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Are you confused by terms that educators use? The ASCD Lexicon of Learning might be what you need.

 

 

 

Technology Integration

Part 4: Multimedia in Projects (Page 3 of 3)
Copyright, Fair Use, Plagiarism

Copyright and Fair Use

 

As projects often contain multimedia elements captured from the Internet, you and your students should learn about copyright issues related to intellectual property and multimedia law.  In particular, teachers and students should know the four characteristics to determine copyright infringement: the purpose and character of use (commercial or non profit educational), the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount of the work that can be used in relation to its whole, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the work (Chiles, Riddle, & Rich, 2003, p. 37).

What is considered fair-use of multimedia in projects?

There are limitations on time and the amount of copyrighted material that can be incorporated into educational multimedia projects, used without permission.  Developers should credit all sources and consult the Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia established by the Congress of the United States (1996).  In brief, this document indicates the following (section 4.2):

• Motion media: up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less, in the aggregate.
• Text: up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less, in the aggregate.
• Music, Lyrics, and Music Video: Up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics from an individual musical work (or in the aggregate of extracts from an individual work).
• Illustrations and Photographs: No more than 5 images by an artist or photographer; No more than 10% or 15 images, whichever is less, from a published collective work.
• Numerical data sets: Up to 10% or 2500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less, from a copyrighted database or data table.

In November 2008, the American University Center for Social Media released The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education, which is recommended reading.  The Center for Social Media also posted an associated short video about the development of this guide and what it means for teachers and students using media in their work.  The National Council of Teachers of English was among its signatories.  "This guide identifies five principles that represent the media literacy education community’s current consensus about acceptable practices for the fair use of copyrighted materials, wherever and however it occurs: in K–12 education, in higher education, in nonprofit organizations that offer programs for children and youth, and in adult education" (p. 1).  Those principles do not center around the limits of fair use, but on how the rights should apply in five sets of current practices for all forms of media: (1) employing copyrighted material in media literacy lessons, (2) employing copyrighted material in preparing curriculum materials, (3) sharing media literacy curriculum materials, (4) student use of copyrighted materials in their own academic and creative work, and (5) developing audiences for student work.  The guide also addresses common myths about fair use.

How can I minimize problems with copyright when using multimedia projects for teaching and learning?

Seeking permission to use copyrighted works for multimedia projects can be time consuming and permission might not always be granted.  Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/) has been developed to minimize concerns.  This non-profit site was "built within current copyright law, that allows you to share your creations with others and use music, movies, images, and text online that's been marked with a Creative Commons license" (section: Learn More about Creative Commons).  Four types of licenses are available to designate the level at which material can be used without seeking permission from the copyright holder: attribution, non-commercial, no derivative works, and share alike.  These licenses are particularly relevant for content that you develop and post on the Internet. They help you to retain copyright while sharing your work "with some rights reserved."  Creative Commons has an icon that you would post with your content.

When users search for media using the Creative Commons Search tools, they will automatically know the terms of use.  When searching you have an option to find works that you can use for commercial use and/or adapt, modify, or build-upon.  This latter is the key for appropriate use of the media in projects for teaching and learning.  Educators will also benefit from the database of lessons, course packets, textbooks, and other research material.  Wesley Fryer discusses the importance of Creative Commons in K-12 Education.

 

American Library Association's Copyright Advisory Network: http://www.librarycopyright.net/ has numerous copyright resources, plus a blog where educators can post their questions about copyright issues and get replies.

American University Center for Social Media: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/fair_use/ "With the Washington College of Law, the Center for Social Media creates tools for creators, teachers, and researchers to better use their fair use rights."

B4UCopy from the Business Software Alliance is a free education curriculum for grades 3-8: http://www.b4ucopy.com/kids/index.html  and grades 9-12: http://www.b4ucopy.com/teens/index.html  to help students learn about copyright and online etiquette.  There are lesson plans and teacher guides.  The kids curriculum also has information for parents.

