Week 8

This is the second blog post for week 8 - A formal task which examines Copyright issues within ICT and English.

This blog post examines the many issues related to using images in the classroom that are copyright protected, and how this may impact future practice as a primary school teacher.

The first Copyright Statute was introduced in 1710, which explicitly outlines the protection of an individuals published work, and prohibited anyone else from using or distributing this work without permission from the copyright holder (Patterson, 1965). Nowadays, most works that are available via the Internet are copyrighted, preventing the lawful use of these images in a distributive manner. This presents many problems for teachers, as some of the content teachers rely on involves using images or videos off the Internet.

However, the introduction of the ‘Fair Use’ policy meant that teachers had much more access to using pictures and other media content within their classrooms (Davies, 2012). While this does not mean that teachers may use and distribute other people’s work, it does mean that teachers can use content from the internet (or another source) without worrying that they are committing a crime (VRA, 2008). The Visual Resources Association (2008) clearly demarcate in their guidelines that the ‘Fair Use’ clause in copyrighted material, is to ensure that learning (amongst other activities) is not hindered or infringed due to inaccessibility to content from the Internet and other sources.

The problem therefore lies with the use of copyrighted material and children (Davies, 2012). Like with other subjects, children should be allowed a degree of freedom when it comes to ICT, or English within ICT (Potter and Darbyshire, 2010). This means that teachers need to allow children to explore the Internet, and use (safe) content from the Internet to aid their ICT work. However, if this work is copyright protected, it becomes more complicated. As the responsible adult during the school day, the responsibility lies with the class teacher not only to warn children of the rules and regulations regarding copyright protected media, but also to ensure a safe learning environment. In this case, a safe learning environment is enduring that children are not using and distributing (by showing friends or family their work) copyright protected works (Davies, 2010).

Ethics comes into this issue, and teachers need to make it clear to children that the use of copyright protected material can be unethical (Bell, 2010). This is not to say that copyrighted material cannot be used, as the previously mentioned ‘Fair Use’ clause is in action, but it still means that teachers and children need to be careful with the way the material is presented, and the distribution of this material (Davies, 2012).

This blog post has made me examine the pitfalls that the Internet presents. Copyright is such a huge area, that this blog post only briefly touches upon what the implications are for children and teachers. However, through this brief examination, I walk into my next teaching practice with much more awareness of the traps that are easy to fall into in terms of copyrighted material.

• Bell, J. (2010) Doing Your Research Project: A guide for first time researchers in education, health and social science. Berkshire: Open University Press.
• Davies, G. (2012) General Guidelines on copyright, in Davies, G. (ed.) Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers (ICT4LT), Slough: Thames Valley University [Online] accessed 9.03.14 at http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_copyright.htm.
• Patterson, L. R. (1965) The Statute of Anne: Copyright Misconstrued, Harvard Journal on Legislation, 3(1), Harvard Law School: Harvard.
• Potter, F. and Darbyshire, C. (2010) Understanding and Teaching the ICT National Curriculum, Oxon: Routledge.
• VRA (2008) Visual Resources Association: Statement on ‘The Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study, Visual Resources Association [Online] accessed on 9.03.14 at http://www.vraweb.org/organization/pdf/VRAFairUseGuidelinesFinal.pdf