Copyright 101 for Educators

I chose to read  Copyright 101 for Educators by Wesley Fryer. So what does it mean to copyright? Copyright gives legal rights to the originator of a work. This work could be anything from music, to art, books, etc. It also allows the originator the right to give others permission to use their work for whatever they would like as well. Apparently anything can be legally copyrighted immediately after it has been created as long as it has been authenticated by the creators signature.

Since I didn't realize that literally everything is copyrighted this really changes my mindset in how I will be creating things specifically when it comes to technology. I think as an educator it will be challenging putting together presentations for my future students without using anyone's work. This means that I need to be very aware of the copyright laws and make sure that I am complying with them. Not only for legality purposes, but also to be a good role model and to show my students how to do it as well. On the flip side of this is the Fair Use act, this allows minimal use of a copyrighted work for specific purposes. Some of these purposes are commentary, research, and scholarships. There is another thing to be aware of, the TEACH Act. TEACH stands for technology, education, and copyright harmonization. This act refers to the use of multimedia in distance education classes, such as the one we are taking currently.

I learned a lot from reading this article and by searching Google for more information to clarify things for me. I think it is startling how little knowledge I had of the correct use of copyrights. I also found it interesting that there are copyrights on literally everything and that laws have been created in order to protect each and every single one of those creations. It makes me want to create something and stamp my name on it just so I can say I have a copyright!