Imagine slicking up a Twister mat with baby oil, spinning around in fast circles with your eyes closed for three minutes, and then trying to play the convoluted balancing game without sliding or falling. If you’re an educator trying to figure out how to navigate copyright laws as they pertain to school projects, lessons, and presentations, you might feel as tangled and tied up in knots as Twister players feel when they slide and slip on a slippery field like this. Add to the confusion the defensive yet elusive concept of “fair use,” and you will probably land on your backside in a tumbled heap with the other players. Everyone is confused.
I’ve been collecting resources on copyright laws as they apply to educational use for several years, and as soon as I think I have a solid grasp on the legalities, my understanding shatters by someone else’s interpretation or explanation. On April 25, 2009, I listened with interest to the Classroom2.0 Live’s session on copyright with guest Kristin Hokanson. So many resources were shared in this session that it would take a college textbook to summarize the topic here. Instead, I will share Kristin’s resources and links for your more convenient exploration. The collection is a treasure worth keeping!
Kristin, along with librarian extraordinaire Joyce Valenza, opened my eyes to the surprising fact that copyright laws were not originated as a gestapo attempt to restrict the public from using art and text. In fact, copyright laws were meant to encourage creativity and artistic enterprise by ensuring recompense for artistic expression. Even so, many teachers, media specialists, and administrators are either paralyzed in fear when it comes to using published art and text in the classroom, or they are so overwhelmed that they fall into the opposite camp — they look the other way and shrug as students and colleagues blatantly google images and Xerox book pages for classroom use.
Indeed, there are limits to what we can use. On the other hand, there are defensible situations in which we can break those limits. But few teachers have the time or legal resources to determine those limits when they are presenting a lesson or guiding their students through a research project.
I find it easier and — even better, more creative – to encourage teachers and students to produce their own materials and / or to make creative use of the resources they already own. When technology integrators in my district help students with digital storytelling projects using MovieMaker or PhotoStory, we teach them how to use — gasp! — clip art, along with their own photos, as original and expressive art. That eliminates the possible hours of internet surfing for the “perfect” picture, and it neutralizes the legal fears of compromising copyright restrictions.
I know we are not alone in this, but our school district is not particularly progressive. By that I mean, we are not a 1:1 school district, and we are not a Mac district. Not only are we a Windows district, but we are behind a few years in our operating systems: We still use Windows XP, and even Windows 2000 in some of our 64 schools! To add insult to injury, our district is extremely security-driven, and the firewalls are insurmountable. Students are blocked from searching google images or flickr, so resources for art are severely limited compared to typical internet harvesting.
Given those limitations, I decided to put together a presentation that demonstrates many of the tricks and tips our integrators use when helping students and teachers find unique ways to use our limited resources to illustrate their multimedia projects.
Twister image from flickr
Image title: ‘IMG_2148′
www.flickr.com/photos/31788279@N00/2532580926
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Posted on May 3rd, 2009 by Sharon Elin
Filed under: Uncategorized
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