I am in my fifth year of teaching high school English, and reading these articles has made me realize just how blissfully ignorant I have been about copyright and fair use. When I have shown a film, borrowed an assignment from a colleague, or used an image or audio file to enhance a presentation, I have never really thought about my legal permissions. In fact, Hobbs (2010) might as well have been describing me when he wrote, "many teachers feel they doing God's work and that copying to any degree in the service of education is permitted," (p. 56). I really have had that mentality in the classroom. When I am trying to think of dynamic ways to enhance the classroom experience for my students, I don't really think about copyright. If I can find something and think that it will help my students, then I will use it. I suppose that I consider education to be "God's work" and I also rationalize my use of copyrighted materials by telling myself that I am just a "little fish" and no multimedia company is going to come knocking on my classroom door.
Although some sections of the reading made me feel like I was ignoring copyright laws, as I continued to read I actually felt empowered by the material. The Center for Social Media (2009) made me realize that I do have a right as an educator to use copyrighted material as long as I do it responsibly, "As an important first step in reclaiming their fair use rights, educators should employ this document to inform their own practices in the classroom and beyond," (p. 14). It is my duty to educate myself about fair use so that I can make an informed decision about what to do in my classroom. However, if I do make an informed decision, then as an educator, I am granted an additional degree of leniency in regard to fair use policies. Hobbs (2010) highlighted this special provision of the law, "If an employee of a nonprofit educational institution has made a rational and reasonable fair-use determination, he or she is not likely to be targeted for an infringement lawsuit" (p. 59).
When I consider my own classroom and my use of copyrighted material, I think that my practices would fall under fair use because I "transform" the original material and re-purpose it for the classroom environment. However, I am still not certain if this "transformation" is a proper defense. For the purpose of discussion and for my own enlightenment, I would like to share an assignment that I just gave to my 8th grade class. Perhaps my commenters could share their thoughts on whether or not this example is a case of fair use.
My eighth grade class is finishing up a unit on Detective Fiction. We have read several detective stories from our short story anthology, and we have discussed the qualities of the genre. As a class, we have established some rules for Detective Fiction, and my students are going to attempt to write their own detective stories. After reading detective fiction for 3 weeks, I like to reward the students by watching an episode of The X-Files and then I have them write a brief essay on whether or not the particular episode ("Field Trip") qualifies as a piece of detective fiction. (Note: I personally own a copy of the DVD with that episode). I like this assignment because it challenges them to apply what they have learned to a different medium. I think that the original purpose of the episode was for entertainment, and I am having my students analyze it and assess its ability to adhere to the rules of a particular genre. Is this acceptable? Should I alter my unit?
Hey!
ReplyDeleteI also use so much added text, videos, or worksheets in my class and have rarely considered if it was ok? I am definitely guilty of over copying workbooks…oops, sorry! But, I do think as educators we are using material in transformative ways by repurposing it.
So, in thinking about your unit and usage of The X-files episode, I would say you fall under fair use. The original purpose was to entertain; yours is to have students compare and contrast. You own a copy and are not selling or making money off of viewing it. Personally, I love the unit and think it is very appropriate for 8th graders and in terms of fair use!