Technology+Report


 * Copyright – Your RIGHT to Copy **

 Copyright is the exclusive [|right] (a just claim or title, whether legal, prescriptive, or moral) to make [|copies] (transcribe; reproduce: to copy a set of figures from a book, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, [|video], etc) by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for [|the] lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death. (**Contributors**, 2011) At any given time, teachers may feel that they have found information that has a significant impact on their lessons and may need the tools to use this in a legal manner. Simply following the status quo will result in copyright violation many times. The repercussion can be something we would find difficult in overcoming and an example of ethical behavior we would not want associated with our district. All employees of the district should know the best ways to avoid problems with copyright by following five steps from the journal published by Technology and Learning. We must set a policy that we review the copyright law with all those in our learning community and select personnel to manage and monitor all issues related to licenses and registration. We need to teach ethical and legal practices and recognize stakeholders who comply. (**Davidson**, 2005) There are many tools available for us through these resources and interesting and helpful means to reinforce the steady implementation of these critical 21st Century Learning demands. There are rubrics and quizzes to support responsible school districts. The concept for regular check-ups for all involved is a good practice to keep them aware can be seen in other articles in an article The Copyright Paradox: Fighting Content Piracy in the Digital Era. (Band, 2001) Cyber ethics is a new concept for many of the teachers who have been in the school system for years. They find the citation and use of materials so easily accessible and the rumors of what is or isn’t legal is no way for our district to model what we expect from the community as we educate the next generation. Though it may seem trivial there is evidence that “piracy losses approached $2 billion in the United States. (Kruger, 2003) As we teach we can model the proper use of copyright in all our classes when we teach students and teachers by the way we attribute our sources for materials we use with them. To help prevent misuse and misunderstandings the district should provide the “Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Media” to teachers so we can help them with their multimedia projects. (Poley, 2011) Many resources are available for teachers but they have little experience in citing them. By providing them with guidelines they will be free to use the resources they find confidently.

=Works Cited = Band, J. (2001, Winter ). //The Copyright Paradox: Fighting Content Piracy in the Digital Era//. Retrieved June 18, 2011, from The Brookings Institute : http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2001/winter_technology_band.aspx Contributors, M. (2011, June 18). //Dictionary.com//. Retrieved June 18, 2011, from Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/ Davidson, H. (2005, June 25). Copyright Primer for Administrators. //Technology & Learning//, p. 6. Kruger, R. (2003, July/August). Discussing Cyber Ethixs with Students is Critical. //The Social Studies//, p. 3. Poley, D. J. (2011, April 21). //Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia//. Retrieved June 18, 2011, from American Distance Education Consortium: http://www.adec.edu/