Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Fair Use and Digital Content in the Online Class
The following article contains some very good information about the unnecessarily narrow understanding of "fair use" for educational purposes allowed in copyright law, particularly as this applies to recorded and digital content in online class management systems (thanks, Stef!):
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?ArticleID=7430&page=1
'Fair use' confusion threatens media literacy Report says many teachers, schools define 'fair use' of digital materials too narrowly By Meris Stansbury, Assistant Editor, eSchool News
In an age when digital images and recordings to supplement and enhance education are abounding, unnecessary restrictions and a lack of understanding about copyright law are comprising the goal of using such technology in the classroom, says a new report. After interviewing educators, educational media producers and media-literacy organizations, the report's researchers conclude that educators have no shared understanding of what constitutes fair-use practices, and that teachers face conflicting information about their rights, and their students' rights, to use copyrighted works.
October 9, 2007—In too many classrooms across the country, sweaty palms and the fears associated with a call to the principal's office aren't just student afflictions: Educators, especially those who teach media literacy, are experiencing a collective anxiety about what is legal and what is not when using digital images and recordings in their lessons, according to a new report.
Media-literacy instructors especially depend on the use of news broadcasts, advertising, reality TV shows, film snippets, and a host of other recordings to teach analytical skills to their students. Yet, the goals of media-literacy education--to cultivate critical thinking about media and its role in society, and to strengthen students' creative communications skills--are compromised by unnecessary restrictions and a lack of understanding about copyright law, says the report, titled "The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy."
Researchers at Temple University's Media Education Lab, American University Washington College of Law's Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, and American University School of Communication's Center for Social Media interviewed 63 educators, educational media producers, and leaders of media-literacy organizations. They found that nearly all were confused about "fair use" and their rights as educators to use media materials.
Teachers face conflicting information about their rights, and their students' rights, to use copyrighted works, the report says. They also face complex and often overly constrictive copyright policies in their own institutions. As a result, they use less effective teaching techniques, teach and transmit false copyright information, and do not take advantage of new digital platforms for their instruction.
"This is not only unfortunate but unnecessary, since copyright law permits a wide range of uses of copyrighted material without permission or payment," the report says. "Educational exemptions sit within a far broader landscape of 'fair use.' However, educators today have no shared understanding of what constitutes fair-use practices."
In layman's terms, fair use is "a statutory exemption to the rights of copyright owners," says Kenneth Crews, a legal scholar at the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. There are four key factors that help decide whether use of copyrighted material constitutes fair use, he said: (1) the purpose of your use, (2) the nature of the work, (3) the amount you're using, and (4) the effect of your use on the market.
Yet, despite this relatively simple definition, educators fear being reprimanded for inappropriate usage, misinterpret fair use, or are unaware of its expansive nature, according to the report.
For example, one educator interviewed for the study said he worked with an administrator whose interpretation of fair use was dramatically different from his own; as a result, he had severe limits placed on what he could photocopy for classroom use. And a college professor who created a compilation of video clips for her course was not allowed to post it on the university's course-management software so students could view the clips to do their homework assignments.
Cyndy Scheibe, another educator, described how she contacted Newsweek magazine to get permission to use cover images of the magazine in a curriculum entitled "Media Constructions of War."
"In addition to demanding a hefty fee for each cover, they told us we needed to get permission from both the photographer and the subject of the photo--and we thought, ‘We need to get permission from Ho Chi Minh and Osama bin Laden?'" Scheibe said. After consulting with school attorneys about the matter, they decided it fell under fair use--and the administration supported this decision.
But, too often, schools and educators lean too far on the side of caution, researchers say.
According to the report, educators don't have a clear definition of fair use because they have had no professional training regarding the issue, they've read varying definitions of fair use, or they've heard rumors and stories from other teachers. Some teachers oversimplify fair use, while most limit its scope more narrowly than do the courts that have interpreted it.
This confusion has led to what the report's authors call "a copyright folklore."
The report claims that fair-use confusion leads to a variety of coping strategies for teachers, including conscious ignorance (using copyrighted material without studying the law further, for fear that this knowledge would hinder their work even more), quiet defiance (ignoring copyright law entirely within the four walls of the classroom), and "hyper-compliance" (forgoing the use of legitimate teaching tools and techniques out of fear of violating copyright law).
