Skip to main content
Top of the resources infographic

Copyright Friendly Resources Infographic

As some of my readers may know, I am pursuing ISTE certification, which “recognizes educators who use edtech for learning in meaningful and transformative ways.” As part of the program, I chose to respond to the following prompt:Write an honest reflection about your own habits regarding respect for intellectual property. Here is what I said:

I am, and always have been, a believer in the importance of respecting the intellectual property of others. When I was growing up and wasn’t sure what to do, I asked my father, who would invariably (and somewhat maddeningly) tell me, “Do whatever you think is right.” That has stuck with me.

Image credit: Frances Fischer. Used with permission.

If I want to borrow a fellow teacher’s stapler, I must ask permission. The same thing applies when I want to use an image that someone else created, and I want my students to know that they must have permission when using something that belongs to or was created by someone else, so I make sure that I always call attention to my citations. 

When creating presentations, blog posts, or other shared materials,  I always cite the images I include, even when I am not required to because the images are labeled as CC0 or Public Domain. This is because I believe that teachers are role models and we need to show students and other teachers the importance of always respecting intellectual property rights. I wouldn’t want students to think that I took something and didn’t cite it. It is better for them to know that I gave credit even when not required to do so. To help them understand, I created a YouTube video and hyperdoc (geared toward the elementary students with whom I was currently working) to teach them how to find and properly cite Creative Commons images.

I also present regularly on copyright and Creative Commons. I have shared information on copyright-friendly resources for teachers and students at ten conferences, and I have more scheduled in the future. In the presentation that accompanies my talk, I have included citations for all the images (gathered mostly from Unsplash, one of my favorite CC0 image-sharing sites) and provided lists for teachers of sites where they and their students can find copyright-friendly media to use in their work. I also include resources in these presentations for them to learn more. 

I think I am doing a good job with respect to how I use the intellectual property of others, and I am proud to say that I am confident that I am also doing well in sharing information with other educators about how to do the same. That being said, I know there is always room for improvement, and I will make every effort to do even better in the future.

Four months have passed since I wrote that reflection, and I still think I am doing a good job, but as times have changed (and that is, of course, putting it mildly), I know I need to do more. I have taken some of my favorite resources from the presentation above and turned them into an infographic to make it even easier for teachers to use. I will be sharing it with my staff this week, as well as on Twitter and in the various Facebook groups where I think it will be useful. I hope you enjoy it!

Top of the infographic
Click the link below to download the full PDF file
Copyright Ethics Certified badge

Copyright and Creativity

You may know that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the right to establish copyright laws, but did you know that this was done not to hinder, but rather to encourage creativity? The founders of our country believed that protecting the rights of creators would encourage them to create more.

Fast forward to today, when many teachers are being asked to ensure that students are not violating copyright laws, yet those same teachers aren’t certain of what those laws are. If that is you, you may want to consider taking the free copyright course offered by copyrightandcreativity.org. It’s straightforward, easy to understand, and quickly teaches you what you need to know. Plus you’ll earn a shiny new badge you can display on your website, in your email signature, or anywhere you want people to know that now you know what you need to know to teach your students what they need to know, allowing them to go forth and create with confidence.

If you will be attending the Spring CUE Conference this week, perhaps you’ll join me to learn more about this topic at my session Don’t steal that! Copyright friendly materials for your classroom. I hope to see you there!

Copyright Ethics Certified badge
Earn this badge in just a couple of hours
judge's gavel

Think you have educational immunity? Think again.

judge's gavel
By Chris Potter (Flickr: 3D Judges Gavel) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Every day, we and our students create content that is shared and published online. When it comes to using images and other files from the internet, many teachers think they can use anything they want because they have educational immunity under the Fair Use doctrine. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, individual teachers, schools, and even districts have been sued for copyright infringement.

Fair Use is decided on a case-by-case basis. When deciding whether using material falls under Fair Use, you must consider four things:

  1. Is the use transformative? Did you add value to the work?
  2. What was the nature of the original?
  3. How much of the original was used?
  4. Will your use of the material affect the market for the original?

Judges can interpret things in different ways, so you must be extremely careful using works (especially creative ones like music and images) that are not yours. You can use a Fair Use checklist to help you determine if material falls under Fair Use. There are many available. I like the one at copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use/fair-use-checklist.html. 

A better way to go may be to use material that is in the public domain or licensed under Creative Commons. Material in the public domain doesn’t have  to be cited; however, it is good practice to do so to show respect for the work of others. Material licensed under Creative Commons may be used freely as long as the terms of the license are respected. There are various types of CC licenses. A good, short video explanation can be found at http://creativecommons.org/videos/creative-commons-kiwi.

To cite Creative Commons material, follow the TASL rule: provide as much information as you can about the Title, Author, Source, and License of the material. In an online publication, links should be provided. See the image in this post for an example. For more complete information, including the types of licenses and how to cite material, visit the main Creative Commons website, creativecommons.org

Creative Commons material is available all over the web and you can find it in a number of ways. You may want to start by visiting my copyright-friendly Symbaloo webmix.  It contains links to many websites where you can find images, music, and videos that are in the public domain or have been licensed for use.

A version of this post was published on the LVUSD Ed Services blog.