Legal Issues and Knowledge
Copyright Laws
The United States has copyright laws which protect the original creator of works that are literary, musical, etc. in nature (USCO, 2020). Once you have created an original work it is, in effect, owned by you. You may apply for an official copyright, but you are protected once the work is in a tangible form.
Fair Use
Fair use allows for someone to use a percentage of another person’s work for educational purposes. For example, you may show a movie clip if it directly applies to lesson content, but you cannot show the same movie for pure entertainment purposes (as that would cause someone else not to pay for the movie which affects the income of the creator (USCO, 2020).
Public Domain
Public domain means that a work is past copyright date, has been created and put out for anyone’s use, or was not protected correctly during the time that was relevant (Copyrightlaws.com, 2020). Public domain day is January 1 every year, and 2020’s release was of original works from 1924 and any earlier. This only covers original works and not derivatives of such (Copyrightlaws.com, 2020).
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a great resource that helps artists of all types get their work presented to the world for others to use, following the restrictions of whichever license the creator has chosen (Creative Commons, 2020). These licenses range from sharing only the original to taking another work and reusing it in various ways, if the author is credited. This is a great place to teach students to look for photos, as they will know exactly how they can be used rather than having to research its usage allowances (Creative Commons, 2020).
Multimedia brings unlimited possibilities to the classroom; those opportunities come with responsibilities, and to properly educate students on these, teachers must be educated first.
Copyright Laws
The United States has copyright laws which protect the original creator of works that are literary, musical, etc. in nature (USCO, 2020). Once you have created an original work it is, in effect, owned by you. You may apply for an official copyright, but you are protected once the work is in a tangible form.
Fair Use
Fair use allows for someone to use a percentage of another person’s work for educational purposes. For example, you may show a movie clip if it directly applies to lesson content, but you cannot show the same movie for pure entertainment purposes (as that would cause someone else not to pay for the movie which affects the income of the creator (USCO, 2020).
Public Domain
Public domain means that a work is past copyright date, has been created and put out for anyone’s use, or was not protected correctly during the time that was relevant (Copyrightlaws.com, 2020). Public domain day is January 1 every year, and 2020’s release was of original works from 1924 and any earlier. This only covers original works and not derivatives of such (Copyrightlaws.com, 2020).
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a great resource that helps artists of all types get their work presented to the world for others to use, following the restrictions of whichever license the creator has chosen (Creative Commons, 2020). These licenses range from sharing only the original to taking another work and reusing it in various ways, if the author is credited. This is a great place to teach students to look for photos, as they will know exactly how they can be used rather than having to research its usage allowances (Creative Commons, 2020).
Multimedia brings unlimited possibilities to the classroom; those opportunities come with responsibilities, and to properly educate students on these, teachers must be educated first.