"It's funny," says Peter Jaszi, director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, "copyright began its history as a tool, rather than a chain ... as fair use has grown in flexibility and strength over the years, teachers have grown away from their sense of freedom."
Adding to the problem is a litany of fair-use guidelines that have become outdated with the introduction of new technologies. In some cases, the report says, these various sets of guidelines have become accepted practices among educators, even though they are more restrictive than the law allows.
For instance, the Consortium of College and University Media Centers (CCUMC) in the mid-90s produced a "highly restrictive" set of guidelines that were endorsed by the publishing, movie, and record industries. Although the CCUMC's "Proposal for Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia" was soundly rejected by national library associations and a K-12 coalition led by the National School Boards Association, it is still featured on several web sites aimed at teachers, the report says.
"Educational fair use is at the heart of U.S. copyright doctrine," it states. "Too often, however, fair-use guidelines are taken as exhausting the universe of possibilities, rather than describing a small bunker on a much larger landscape. In particular, the CCUMC guidelines enjoy credibility to which they are not entitled. Today, more than ever, educators need to know about the full range of reasonable fair uses available to them and their students."
The real problem lies in the consequences of this confusion: With restricted teaching materials, students' education is at stake.
For instance, Ryan Goble, a media-literacy teacher, says, "It's difficult to find works that are complex enough, poetic enough, and interesting enough to satisfy the instructional needs of high school English teachers, while simultaneously appealing to teens." Another educator interviewed for the study warned: "By overprotecting owners, we run the risk of stifling the creative flow of cultural information."
By defining fair use too narrowly, teachers can't share pertinent materials online, and students can't review materials online. Another negative consequence is that, if their teachers don't understand fair use, students probably won't, either. This confusion will affect how students perceive and use copyrighted material themselves, the report says.
"By not [understanding] fair use, you're doing a disservice to both students and yourself," says Shay Taylor, a media teacher at Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland.
The report recommends a two-pronged solution to the problem: First, teachers should learn more about the "clear and unambiguous rights" they already enjoy under copyright law; and second, the education community should develop and disseminate a "code of practice" for the fair use of copyrighted materials by educators.
"It is time for media-literacy education to move beyond outworn ‘guidelines' and dubious and even unhelpful ‘rules of thumb,'" the report says. "The imprimatur of leading professional associations on a new articulation of codes of practice would provide crucial legitimacy."
The report cites the 2005 "Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use" as an example of what is needed in education. Pat Aufderheide, a professor at American University's School of Communication and director of the school's Center for Social Media, and law professor Peter Jaszi worked with five filmmakers' organizations to draft the document, which asserts common agreed-upon principles for the application of fair use to documentary filmmaking.
According to Aufderheide, with the help of this statement, three films using copyrighted material made it to Sundance, and two filmmakers have had their films shown on television--one on HBO and one on PBS.
"Without the help of this statement on fair use, studios and insurers never would have touched these films for fear of copyright infringement. I hope it will serve teachers in an equally beneficial manner," Aufderheide said.
The report's authors hope a consensus on fair use in education can reshape school administrative policies, educate teachers nationwide, and discourage copyright owners from threatening or bringing lawsuits against educators.
"A consensus could provide a clear and reasonable path, so teachers don't have to fear the copyright police," says Karen Zill, a member of the board of directors for the Alliance for a Media Literate America.
Crews warns that such a consensus might take a while to create. In the meantime, he says, educators should "embrace uncertainty, not fear it ...[and] make fair-use judgment calls on the four factors while waiting for a consensus."
Dale Allender, associate executive director of the National Council for Teachers of English, suggests providing professional development as well.
"There is such a strong need for professional development" about educational fair use, Allender says. "This confusion reminds us that our digital age has brought us to a juncture where these points must be considered--the points of being able to create, copy, and disseminate. We must raise awareness."
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?ArticleID=7430&page=1
'Fair use' confusion threatens media literacy Report says many teachers, schools define 'fair use' of digital materials too narrowly By Meris Stansbury, Assistant Editor, eSchool News
In an age when digital images and recordings to supplement and enhance education are abounding, unnecessary restrictions and a lack of understanding about copyright law are comprising the goal of using such technology in the classroom, says a new report. After interviewing educators, educational media producers and media-literacy organizations, the report's researchers conclude that educators have no shared understanding of what constitutes fair-use practices, and that teachers face conflicting information about their rights, and their students' rights, to use copyrighted works.
