Week 6

In learning how copyright applies to the classroom environment, I was surprised to learn that copyright applies to the classroom environment. Prior to this lesson, my, obviously inaccurate, understand of the situation was that educational purposes were exempted from copyright issues. However, while I was wrong to assume this, I was also correct in some applications. There is leniency in copyright in the educational setting, such as the amount of the material used, the frequency with which it is used and how it ties into the curriculum.

Despite the ever-present danger of copyright infringement, I’ve found that many schools and teachers are completely unaware of the issue. Fortunately, the demands of the modern educational system, coupled with a general lack of technological savvy amongst teachers, keeps many educators from making mistakes. This lack of misstep seems less tied an understanding of copyright and more to an inability to make use of things that might invite infringement.

However, the same cannot be said of the public at large. American society does not seem focused on concept of intellectual property. Ideas, thoughts, concepts and art all seem to exist within a cloud of public domain. The best example would be music. Rather than being seen as a commodity produced by oftentimes several people who would not survive without financial remuneration, songs, by virtue of the mp3, are often seen as apples hanging from a tree of public domain; ripe for the taking. That they exist for people to propagate through folksy means without commerical concern.

I absolutely feel that it is the job of teachers to educate their students about copyright since it is a teacher’s responsibility to foste responsible citizens. In a classroom environment, I would treat copyright in much the same way that I would classroom management. At the beginning of the school year, the groundwork would be laid through informing the students as to what copyright is and how it will affect their classwork. Then, throughout the year copyright issues would be applied to students’ work in order to get them thinking about it on a day-to-day basis. It must be an omnipresent aspect of their ongoing education. The NETS-S standards that would apply here include all under 5. Digital Citizenship, including “a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology; b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity; c. demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning; and d. exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.”

With regard to Chapter 7 in Educause, I would say that the survey results were in line with what I would have expected. Communication, such as email, instant messaging and cell phones; gaming; social networking and downloading are things that have appeal outside of the classroom environment. As such, I would expect them to be the biggest uses among younger students. However, once students move further and further through their educational experience, it only makes sense that they would become more familiar with other applications. Additionally, it’s my informal experience that technology still has a long way to go in the educational setting. Because of this, I’m not surprised that some students make use of technology more than others.

If I had been a party to writing this survey, I would like to explore how students brought the use of technology to bear on their education of their own volition, without regard to whether technology had been integrated into their classrooms. What is their sense of innovation in how technology can help them achieve their own success?