Video Clip from MLB.Com
Fair Use and Copyright
Many times in a classroom a teacher feels like Carlton Fisk in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series hoping their use of media complies with "Fair" Use practices as it pertains to copyright laws. We stand at home plate waving a lesson that uses media to "fair" territory hoping it is compliant with federal laws and it is entertaining to our students. Sometimes we jump on a pitch (media) and really like it and pull it foul and yanking in the stands by not complying with fair use practices and violating copyright laws.
Many times I may use a clip of movie illustrating a part of novel we are reading in class, or worse, show the entire movie without thinking of point that was brought out in a video in section 2, could my lesson live without it? Many times the answer would be yes, the lesson could survive without the piece of media. I had never have thought of using the question before in determining the use of a video or other media.
Now, I can argue that showing the majority of a movie based on a Shakespeare play is essential to my lesson since students have difficulty understanding the language of the play. The other criteria would then come into play of the length of the portion used in class being in violation of copyright law. I think this is where I am in agreement with Dr. B and it becomes slightly fuzzy in interpretation, but sometimes limiting the use of video, even with Shakespeare, would be wise.
Let me pose this question. Do we violate students' copyrights when we reuse their videos, projects, etc in the classroom? I love to have examples to show other students, but am I doing so legally? Professors at Full Sail ask us if they can reuse work, but I don't know of a written notice, unless it was somewhere in the documents we signed when we started our coursework. However, I know I don't obtain permission to reuse student work in my own setting. Can we legally place student work on a bulletin board?
It is the bottom of the twelfth and we are trying to hit the game winner home. Are we "fair" or "foul"?
Glenn,
ReplyDeleteI have to say that you raise a very good point when you ask about the use od our students' work. In fact, when I was reading your post, I got goosebumps when I read the last paragraph. The tiny little humans (in my case, not yours) have rights, too, don't they? You are so right to pose the question about our students and in fact it makes me feel guilty just thinking about if I have violated those rights or not. In fact, it would make a great lesson to teach our students about copyright if we start gaining their permission now. Because, after all, if we don't teach them about copyright, who will? Thinking more on this lesson... (even as young as my 4th graders), why don't we start now teaching kids how to copyright their own work and teach them about our artistic and digital society? So much of what I learned this week in the Copyright Issues is that sharing might be the answer to breaking free of the inhibition that copyright puts on creativity. Teaching our students now to share their work and about the creative commons licenses will only help them, not hurt them in their future... right?
Glenn,
ReplyDeleteYou make a couple of really good points. Regarding showing a movie to your class. I did the same thing for a unit of study in one of the courses I used to teach at the college. The movie was a movie I purchased, but since I played it to a group of people who paid to be in that classroom, does that constitute a public performance? I think, at the time, educational use was allowed, but now, I’m not so sure.
Secondly, you bring up student work. I too, use student-produced audio files as examples to my current students. I did get an oral agreement that I could use the work as an example, but perhaps I should start getting that in writing? Until now, the student work has only been available on the schools intranet. Now that I’m moving toward paperless classrooms and moving much of the content to an online environment, can I legally/ethically put their work online without further consent?
Interesting arguments and clip to illustrate your point. So, getting permission trumps all claims and eliminates the question all together. So, I think that we do ride the fine line, asking permission to use student work here at Fullsail and I'm sure that it is buried in all the paperwork that your work can be used in any promotional material that Full Sail may dream up. As for using your own students' work, I'm not a legal scholar, but I believe it's been tested in the courts, in connection with student work, particularly student publications and may apply to the classroom, but students do not have first amendment rights as far as their work in connection to school functions goes. The question is usually more related to student privacy and not publishing student work without parental permission for privacy issues and not copyright.
ReplyDeleteAs for the length of the clip, while the Fair Use stipulation is not specific, I'm sure that using a whole film would fail the "small portion" required in the Fair Use conditions. As far as teach, I worked with upper elementary and middle school students and I never found that they could follow along with a clip longer than four to five minutes without me having to pause the movie and ask questions. In fact, that was a technique that we worked out, that I'd preview the video, and look for mostly factual questions at regular intervals, make up a question list, and hand it out to students before beginning the video, and then pause the video to answer the questions as we worked through the video. This process made the video into more of a lean-forward experience and was a lot more effective than expecting them to pay attention to everything that I wanted them to learn. So, even in terms of teaching, I never just ran film, but broke it up into little learning sections.