Blog #7: Copyright and Fair Use

Copyright and Fair Use

I once participated in a Conference on eLearning Africa in 2015 hosted by Ethiopia where I presented a paper titled" Role of Students as a Media Tech support: A case study of Gayaza High School, Uganda".  After going through this work on copyright and fair use, I remembered vividly a question asked by one of the participants whether the media created by Gayaza high school students was freely accessed by the public or it was restricted. At that time, I had no clue on what "creative commons" was since I was new in the game of educational technology and little did I know that two years from that conference I will be in a class gaining more and more knowledge on the topic.    I must admit that the issues of copyrights laws and fair use are complicated  especially when it comes to educational use. Many teachers find themselves hiding behind the notion that just a citation of the authors work is enough and they forget that these laws are there to protect and benefit the creator and the society as a whole. Unfortunately, we forget that the world has moved and classes ceased being four walls where a a teacher and his/her students can use any material just like that. I think ethically teachers need to lead by examples to their students when it comes to asking for permission from the creators to use any of their materials. I liked the video by Jeff Strauss, Day at School: Copyright and You accessed on

Url: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=yg7MXoaRUvo&list=PLvzOwE5lWqhTbOCIFp_OxsN6nC-l20kMT&index=5

This video is a good example of how educators can help peers understand some of these technicalities that come with copyright and fair use. I am sure if every school had one person of Jeff's calibre, the schools would be good incubators of digital citizens that appreciate creativity and patent rights. People would know the extent of what they are supposed to do with copyrighted materials. Some do it out of ignorance and its every ones duty in the know to share. I in particular liked the idea of giving a camera to a colleague to go out and take his own photos instead of using online photos without seeking for permission from the owners. This is a a brilliant idea and it can create creativity in a school setting .  
I enjoyed the reading on educators guide to copyright and fair use accessed on url: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr280.shtml. It falls in line with the Video by Jeff and this information is paramount for any educator who is planning to engage in multimedia activities with his students. The article has links to other important information in relation to what every educator ought to know as far as the copyright laws and fair use in concerned. Some educators hide behind the fair use law and as Nancy Willard puts it, "they are not correct in that belief" because it provides limited basis by which people can use copyrighted materials without getting the creators permission. I would think that ethically, it would be proper to seek permission before use in classes.