Infringing on the Rights of the Student

Copyright infringement has become a prevalent topic in the recent years. Host and torrent sites like Pirate Bay and MegaUpload have been shut down continuously due to ownership lawsuits. The people who are involved with uploading and downloading certain files are at risk to being sued by large companies asking them to rid their computers of any illegally downloaded files or face the indomitable consequences of their lawyers. What the public does not see or hear about is how educators can “for the most part” slip past these copyright infringement lawsuits and the cost of being limited to students.

To begin this discussion, it is important to point out the limitations educators face when dealing with copyright infringement. The ability to develop and create lessons is a vital part to being a teacher. We need the right ideas, mixed with the right content, and stirred in with the proper material to create a delectable lesson that will change the way our students think. But what if the ideas and materials that we want to use are not our own? Are we allowed to use them or do we risk being persecuted by the almighty Gods of copyright? I think the more important and relevant question is: What are we risking when we are limited? Students should have the right to learn in an environment that offers an effective way to teach the concepts. If the instructor is limited in teaching these concepts because of copyright law, we are infringing on the right of the student to learn. Where does the infringement end!

In an article titled Openness as Catalyst for an Educational Reformation, David Wiley, a writer for The “Open Future”, discusses the modern issues we are facing when professors are claiming copyright infringement. He states, “If our primary interest is facilitating student learning, then education is our field. If commercializing what we know is our primary interest, then we shouldn’t be educators” (Wiley, 2010, p. 18). Wiley basically throughout his article focuses on the value of education in a world that scrutinizes about authorship and ownership. He sees education as something that should not have. Wiley’s most compelling idea is, “ If a teacher is not sharing what he or she knows, there is no education happening” (2010, p. 16). He discusses the term “openness”(p. 16), which refers to copyright holders being generous with their authorship within the educational system.  I strongly agree with this. Parents need to know that their sons and daughters are being taught effectively and if there is no sharing of materials to do that, then we fail as teachers.

Furthermore, when we discuss copyright infringement within an educational setting we cannot go on without analyzing two terms, public domain and fair use. Both are equally important for educators, parents, and even students to protect us and aid us in education. Straight from the National Councils of Teachers of English, the article Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education, helps to shed some light on these two terms. “Fair use is a law that provides copyright protection to creative works in order to foster the creation of culture” (NCTE, 2008, pg. 1). The way I interpret fair use is that educators can defend themselves against copyright infringement. If a teacher can validate he or she is using copyrighted materials for educational purposes, then they should be protected. Fair use is an ambiguous law that can be pretty much be molded to fit any defense for education. I had no idea this law existed, but for the most part it seems fair and reasonable. According to the NCTE (2008), context is what truly matters when using material that is copyrighted. In hindsight, we need to understand the rules before we take the next step to using materials that we might think would get us into a lawsuit.  Before we think we might be in breach of a copyright law, it is important to check if the material in located in a public domain. Public domain is a term used to describe copyright material that is open to the public due to property rights expiring. As teachers, this is a resourceful tool to get free copies of many types of materials. There is a long list on how these materials lost their property rights but it is irrelevant because they are now FREE!

As a future educator, I believe in an environment that allows information to flow and move freely so students can succeed to their highest potential. Unfortunately, nothing is free in life and it seems as if teachers have to fight just to get a student to understand a concept because we are at risk of being part of a lawsuit. In other words, we have to be vigilant and resourceful to do our jobs and we have to stick together to battle the tyranny of copyright laws in an educational setting so our students do not suffer the consequences.

Sources:

NCTE. 2008. Code of best practices in fair Use for media literacy education. National Councils of Teachers of English. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/fairusemedialiteracy

Wiley , D. (2010). Openness as catalyst for an educational reformation. Retrieved from https://ramct.colostate.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1371140-dt-content-rid-6088382_1/courses/2013FA-EDUC-331-005/OpenessAndEducation(1).pdf