Level 2
Discussion Activity
In this module you learned about the four factors of fair use and the classroom use exemption. Below are three different case studies of educators using media for student learning.
ONLINE DISCUSSION BOARD TASK: Choose one case study and engage in the discussion with your peers using the digital tools provided by your instructor. Post and reply to your peers discussing the case study. For this assignment, you are required to post at least 2 replies. When posting, think critically about the case study and the issues brought up by your peers. Do you agree or disagree, and why? Are the other students missing a key point? Can you summarize the discussion and add new insight?
GRADING: You will be graded using the discussion board rubric, which available in the appendix.
Example Post
As an educator, it seems that the fair use pendulum will always swing in the teacher’s direction. Kate did a great job of covering the four factors and I agree with what she said. The purpose is educational and aligns with the goals, only small amounts of each piece of media were used, and there will be no impact on the market.
I found a really helpful resource while investigating students’ use of copyrighted material, Kate, I saw that you had mentioned that you didn’t know whether or not students were exempt from the fair use law. According to the American University (School of Communication) it seems that students have the same permissions to use copyrighted material in their assignments as teachers. However, this does depend a bit on the audience of the assignment, for example, if the assignment was going to be made public on the internet, that would change things. Has anyone read the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education? It might apply to your situation.
Center for Social Media (n.d.). Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. Retrieved September 15, 2018, from https://mediaeducationlab.com/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education-0
Case Study: Elementary School Digital Literacy
Discuss what you notice about this lesson using media. What was the role of the teacher? What types of questions did he ask the students? How does this discussion compare to what we learned in this module?
Case Study: In the News
Read the news article below. Have you had any experiences like this? How does this example fit into the four factors of fair use?
November 14, 2013 by The Las Vegas Review-Journal
The Clark County School District is the target of a copyright lawsuit for buying a professional training book in 2009, scanning it and posting it online for anyone to download, according to a federal lawsuit filed in September by the author who discovered the reproduction.“That’s a pretty blatant copyright infringement. Crystal clear,” said Mark Borghese, a Las Vegas copyright attorney not connected with the case.
He predicted the School District will soon settle, especially since someone posted the book on powershow.com and attributed it to the district’s website. The single missing page from the online post was page 2, which includes the copyright notice.
Borghese said that the case will probably be resolved in a “quick settlement,” adding that he’s never seen anything like this from a school district because officials should know better. Districts routinely order textbooks and other copyrighted materials.
Case Study: Display of Copyrighted Materials
This 5th grade teacher is using images from social media to connect and engage with her students. How do you think this falls under fair use? How about the classroom use exemption?
