Copywrite: Fair Use

It was brought to my attention today that there are several "rules" to abide by when using multimedia in the classroom and in student projects. Honestly I have never really thought about copywrite laws very much. I don't willingly ignore the laws, I just never put much thought into it.

In the article, "Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia" it states four fair use practices which should be considered in each instance, based on particular facts of a give case, to determine wether a use is a "fair use": (1) the purpose and character of use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes, (2) the nature of the copyrighted work, (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

I think that it is important that teachers inform themselves of these rules and make it known to their students how important it is to follow the guidelines for copywrite and fair use.

I will definitely be more aware in the future of what information I am using and how I am using it.

As a teacher I think it is difficult to teach the general guidelines in a manner that is understandable to all age groups. When using multimedia in the classroom, the most important thing would be for the teacher to be familiar with the guidelines and abide by them in all aspects.