges and potential pitfalls for educators. Copyright legislation and legal precedent are tremendously complex and ever-changing. Nevertheless, educators are charged with a double duty: they must, themselves, adhere to fair use guidelines in their use of technology in the classroom, and at the same time, impart on their students an awareness of fair use principles and a sense of the potentially serious ramifications of violating these principles.



Today's technology gives educators unprecedented access to text, music, and images, both still and moving. This affords teachers exciting opportunities to use these resources to make learning come alive for their students. In using these materials, however, educators must maintain an awareness of the reach of copyright and the limitations placed on them by fair use guidelines. In practical terms, this may mean, for example, that teachers should avoid copying long works for class use or using the same copies year after year. Additionally, showing a class a movie unrelated to the subject area as a reward the day before vacation does not constitute fair use.

It is incumbent upon educators to help students gain an understanding of how fair use of copyrighted materials applies to them in their role as students (and as consumers of music and media). Students need to know that they may only fairly use a maximum of three minutes or ten percent of a copyrighted motion media clip (whichever is less), or ten percent of a copyrighted piece of music, in their own productions for educational purposes. They should also be made aware of materials and resources available to them in the public domain.

Copyright infringement is a serious offense, and educators should be aware of the requirements of fair use, as well as school copyright policy. Both teachers and students should be able to use the burgeoning supply of digital information to enhance learning. However, this may often mean walking a fine line between creative freedom and legal compliance. Resources in the public domain may well be the key to carefree creative licence.