Reading Review - Part B -
Literature Research and Data Collection
Perhaps I was a bit excited starting this assignment, and posted a few possible resources in Part A of my blog post. What I will do this week, is spend time focusing on 3-5 key resources. I used my keywords generated in Part A as a guide. In an attempt to narrow down these topics, I thought of my big idea of Digital Information Literacy in two subheadings: copyright & ownership of content, and storing/privacy of what you create at school. Here are the resources that helped me better understand my topic.
Copyright & Ownership of Content
I read the following resources concerning copyright in greater detail. As a TOC it is something we are never fully trained in understanding our legal obligations. TOCs should know this, because we have to recognize if we are being asked to do something that is in breach of our legal responsibilities. Also, I am starting to wonder -- if schools are increasingly sharing student work in an online format, should teachers be applying Creative Commons license codes to our student’s work?
Here are the resources I am looking at in more detail:
Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). Copyright law impacts teachers and
what they can use in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.cmec.ca/docs/copyright/
CopyrightLawImpactsTeachers%20_EN.pdf
This document
highlights changes in copyright in the context of education after the 2012
passing of the Copyright Modernization
Act. Specifically, it provides information regarding the use of internet
materials. It states:
“The copyright law provides a clear
legal framework that supports the use of the Internet in classrooms. The
Internet provision establishes that teachers and students can legally perform
routine classroom activities such as downloading, saving, and sharing publicly
available Internet text or images, incorporating Internet materials into
assignments, and exchanging works electronically with one another.
The Internet provision applies only to
material that is publicly available on the Internet and has been posted on-line
with the authorization of the copyright owner. For instance, the provision does
not apply to pirated textbooks or films. Also, teachers and students must
respect any digital lock (such as encryption or password-protection) that
restricts access or use of the Internet content” (CMEC).
According to
this, teachers should be aware that if students use a resource in their own
work that is originally pirated, then the teacher must inform the student that
they cannot use that resource. This can become an issue when using music in the
background of videos that students create. Or for example, I take this to mean
a student could not use a YouTube clip of Finding
Nemo that is clearly someone filming their own television, because this is
a pirated source. If this was observed, the teacher is legally obligated to
inform the student that this is outside of copyright law.
Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC).
(2016, October). Dealing Fairly With
Copyright-Protected Works of Others [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com
/72374059
Copyright-Protected Works of Others [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com
/72374059
This resource is a video that outlines what teachers can and cannot do when it comes to using copyright-protected works of others. A similar PowerPoint presentation document can also be read online. This video clearly outlines the legal obligations, explains the Fair Dealing Guidelines, and explains that a “short excerpt” is no more than 10% of a work. This video also explains the history of how the Fair Dealing Guidelines came to be, and what to do when the use of a work falls outside of the guidelines.
It is
interesting that one of the principal’s responsibilities is to ensure the Fair Dealing Guidelines and the poster
is displayed by all photocopiers, printers, and scanners. However, with the
increase of portable digital devices that allow freedom of movement, I wonder
where this poster should be placed to act as a reminder to staff and students
about proper protocol.
After
watching this video, I wonder how often the teacher librarian is the designated
staff person who is to fully understand copyright laws along with the
principal. The TL seems like the natural person in the building to be the “go
to” when colleagues have questions. Also, for TOCs when do we learn about this?
Are we supposed to learn it on our own? I can see how it would be easy to make
a mistake in a long-term TOC call because you simply just didn’t know.
Vancouver School Board i3 Learning Technologies.
(2016). Copyright Resources. Retrieved
from http://go.vsb.bc.ca/schools/ltm/curricular-resources/copyrights/Pages/default.aspx
This
resource provides a basic overview of copyright. On the right-hand side further
links for many documents and posters regarding copyright, compliance, and
resources are provided. Something I found particularly interesting is: “Students’ intellectual property rights are protected. That is, any
original work – for example, an essay, video, sound recording, website, art
piece – requires authorization for further use. Authorization in VSB schools
requires both the student’s and the parent’s signed permission to re-use in a
publication, workshop, or web posting, or as an exemplar. Email is
considered a legal document for this purpose” (VSB i3, 2016). So if I
understand this correctly, the first consent form at the beginning of the
school year only covers one copy, or one posting/use of digital sharing. For
further use, a second authorization is required. This is also mentioned in item
#23 of Copyright Matters!from http://go.vsb.bc.ca/schools/ltm/curricular-resources/copyrights/Pages/default.aspx
An
interesting tool I stumbled upon from this site is the Copyright Decision Tool (“Compliance Checklists for
Principals and Teachers” > “copyrightdecisiontool.ca” > “English”), which
helps teachers decide if their learning activity follows the Fair Dealing Guidelines for classroom use of materials. This
is a helpful tool for anyone who is new to thinking more deeply about this
important legal responsibility. The tool is easy to navigate, you simply click
on what it is you plan to use, and it helps to narrow down results, until
finally letting you know what is permitted. For example, it points out that
technically, music should not be played in the background at school events
until the SOCAN fee has been paid to obtain proper licenses – it feels like
this rule is broken often… accidentally? However, as these documents point out,
it is the responsibility of the principal and teachers to ensure there is
copyright compliance within a school. I find that the “3 Things for Teachers to Know about Copyright” poster
clearly alerts teachers to be aware that reproducing and sharing material is
something they have to consider constantly.
Storing/privacy
of what you create at school
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPCC). (2016). Technology and privacy.
Retrieved from https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/technology-and-privacy/
This
Government resource provides a lot of information regarding privacy and online
safety. A few of the links I found to be the most useful when thinking from the
point-of-view of a teacher librarian are:
In reading a lot of the content provided by the OPCC, it seems like teachers and teacher librarians really need to pay attention to teaching students about using password protected areas & keeping the passwords safe, creating usernames that are not obviously identifiable by “outsiders,” and paying attention to privacy settings. If these steps are followed, and the student’s parent/guardian has signed the school consent on using online learning tools, then it should be okay to use web tools in the classroom. In regards to Cloud Computing, it seems like the district I work in is using a version of Office 365 that is mostly based in Canada, except for a few features that staff are warned about on this page Office365 for Education.
I can see the
role of the teacher-librarian being “the monitor” of all of the above topics
within a school setting – what do you think?
A very good post that explores this complex discussion with good insight and strong critical eye. You've had some great discussion of the evolution of your searching, and how you've modified and adapted your search terms and criteria. You've also collected a good balance of resources that will support your ongoing inquiry and implementation as a T-L. I would caution you however, that Teacher-Librarians are not 'copyright police' as we are Peers with our teacher colleagues and we are not admin, nor management. There needs to be guidance, support, but we are never to be in a place of disciplining others, or critiquing our peers to others. That is the role of Admin. Hope that helps!
ReplyDeleteThank you, that is good advice.
ReplyDelete