Copyright from the United States Copyright Office:  http://www.copyright.gov/ Learn copyright basics, read about the laws, register a work and record a document, search copyright records, and get publications, forms, and fact sheets.

Copyright and Fair Use from Stanford University: http://fairuse.Stanford.edu

Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web from the University of Maryland University College: http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.html The document contains an introduction to copyright and fair use, including fair use guidelines for educational multimedia.  There is also a sample letter for requesting permission to use copyrighted materials.

Copyright.com from the Copyright Clearance Center: http://www.copyright.com/ccc/home.do See copyright for academia. This site contains extensive resources for copyright issues and organizations concerned with copyright.  There are guidelines for creating a copyright compliance policy, registering a copyright, rights management information, and multimedia law.

Copyright Website: http://www.benedict.com/ Get the basics of copyright law; read about cases of visual and audio copyright violations. Learn about Web site protection, linking issues, and Web design issues.  The site also includes discussion of the Internet Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Copyright Kids!: http://www.copyrightkids.org/ is brought to you by the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. The goals of this Web site are to provide:"an educational tool to define, explain, and apply copyright issues in language understandable to Middle School students; an educational resource on copyright issues for teachers and parents of 5th - 8th graders who are engaged in a creative process; instructions about how to protect your own creations by registering them with the U.S. Copyright Office in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C."

Copyright with Cyberbee: http://www.cyberbee.com/copyrt.html  Cyberbee.com has resources and lesson ideas for teachers on this topic.  There is also an interactive question and answer activity suitable for upper elementary through high school students to learn the basics about copyright (http://www.cyberbee.com/cb_copyright.swf).

Crash Course in Copyright from the University of Texas: http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/ If you want to use images, videos, words, songs, designs, layouts, illustrations, diagrams, charts, and graphs or create things with them, then you should learn the copyright basics using this resource.

Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/ Legally share your work with others.  Four types of licenses are available to designate the level at which material can be used without seeking permission from the copyright holder: attribution, non-commercial, no derivative works, and share alike.  [Note: For more information, read Wes Fryer's article Creative Commons in K-12 Education: http://www.wtvi.com/teks/05_06_articles/creative-commons.html

Digital Citizenship and Creative Content: http://digitalcitizenshiped.com/ is a free online program for middle and high school learners sponsored by Microsoft and endorsed by a number of national organizations.  "The program addresses many types of digital media for a holistic perspective on intellectual property and creative rights (music, videos, writing, software, games, images, etc.)."  Learners can experience "creating their own digital property in the form of a ring tone on the student Web site (MyBytes.com). In addition, the curriculum explores the topic using examples like Facebook and MySpace" (Benefits section).  There are four standalone units of curriculum resources, each with a creative rights scenario presented through a case study.

Educator's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr280.shtml  This is a five-part series posted at Education World.

Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia from the Congress of the United States (1996): http://www.ccumc.org/assets/documents/MMFUGuidelines.pdf

Hall Davidson's Copyright Resources: http://www.halldavidson.net/downloads.html  Numerous resources of value to educators are included: copyright quizzes/answers, charts, articles, and handouts for classroom planning in multimedia and video.

Podcasting Legal Guide: Rules for the Revolution: http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Welcome_To_The_Podcasting_Legal_Guide This guide, based on U.S. law, deals with copyright and fair use in relation to the development and distribution of podcasts, and trademark issues.   It includes a section relevant for librarians and teachers.

Questions & Answers on Copyright for the Campus Community (2006): http://www.nacs.org/toolsresources/cmip/copyright/questions.aspx from the Software & Information Industry Association, Association of American Publishers, Association of American University Presses, National Association of College Stores, and the Copyright Clearance Center. This guidebook in question and answer format discusses the Copyright Act: copying print and digital works, getting permissions to copy, how to get electronic versions from publishers for students with disabilities including a form for requesting the e-version, guidelines for making classroom copies, and a form for seeking permission to use copyright materials.

