We had John Finch in class on Tuesday, his expertise comes in the field of copyright. His presentation this week did not primarily revolve around copyright but in talking to people who have heard him speak before said that he has quite a list of things that we should not be doing as teachers. One that did come up was the fact that you technically can not use public radio to provide music for gym class. It is nice to be aware of little things like this and I think that we as teachers need to protect ourselves but you have to draw a line. It gets to the point where if you followed all the rules and regulations there really would be very little things you could do in schools. I think the primary thing we need to do as teachers is ensure student safety. If students safety is put at risk, that is when you will get in trouble. Copyright laws just don't hold that high of a level of importance to me. I think it is hard enough to try and find enough good resources that engage students, without trying to figure out if the copyright laws allows them to be used in the classroom. If I think that something will promote learning and engage students I am going to be willing to use it. Whether it be an online video, an article or whatever else I will be willing to take a little risk when it comes to copyright. Look at the two teachers who came and spoke to us last week, they were pushing the issue when it came to social media and technology in the classroom. I think it is part of being a good teacher, thinking outside of the box and being willing those sort of risks. Hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me.
Hi Wade,
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of the no radio thing before John Finch mentioned it in class on Tuesday. I find it really strange. I could see how we can't use recorded radio audio, but live, ya that's odd. I'm with you on the entire copyright laws debate. If I can use it to improve my students' performance and achievement, I am willing to use it. (But with caution of course :) ).
Ya I agree with your thought process when using resources that promote learning. I think that even though you are technically not allowed to use radio in your classroom or YouTube in your classroom, I would be very surprised if you would ever get caught. I feel like the authorities have better things to do than track down all those teachers that are illegally using the radio in their classrooms. One other thing that John mentioned that really surprised me was that we are only allowed to use 10% of the textbook (or something like that). I would have thought once you bought the textbook it was yours to use.
ReplyDeleteBrook, you are right that the text once bought is yours to use - just not copy. Some workbooks or black line masters do give the right to copy for students though.
Delete