Educational Fair Use &

Creative Commons

By Wendy Brown

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Understanding the Terms Educational Fair Use is the interpretation of Fair Use policies in direct relation to the use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes only.

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

©

Edu. Fair Use can be broken into 5 principles:

1. Employing copyrighted material in

media literacy lessons

2. Employing

copyrighted material in preparing curriculum materials

3. Sharing media

literacy curriculum materials

4. Student use of

copyrighted materials in their own

academic work

5. Developing

audiences for student work

What educators can doEducators can use concepts and techniques of media literacy from copyrighted sources and make them available to others, in classroom workshops, informal teacher mentoring settings.

LimitationsEducators should use only what is necessary for the project or lesson. In other words using only clips or short segments of materials where appropriate. An effort should be made to site materials and give proper credit where possible.

1. Employing copyrighted material in

media literacy lessons

This principle pertains to the use of media such as television news, advertising, movies, pictures, magazine and newspaper articles.

What Educators can doEducators can integrate copyrighted material into curriculum material. This can include books, workbooks, podcasts, DVD compilations, videos and websites.

LimitationsWhen ever possible Educators should responsibly site the material used and how its use is pertinent to the lesson.

The use of copyrighted materials in creating lesson plans, classroom materials and tool kits.

2. Employing

copyrighted material in preparing curriculum materials

What Educators can doEducators are able to share lessons and other curriculum related information even if it includes copyrighted materials.

LimitationsEducators need are responsible for ensuring that all materials used, are directly related to the facilitation of learning for a particular subject or topic. Curriculum developers should seek permission from copyright owners when used for promotional purposes.

This describes the sharing of materials at conferences and continuing educational programs.

3. Sharing media

literacy curriculum materials

What students can doStudent can incorporate excerpts from copyrighted material in their own work for educational purposes such as comment & criticism, illustration, and discussion.

LimitationsThe use of copyrighted material in student work should be to stimulate learning and creativity - not act as a substitute. Students are responsible for using copyrighted material only where it pertains to the lesson or project. It is not intended as a means for students to exploit its popular appeal.

Students often use copyrighted material to learn new media literacy skills. They will often create derivatives of copyrighted material.

4. Student use of

copyrighted materials in their own

academic work

What Educators / Students can doStudents, with the direction of educators, can release work that contains portions or derivatives of copyrighted material to other audiences through mediums including the internet, email and list serves.

LimitationsThe sharing of a student’s work should be conservative and limited to only the necessary audience. Students or educators seeking to distribute media to the masses containing copyrighted material should seek approval from the appropriate copyright holders.

Educators may create projects where students are encouraged to distribute work that includes copyrighted material.

5. Developing

audiences for student work

Understanding the Terms

Image: TCJ2020 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that has developed and supports legal means to share, remix and reuse digital material.

The Goal of Creative Commons

“Our vision is nothing less than realizing the full

potential of the Internet – universal access to the

research, education, full participation in culture, and driving a new era of

development, growth and productivity.”

- http://creativecommons.org/about

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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The creative commons

licensing is a layered

approach that allows teachers to answer a few

simple questions and create a

license that fits their needs

while having their content

protected by the legal layer.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Creative Commons is used by individuals and large corporations alike.

List and image provided by: http://creativecommons.org/who-uses-cc

ExamplesFlickr

GoogleNine Inch Nails

MIT Open Course WarePublic Library of

ScienceWikipedia

Whitehouse.gov

Creative Commons

Where to find out more

How to create your own license: Http://creativecommons.org/choose/

Details and License types: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/