After
watching Introductory Video: Code of Best
Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education it seems that they are saying that anything used in an
educational setting that is repurposed for instruction is “fair game”. Could this really be? What happened to the notion that you can only
use a certain percentage of material?
Does this mean that if I am teaching from the story book Mama Don’t Allow to a large group of
students I can scan the whole entire book to put in a power point so I can
enlarge it with my projector so all of the students can see?
Let’s
take a closer look at Code of Best
Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. I think one of the interesting things that
this code does is defines the difference between media literacy and the use of
media in education. The difference in
the two seems to be where the fine line of fair use really comes in to play. The code defines media literacy as, “the
capacity to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate messages in a wide
variety of forms. Media literacy
education helps people of all ages to be critical thinkers, effective
communicators, and active citizens.” The
use of media in education differs in this because instead of transforming
the media material into questions that help develop critical thinking skills, the
material is merely used for its original purposes, which was to instruct or to
entertain.
The code
of best practices identifies five sets of current practices in the use of
copyrighted materials in media literacy education to which the doctrine of fair
use clearly applies.
·
Under
fair use, educators using the concepts and techniques of media literacy can
choose illustrative material from the full range of copyrighted sources and
make them available to learners, in class, in workshops, and in informal
mentoring.
·
Under fair use, educators using the concepts
and techniques of media literacy can integrate copyrighted material into
curriculum materials, including books, workbooks, podcasts, DVD compilations,
videos, and Web sites.
·
Educators
using concepts and techniques of media literacy should be able to share
effective examples of teaching about media and meaning with one another, including
lessons and resource materials. If curriculum developers are making sound decisions
on fair use when they create their materials, then their work should be able to
be seen, used, and even purchased by anyone—since fair use applies to
commercial materials as well as those produced outside the marketplace model.
·
Because
media literacy education cannot thrive unless learners themselves have the
opportunity to learn about how media functions at the most practical level,
educators using concepts and techniques of media literacy should be free to enable
learners to incorporate, modify, and re-present existing media objects in their
own classroom work. Media production can foster and deepen awareness of the constructed
nature of all media, one of the key concepts of media literacy. The basis for
fair use here is embedded in good pedagogy.
·
Educators
should work with learners to make a reasoned decision about distribution that
reflects sound pedagogy and ethical values. In some cases, widespread
distribution of students’ work (via the Internet, for example) is appropriate.
If student work that incorporates, modifies, and re-presents existing media
content meets the transformativeness standard, it can be distributed to wide audiences
under the doctrine of fair use.
(In
the spirit of fair use I have freely copied these five principles from the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media
Literacy Education. You can find
this information at http://mediaeducationlab.com/sites/mediaeducationlab.com/files/CodeofBestPracticesinFairUse_0.pdf
)
At
the end of the Code of Best Practices in
Fair Use for Media Literacy Education is a great section on Myths about
fair use. This section might prove the
most helpful out of all of the information in the 22 page document. In
response to the myth: EDUCATORS CAN
RELY ON “RULES OF THUMB” FOR FAIR USE GUIDANCE the code offers this truth:
Despite longstanding myths, there are no cut-and-dried rules (such
as 10 percent of the work being quoted, or 400 words of text, or two bars of
music, or 10 seconds of video). Fair use is situational, and context is
critical. Because it is a tool to balance the rights of users with the rights
of owners, educators need to apply reason to reach a decision. The principles
and limitations above are designed to guide your reasoning and to help you
guide the reasoning of others.
Does
this mean it really is ok for me to scan the whole entire book Mama Don’t Allow to project it onto my
big screen? Well it depends if I am
using it to entertain and merely read the book to my students or if I am
transforming it into a real teachable moment where I am helping student to
develop critical thinking skills. I
really have done this before and worry every time I use this power point. After
reading the story to the students, we then sing the song and rewrite the song
using musical instruments and discuss things our mama won’t allow us to
do. I hope the transfer on knowledge
that takes place in the lesson creates a moment of critical thinking which in
kind moves this lesson from pure entertainment to development of media literacy
skills. Regardless, I am evoking my
right as an educator to claim “fair use”!
I found reading your post very helpful. Although I have been teaching for eight years, I have never received any instruction on fair use or copyright guidelines. The first time I really even engaged with this subject matter was when creating that section of my handbook. I, like you, have always worried about my use of certain resources. For example, I ordered a Greek and Latin root word book in pdf format this year for my department and shared it with several teachers. I've been wondering if that violates copyright law since I only bought one version of it. On the other hand, if I had the paper book we would share it and not feel concerned. Since we are using and modifying parts of that book (not the entirety) to teach the critical thinking skill of recognizing common Greek and Latin roots in order to construct meaning of unknown words, I think it falls under fair use and we are fine.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting the link to the code of best practices in Fair Use. One of the quotes in that text is: Fair use is flexible. It is not uncertain and it is not unreliable. As long as we (as educators) “transform the material taken from the copyrighted work
by using it for a different purpose than that of the original," instead of "just repeat[ing]
the work for the same intent and value as the original?" we should be in good shape under fair use guidelines.
Your post really opened my eyes about how much we can "fairly" use from a piece of material. It is true that educators have always thought there was this law about a percentage of material or number of words that were acceptable and anything over was "stealing". It is only reasonable that if we are using it solely to educate and not for any personal gains or just to entertain that we should be able to use the materials.
ReplyDeleteThe article that you posted is full of information that I will be able to use a media specialist when teachers ask me questions about Copyright and Fair Use. I especially liked your last statement... "Regardless, I am evoking my right as an educator to claim “fair use”!"