Taking the Mystery out of Copyright: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/#  from the Library of Congress is an interactive site in Flash for students and educators to learn about copyright.

Think First, Copy Later: http://www.copyrightfoundation.org/ from the Copyright Alliance Education Foundation contains a library of classroom curricula on copyright, which is organized for how each might be incorporated in classroom plans for elementary, middle, and high school and by subject area. A 13-page educator's guide for teachers of all grades and subject areas includes an overview of copyright, a FAQ section, a glossary and standards charts for all the classroom curricula provided.  Short videos also provide an overview.

 

 

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Plagiarism

Learn to write better.  First, take the Plagiarism Test from the College of Education at Indiana University Bloomington to see if you can recognize plagiarism in writing.  Then below are resources that define plagiarism, help you prevent plagiarism, and plagiarism detection services.

What is plagiarism?

The Internet has made it easy for students to cut a paste content from others into their work, particularly in their written papers.  Many students are not even aware of what constitutes plagiarism.  Simply stated, "In an instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source" (Council on Writing Program Administrators, 2003).

How can you deter plagiarism?

The best way to deter plagiarism is to prevent its occurrence in the first place by teaching students about plagiarism, copyright and fair use, and how to paraphrase.  Readers might be interested in the article Plagiarism: Prevention is the Name of the Game by Patricia Deubel (2005), which appeared in English Leadership Quarterly and is available at this site.  ReadWriteThink.org also has an excellent 3-part lesson to use with students, Exploring Plagiarism, Copyright, and Paraphrasing.  The premise is that students need time to practice and must see examples of correct paraphrasing and citation methodology.

Unfortunately, however, the burden of proof for suspected plagiarism lies with the educator.  Arthur Sterngold (2004) indicates that conventional lecture-based teaching practices invite cyber-cheating.  Deterring plagiarism calls for a paradigm shift toward more learner-centered teaching approaches, which incorporate "more hands-on, active, and collaborative learning methods" (p. 21).  While no methods are foolproof, Sterngold provides the following strategies for preventing plagiarism in research papers:

• Break up major research papers into smaller assignments.
• Require students to write about course-specific topics.
• Choose some required course material for your students.
• Incorporate assignments into class discussions and tests.
• Meet with students to discuss their research.
• Require students to submit printouts [marked-up/highlighted copies] of source materials.  (pp. 18-20)

Sterngold's strategies "allow instructors to treat most instances of plagiarism as fixable errors rather than fatal violations of academic policies" (p. 18).  They are equally applicable for multimedia projects, which are developed over time and for which instructors can provide learner feedback in stages.

 

Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01 offers advice in how to avoid plagiarism in your work.  Writing resources are extensive, including the writing process itself, essay genres, developing annotated bibliographies, and APA and MLA citation methodologies.  There is a complete section also devoted to learners in grades 7-12: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/677/01/

Plagiarism.org: http://www.plagiarism.org/ contains resources for preventing plagiarism and guidelines for correctly citing information.  There is also a Plagiarism in the Digital Age webinar series for higher education and high schools.

Plagiarismadvice.org: http://www.plagiarismadvice.org/ "aims to showcase innovative approaches to addressing plagiarism and best practice from members of the academic community."  Resources are numerous with case studies, briefing papers, designing out plagiarism, referencing resources, legal issues, resources for schools and more.  You will also find plagiarism advice videos, and videos on using Turnitin.com.

Plagiarism & Academic Integrity at Rutgers University: http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/douglass/sal/plagiarism/intro.html,produced by the Rutgers University Libraries, is a multimedia play with eight scenes, suitable for use with high school/post-secondary learners.  The tutorial is presented using video clips of university students modeling good and bad behavior in regard to plagiarism.  At the end of each scene, interactivity is provided in the form of user options to address the question, “What would you do?” A squawking parrot and various street signs provide voices of reason.