October 9, 2007—In too many classrooms across the country, sweaty palms and the fears associated with a call to the principal's office aren't just student afflictions: Educators, especially those who teach media literacy, are experiencing a collective anxiety about what is legal and what is not when using digital images and recordings in their lessons, according to a new report.
Media-literacy instructors especially depend on the use of news broadcasts, advertising, reality TV shows, film snippets, and a host of other recordings to teach analytical skills to their students. Yet, the goals of media-literacy education--to cultivate critical thinking about media and its role in society, and to strengthen students' creative communications skills--are compromised by unnecessary restrictions and a lack of understanding about copyright law, says the report, titled "The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy."
Researchers at Temple University's Media Education Lab, American University Washington College of Law's Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, and American University School of Communication's Center for Social Media interviewed 63 educators, educational media producers, and leaders of media-literacy organizations. They found that nearly all were confused about "fair use" and their rights as educators to use media materials.
Teachers face conflicting information about their rights, and their students' rights, to use copyrighted works, the report says. They also face complex and often overly constrictive copyright policies in their own institutions. As a result, they use less effective teaching techniques, teach and transmit false copyright information, and do not take advantage of new digital platforms for their instruction.
"This is not only unfortunate but unnecessary, since copyright law permits a wide range of uses of copyrighted material without permission or payment," the report says. "Educational exemptions sit within a far broader landscape of 'fair use.' However, educators today have no shared understanding of what constitutes fair-use practices."
In layman's terms, fair use is "a statutory exemption to the rights of copyright owners," says Kenneth Crews, a legal scholar at the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. There are four key factors that help decide whether use of copyrighted material constitutes fair use, he said: (1) the purpose of your use, (2) the nature of the work, (3) the amount you're using, and (4) the effect of your use on the market.
Yet, despite this relatively simple definition, educators fear being reprimanded for inappropriate usage, misinterpret fair use, or are unaware of its expansive nature, according to the report.
For example, one educator interviewed for the study said he worked with an administrator whose interpretation of fair use was dramatically different from his own; as a result, he had severe limits placed on what he could photocopy for classroom use. And a college professor who created a compilation of video clips for her course was not allowed to post it on the university's course-management software so students could view the clips to do their homework assignments.
Cyndy Scheibe, another educator, described how she contacted Newsweek magazine to get permission to use cover images of the magazine in a curriculum entitled "Media Constructions of War."
"In addition to demanding a hefty fee for each cover, they told us we needed to get permission from both the photographer and the subject of the photo--and we thought, ‘We need to get permission from Ho Chi Minh and Osama bin Laden?'" Scheibe said. After consulting with school attorneys about the matter, they decided it fell under fair use--and the administration supported this decision.
But, too often, schools and educators lean too far on the side of caution, researchers say.
According to the report, educators don't have a clear definition of fair use because they have had no professional training regarding the issue, they've read varying definitions of fair use, or they've heard rumors and stories from other teachers. Some teachers oversimplify fair use, while most limit its scope more narrowly than do the courts that have interpreted it.
This confusion has led to what the report's authors call "a copyright folklore."
The report claims that fair-use confusion leads to a variety of coping strategies for teachers, including conscious ignorance (using copyrighted material without studying the law further, for fear that this knowledge would hinder their work even more), quiet defiance (ignoring copyright law entirely within the four walls of the classroom), and "hyper-compliance" (forgoing the use of legitimate teaching tools and techniques out of fear of violating copyright law).
"It's funny," says Peter Jaszi, director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, "copyright began its history as a tool, rather than a chain ... as fair use has grown in flexibility and strength over the years, teachers have grown away from their sense of freedom."
Adding to the problem is a litany of fair-use guidelines that have become outdated with the introduction of new technologies. In some cases, the report says, these various sets of guidelines have become accepted practices among educators, even though they are more restrictive than the law allows.
