Copyright

As a teacher, I have many responsibilities when it comes to the use of images with copyright, public domain, and creative commons licenses. I remember in school seeing pictures on slide shows having copyright or CC in the bottom corner and I always wondered why, until now. I just thought, why can't you just copy the picture online and use it for your slideshow? That is what I did when I had to prepare a project for school because I was never taught about this in school. I thought anything on the internet was free for me to use, but that is clearly not true. Although I was not taught in school how to properly use images on the internet, it is very important that teachers thoroughly explain why students need to understand copyright and how to use it. For teachers to use images with copyright, they have to seek permission for the original person who shared the images, and it usually costs money to do so. Images under public domain are not subject to copyright, so anyone can use them and nobody can claim them as their own as they are public access. For images with creative common licenses, teachers can use these images free but have to follow the rules that come with them. There are a variety of rules to go along with creative commons licenses and if you are curious to know what they are, visit this video link. 

Teaching students how to use images from the internet in their work needs to be configured into lessons. Technology has been taking over the world and is continuously growing. Education is requiring teachers to integrate technology as a regular activity. It is the teacher's responsibility to model how to use anything from the internet. If an image or video is included in a slide show, the teacher should take a minute to explain how he/she was able to use it, not just copy and paste because it is way more complex than that. Teachers need to get in the habit of explaining the importance of working with CC, public domain or copyright images, videos, etc. As of now, the only reason I know any of this is because of this class. I will make sure I gain a firm grasp on the concept, so I can teach the students how to do it as well. 

The ethical issues around music and movie downloading is that it is occurs so often that people do not view downloading as unethical or against the law. There are fines and jail sentencing involved, but it is so easy to download illegally that people do not care about it. One bad thing about it is the people who make the music or movies need to make money, and people are essentially stealing from them. As teachers, we need to make students aware of the consequences of music and movie downloading. Like I said, the people who make the music and movies need to make money, and free downloading takes away their income. If downloading becomes completely free, many people will not have a job. Students need to be made aware of that. It is worth it to pay for such things, so that people can continue to make music and movies.

Below is a good link to use when learning or teaching students about copyright. It provides questions to ask yourself or others to see if the image, video, etc qualifies for copyright.

http://libguides.uakron.edu/wayne_copyright