The Importance of Copyright in Education

In the twenty-first century, educators and students alike are constantly accessing media from the Internet. Given the fact that we live in such a digital age, it more important than ever for both educators and students to know what copyright laws are, how to protect their own creations, and how to legally share the creations they find.

Ribeiro, L. (2008, June 30). Children at Computer. [Photograph].
from https://www.flickr.com/photos/lupuca/8720604364/

This week I had the opportunity to do a little bit of research into the issue of copyright so that I could gain a better understanding of what copyright really means and how to properly use it. In North America, all original, tangible work is copyrighted and one must obtain permission to use it for copying, distributing, performing, displaying or adapting. I was surprised to learn that copyright notices are not required as the simple act of creating the work enables the copyright, meaning that only the creator of the original work possesses the right to use the work. [1] While these laws may seem very restrictive, it is important that they are in place to protect artists' and authors' creativity.

Canada does, however, have a clause for fair dealing in its Copyright Act. Fair dealing allows others to use the work for "purposes of private study, research, criticism, review or news reporting that is not considered to constitute infringement of copyright” [2] This allows teachers in non-profit educational settings to communicate and reproduce small excerpts (up to 10%) from a copyrighted work for the purposes listed above. [3]

For artists and authors who wish to share their work more openly, Creative Commons provides an excellent solution. Creative Commons allows artist and authors to provide licenses that specify how their creations can be used by others. For examples, an artist can specify whether he requires attribution, non-commercial use, share alike, or no derivative works. [4] Creative Commons is a great resource for teachers and students as they can search for digital media and easily see the permitted uses.

In today's digital age, it is critical that students learn about copyright laws both with regards to how to protect their own work and how to properly share the work created by others. As a teacher, I would first begin with a class discussion asking students how they would feel if someone took their creation and pretended it was their own, changed it, or used it in a way that the student did not like. This discussion would help students to understand why copyright laws are needed in the first place. From there we could discuss how the Copyright Act protects people's creativity. Then we could talk about how it can be valuable to share our creative works with others and how resources such as the Creative Commons allows us to do so effectively. In order to help students put this into practice, I would have students create a sound clip, video, or photograph and upload it to Creative Commons so that they could see how to apply a Creative Commons license to their own work. I would also have students practice finding an image via the Creative Commons website and giving the proper citation for that work. This is not something that I would have the students practice only once or twice, but it is something we would do throughout the school year with various projects so that students would become very comfortable with using Creative Commons and get in the habit of giving citations when they share the work of others.

The Internet and digital media in general provide teachers and students with a lot of wonderful opportunities to enhance their learning. At the same time, it is critical that both teachers and students become aware of what copyright is and how to properly use it so that they can be responsible digital citizens!

Vandewalker, L. (2014, January 27). Boy at Computer. [Photograph].
from https://pixabay.com/en/little-boy-little-techie-251365/

[1] Figg, Candace. (2013). Copyright for Tech-Enhanced Learning. http://www.handy4class.com/tpack-teacher-game/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Copyright-2013c1.pdf

[2] Guide to Canadian Copyright. (2015).  http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/cp/copy_gd_protecte.html#6

[3] Canadian Teachers Federation. (2016). Copyright Matters. http://www.cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/291/Copyright_Matters.pdf

[4] Creative Commons. (n.d.). https://creativecommons.org/about/videos/wanna-work-together/

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Belinda Olij. I am currently a Teacher Candidate in the Junior/Intermediate Consecutive Education Program at Brock University. While French is my teachable subject, I also have a passion for History and Language Arts.

Since my first day of Kindergarten, I always thought it would be fun to teach. I loved going to school and discovering new things. I must admit that at first one of the main reasons I wanted to become a teacher was so that I could decorate my own classroom. I thought it would be so fun to choose colourful posters and create cheerful bulletin board displays! It wasn't until Grade 5 that my main reason for teaching changed as I was inspired by my Grade 5/6 teacher. Mrs. Van Bodegom was a truly exceptional teacher. She created a safe, welcoming, and engaging learning community where every student who walked into her classroom felt loved and valued. Mrs. Van Bodegom connected with each of her students and made every student, regardless of their learning ability, feel that they had something important to contribute and that they were capable of success. She incorporated creative ideas into her lesson plans as we built dioramas, performed skits, and sang songs with fun actions. Mrs. Van Bodegom truly sought to instill in her students a love of learning, a desire to discover, and an eagerness to investigate. Her care and concern for each of her students was always evident - I still remember being so thrilled to receive a birthday card in the mail from her during the summer. Her passion for teaching and love for her students always shone through.

Having Mrs. Van Bodegom as a teacher for two years helped me to understand the exciting challenge and tremendous opportunity that educators have. While decorating classrooms may be fun, what gives a teacher true joy is having the opportunity to help students of all learning abilities discover their potential. Teachers find joy in making students feel loved, valued, and capable of doing amazing things, and in preparing students to be productive citizens in society. Sitting in Mrs. Van Bodegom's class, I both saw and experienced the impact an outstanding teacher could have on her students and she quickly became a role model for me. In the years since then, I have developed a true passion for teaching and am so excited to help children develop a love for learning, exploring, and discovering. I feel privileged to have this opportunity to be an educator and look forward to continuing to learn how I can be an effective and engaging teacher.