For instance, the Consortium of College and University Media Centers (CCUMC) in the mid-90s produced a "highly restrictive" set of guidelines that were endorsed by the publishing, movie, and record industries. Although the CCUMC's "Proposal for Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia" was soundly rejected by national library associations and a K-12 coalition led by the National School Boards Association, it is still featured on several web sites aimed at teachers, the report says.
"Educational fair use is at the heart of U.S. copyright doctrine," it states. "Too often, however, fair-use guidelines are taken as exhausting the universe of possibilities, rather than describing a small bunker on a much larger landscape. In particular, the CCUMC guidelines enjoy credibility to which they are not entitled. Today, more than ever, educators need to know about the full range of reasonable fair uses available to them and their students."
The real problem lies in the consequences of this confusion: With restricted teaching materials, students' education is at stake.
For instance, Ryan Goble, a media-literacy teacher, says, "It's difficult to find works that are complex enough, poetic enough, and interesting enough to satisfy the instructional needs of high school English teachers, while simultaneously appealing to teens." Another educator interviewed for the study warned: "By overprotecting owners, we run the risk of stifling the creative flow of cultural information."
By defining fair use too narrowly, teachers can't share pertinent materials online, and students can't review materials online. Another negative consequence is that, if their teachers don't understand fair use, students probably won't, either. This confusion will affect how students perceive and use copyrighted material themselves, the report says.
"By not [understanding] fair use, you're doing a disservice to both students and yourself," says Shay Taylor, a media teacher at Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland.
The report recommends a two-pronged solution to the problem: First, teachers should learn more about the "clear and unambiguous rights" they already enjoy under copyright law; and second, the education community should develop and disseminate a "code of practice" for the fair use of copyrighted materials by educators.
"It is time for media-literacy education to move beyond outworn ‘guidelines' and dubious and even unhelpful ‘rules of thumb,'" the report says. "The imprimatur of leading professional associations on a new articulation of codes of practice would provide crucial legitimacy."
The report cites the 2005 "Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use" as an example of what is needed in education. Pat Aufderheide, a professor at American University's School of Communication and director of the school's Center for Social Media, and law professor Peter Jaszi worked with five filmmakers' organizations to draft the document, which asserts common agreed-upon principles for the application of fair use to documentary filmmaking.
According to Aufderheide, with the help of this statement, three films using copyrighted material made it to Sundance, and two filmmakers have had their films shown on television--one on HBO and one on PBS.
"Without the help of this statement on fair use, studios and insurers never would have touched these films for fear of copyright infringement. I hope it will serve teachers in an equally beneficial manner," Aufderheide said.
The report's authors hope a consensus on fair use in education can reshape school administrative policies, educate teachers nationwide, and discourage copyright owners from threatening or bringing lawsuits against educators.
"A consensus could provide a clear and reasonable path, so teachers don't have to fear the copyright police," says Karen Zill, a member of the board of directors for the Alliance for a Media Literate America.
Crews warns that such a consensus might take a while to create. In the meantime, he says, educators should "embrace uncertainty, not fear it ...[and] make fair-use judgment calls on the four factors while waiting for a consensus."
Dale Allender, associate executive director of the National Council for Teachers of English, suggests providing professional development as well.
"There is such a strong need for professional development" about educational fair use, Allender says. "This confusion reminds us that our digital age has brought us to a juncture where these points must be considered--the points of being able to create, copy, and disseminate. We must raise awareness."
Sunday, September 23, 2007
How Do We Motivate Students to Read Materials in Our Online Course?
This recent comment by Stef raises an important issue for class management of the online course, motivating students to actually read or view course materials we provide them. In the traditional onsite course, we can gauge whether or not students have read materials through interaction more easily than in the online course, and can set aside class time for it if necessary and actually observe whether or not students are doing it. In the onsite course, if it became apparent to me most students had not read assigned material, I have been known to stop class and do a read-aloud of a short reading, or a passage of a longer reading, and use that as the basis for discussion. It isn't always possible to track student views of much online content, so how do we know students are reading or viewing materials?
Perhaps more importantly, how do we motivate students to read or view materials?
Perhaps more importantly, how do we motivate students to read or view materials?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Going Beyond the Course Shell
“Going Beyond the Course Shell”
There are a variety of free, public access cross platform applications for recording streaming audio and video to create multi-media learning objects for your course.