Plagiarism, Eh?: http://www.acts.twu.ca/Library/Plagiarism_Short.swf an audio and video tutorial from Trinity Western University in Canada on how to recognize plagiarism and get it out of your life.

The Plagiarism Resource Site: http://plagiarism.phys.virginia.edu/ "The goal of this web site is to help reduce the impact of plagiarism on education and educational institutions. At present, it distributes free software to detect plagiarism and provides links to other resources. This site’s sole author is Lou Bloomfield, Professor of Physics, University of Virginia."

Plagiarism Today: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/ was created by a victim of plagiarism who decided to fight back.  Thus, the site is devoted to webmasters and copyright holders and contains resources for detecting plagiarism, content theft on the Web, learning about legal issues, copyright, contacting the plagiarist, plagiarism help, a blog for discussion, and more.

Prentice Hall Companion Website: Understanding Plagiarism: http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_understand_plagiarism_1/0,6622,427064-,00.html is a text-only comprehensive tutorial appropriate for high school and post-secondary learners.

The Fraud of Plagiarism: http://davon.etg.usf.edu/share/plagiarism/story.html is an online interactive multimedia tutorial developed by Dr. Eleanour Snow with support from the University of South Florida. Examples with decision-making opportunities are presented to help learners understand the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing.  Feedback clearly explains what is acceptable and not acceptable writing.  A summary quiz is included.  Reading level in examples is more appropriate for secondary and post-secondary learners.

VAIL (Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory) Tutor: http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip/vail/home.html is a high end multimedia tutorial with graphics, animation, and music, provided by the Center for Intellectual Property at the University of Maryland University College.  Faculty and administrators learn to detect plagiarism, provide strategies for reducing cheating, and promote academic integrity.  Students learn how to avoid plagiarism.

What is Plagiarism? from Georgetown University: http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/honor/system/53377.html  Plagiarism is defined and issues that students commonly raise are discussed, such as paraphrasing, getting help from others, not having time to do it right, denial of plagiarism, my friends get stuff from the Internet.  Information on acknowledging the work of others and examples of plagiarism are provided.

You Quote It, You Note It!: http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/  (2004) is a very engaging, multimedia, interactive plagiarism tutorial brought to you by Vaughn Memorial Library at Acadia University in Canada.  In about ten minutes, middle school to post secondary learners will learn how to avoid plagiarism and pick up some research tips, too.

Writing Tutorial Services at Indiana University (Bloomington): http://www.indiana.edu/%7Ewts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml Plagiarism: What it is and how to recognize it and avoid it.

 

 

What plagiarism detection services are available?

EVE2: http://www.canexus.com

Glatt Plagiarism Services: www.plagiarism.com

My Drop Box: http://www.mydropbox.com/ provides an easily customizable service to detect and prevent Internet plagiarism.  The technology will assist universities, colleges, high schools, and other education providers ensure that "no single sentence is copied from the Internet without proper reference.

Plagiarisma.net: http://plagiarisma.net/

Turnitin.com: http://www.turnitin.com/static/index.php is a product to help detect plagiarism, but more importantly to prevent it in the first place.  For detecting plagiarism, the service relies on comparing the submitted document to documents found on the Internet, published works found in databases as ProQuest and the Gutenburg collection of literary classics, and to the millions of papers submitted to the service since 1996.  Examine the research resources for students and teachers.  You will find plagiarism and key research terms defined, help to identify different types of plagiarism, help with citations, and suggestions for developing good research and writing skills.  Teachers will appreciate the printable handouts.

 

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The Amazon widget below shows books using the search phrase: copyright fair use.  You can also use the widget to search with other key words.  Suggestions include:

• copyright
• fair use
• plagiarism

 

 

 

References

 

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See other Technology Integration pages:

Part 4: Multimedia in Projects: Page  1  |   2   |  3  | 

Part 1: Essential Questions  |  Part 2: Technology Integration Resources  |   Part 3: Web Page Design