Copyright, Fair Use & Creative Commons

Image source: Wikimedia Commons (this image is in the public domain)

These RWLDs introduce you to fundamental principles of U.S. copyright law, fair use, public domain, and creative commons. Understanding these concepts is key to making legal/ethical decisions about incorporating media into your educational projects (and guiding your students to do so in the future).

List of Terms and Concepts You Should Know:

1. Copyright (What is it, and when is it obtained by a creator?)
2. Fair Use (when it can be used?)
3. Public Domain (explained in a YouTube video)
4. Creative Commons (How do you obtain a CC license?)
5. Jammie Thomas-Rasset's case, who illegally downloaded 24 songs. Read the follow-up to the story of Capitol v. Thomas on Wikipedia.

RESOURCES   

If you are a reader,
familiarize yourself with pages 1—6 of Copyright Basics (PDF) from the US Copyright Office (copyright.gov). This introduction to copyright law describes what works are protected and defines ownership as well as the typical duration of copyright law protection.

If you would rather watch videos to learn, 
review the 3 videos below:

Using Copyrighted Works in Our Own Creations: Fair Use, Creative Commons, and Permissions

 

Copyright History 

 

 Creative Commons

This 5-minute video explains why Creative Commons was created:


Creative Commons licenses make it easy for people to share their works, which are otherwise protected by copyright law. This provides terrific opportunities for teachers and students! It's what you might say is a happy middle ground between All Rights Reserved and the public domain.

Food for thought:  

You probably heard about ChatGPT and the concerns it raises among schools.  We are witnessing the rapid development of chatbots and artificial intelligence that can imitate human conversation and generate essays, poems, and even art.  

I asked ChatGPT two questions:

Q1: What do you think about students using ChatGPT to complete their assigned essays?

Here are the chat-generated answers: 

Q2: Is ChatGPT in violation of copyright laws?

Answer: 

What are your thoughts on using chatbots to complete your homework?  

Other Resources (As FYI, not required)

- To listen: NPR interview with an artist, Kelly McKernan, who filed the lawsuit after discovering that her artwork was used via an AI art generator to produce more work in her style.

- To read: Grappling With AI Writing Technologies in the Classroom - article but a high school social studies teacher https://www.edutopia.org/article/chatgpt-ai-writing-platforms-classroom 

- Bookmark and explore these UNI sites related to copyright: UNI Copyright Policies and Rod Library Guide to Copyright.

-Take a look at the Key Moments in Social Media Law from 1984 to today.

- To bookmark for later: How to cite ChatGPT 

- Copyrights and AI https://www.copyright.gov/ai/ 

Visual Literacy

Image: Ray eye  Creative Commons license

To Read: Color matters! Read about color symbolism in different cultures and explore other parts of this website to learn more about the significance of color in our lives.

To Watch:  You are in the process of designing your teacher's website.  It should be important for you to make conscious decisions about how you present the content of the pages.  

What makes the page user-friendly? 

What are the most common design mistakes made when creating websites?  

To help you answer that, I created a short video about web design considerations: 

To Watch: Visual Diagramming, Concept Mapping, Mind Mapping - these phrases apply to visually brainstorming or organizing ideas. This video explains the benefits of it:

Concept Maps for teaching and learning - it may be a useful tool, especially for older students, to represent knowledge of a topic, make connections between ideas 

To use in the early elementary classroom (or with your kids): C.A.R.P. junior - Design Principles for kids - ideas for practicing them in an elementary classroom.

To challenge yourself: Look at these 25 of the most iconic photographs (according to CNN) - How many can you name just by looking at them?

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Additional optional resources:

ISTE Standards for Educators:
2.5c Educators explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning.
2.6d. Educators model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge or connections.

ISTE Standards for Students :
1.1b Students build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process.
1.6c Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models, or simulations.

• To browse: Free teaching resources from Visual Literacy today: https://visualliteracytoday.org/teaching-resources/
  
  
• To read: (elementary and middle grades): How to incorporate Visual Literacy in your classroom by using wordless texts to help students make observations in the illustrations while addressing six components of visual literacy: https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-incorporate-visual-literacy-your-instruction/ 

• To read (HS): Article about teaching Visual Literacy in high school English  https://www.secondaryenglishcoffeeshop.com/2022/10/the-3-rs-reading-riting-and-rithmetic.html
  
  
•  To interact: Play with colors professionally: Paletton.com- The color scheme designer.
  
  
• To read: How to Design For Color Blindness: https://www.getfeedback.com/resources/ux/how-to-design-for-color-blindness/ 
  
  
• To browse: Smithsonian Open Access:  where you can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images.