Uses
There are a variety of free, public access cross platform applications for recording streaming audio and video to create multi-media learning objects for your course.
Uses
- Instructors can utilize these media to increase their level of “instructor presence” in the course by recording and uploading their lectures into the course platform.
Student projects may equally utilize these media, and can be assigned as individual or group projects. For example, small groups can develop a “coursecast” student presentation which can then be uploaded in the course.
Applications
- Podcasting. One software application freely available on the web is iTunes University at <http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu/>, a groupware application where instructors can share lectures, presentations, performances, debates, tours and archival footage. Naturally, the site is designed to work well in the popular iPod platform, but is not limited to it. The use of podcasting is increasing in online instruction all the time. Another software application that allows instructors to record and upload their podcast lectures or course materials is Odeo, available at < http://www.odeo.com/>. The recording application is web-based, which means you don’t have any software to download before you can use the application. To navigate to the instructions for recording your lectures using Odeo, follow the path Home page>Help (at bottom of page), and look for “Odeo Studio: My Podcast.” There are also help topics on how to embed the player in your course and how to use Odeo with iTunes. Skypecast (at < http://www.skype.com/>) can be used in conjunction with a third party recording application such as Audio High Jack Pro for the Mac or Hot Recorder, Pamela, or Pretty May for the PC.
- Voiceblogging. Similar to podcasting is the “voiceblog.” Talkr (found at < http://www.talkr.com/>) is an application that allows users to listen to blog posts (in Mp3 format) instead of reading them by converting text-only blogs into audio. This functionality increases the accessibility of your blog to disabled users, which is an important ethical and legal consideration in online education, but also to everyone who may wish to download your blog posts and listen to them anywhere. An application that works in the opposite direction is Phoneblogger (found at < http://www.wombatnation.com/phoneblogger/>). This tool allows you to call a phone number and leave a voice message which is converted into a text blog. An audio link to the original recording is embedded in the text blog. Another phone-to-blog application is called Audblog (found at <http://www.audblog.com/>).
Foneblog (at < http://www.foneblog.ie/>) allows for sharing of mobile phone pictures via the mobile phone web or a website.
- Videoblogging. Another variation on the text blog is the video blog, or “vlog.” You, or your students, can create a collection of videos which is posted on a website. This requires a camcorder, editing software (such as iMovie for the Mac, or MovieMaker for the PC), and a host website that supports streaming video. Other popular software for recording screencasts is Camtasia for PC and Snaps ProX for the Mac.
- Wikis. Hypertext platforms such as Wiki can be excellent online educational tools, whether they are used for individual course assignments (such as having students develop a research project and present it as a Wiki), or indeed as the platform for an entire course. PBwiki (found at < http://pbwiki.com/>) is a very good and easy to use free wiki system.
- Traditional Blogging. Blogger (at < https://www2.blogger.com/start>) is a good, free platform for course blogs or individual student blogs.
Pedagogical Take-Away
The value of applications such as these for online teaching include
- “Information Literacy,” “Multiliteracy”: Not only in writing courses, but across the disciplines, it’s important that students acquire skills for self-expression and critical evaluation of expression in the information public sphere. Traditional literacy will remain an important learning objective of college teaching, but the new platforms for self publication on the Web demand new skills and critical thinking.
- Authentic collaboration. Blogging is an authentically collaborative medium of public writing which can be a tool that fosters student centered learning because it allows students, not instructors, to develop and maintain control of their discourse. Many teachers make efforts to develop assignments and activities which promote a democratic classroom that encourages student writers to collaborate, critique, and define knowledge on their own terms. Used effectively, blogs address these virtues of writing intensive instruction and give student writers ownership of writing, as well as a responsive audience which may have seemed implied in the online classroom, but is authentic in wide open cyberspace.
“Going Beyond the Course Shell” Resources
iTunes University at http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu/
Odeo, available at http://www.odeo.com/
Skypecast at < http://www.skype.com/
Talkr at < http://www.talkr.com/
Phoneblogger at http://www.wombatnation.com/phoneblogger/
Audblog at http://www.audblog.com/
Foneblog at http://www.foneblog.ie/
PBwiki at http://pbwiki.com/
Blogger at https://www2.blogger.com/start
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