The portion on “original copyright” was a refresher for me. We discussed this at length in a technology ethics course I took last spring. Fair use is a different story entirely. It was naive of me, but I had no idea that our governing bodies had delineated so much specificity regarding fair use of copyrighted materials. After reading the article by Hall Davidson, I thought I had a decent grasp on fair use as it applies to educators. However, the copyright quiz proved that fallacy. I missed one or two questions because I wasn't provided enough information. For instance that Bill Nye has authorized the use of his work for up two years after it was release. Even more surprising, though, was the question about a California instructor pirating software for a student. The court held that the school couldn't be sued without permission, and never even addressed the ethical issue (Davidson).
Clearly we are navigating through muddy waters. It is no wonder that many educators “find themselves paralyzed by all the uncertainties” (Davidson). Can we play back part of this recording for educational purposes? Well…. Maybe. How old is it? How much do you want to play? Why are you playing it? To whom will it be played? Then throw all that out the door because even if you are abiding by the guidelines you can still be sued and the result is uncertain. Generally speaking, I think if we maintain our classrooms and our schools as their own little microcosms, we’ll be safe. As long as we as teachers, and students, aren't publishing our results (findings), copyright holders aren't likely to care how we use their material in class.
Davidson, H. The Educators' Lean and Mean No FAT Guide to
Fair Use. Retrieved from http://www.csus.edu/indiv/p/peachj/edte230/copyright/#article
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