4.2 Safe, Healthy, Legal & Ethical Use
Candidates model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and technologies. (PSC 4.2/ISTE 5b)
Candidates model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and technologies. (PSC 4.2/ISTE 5b)
This artifact is a presentation I made to teach educators about copyright law, as part of the Copyright Assignment for ITEC 7445. For the assignment, I researched copyright law—including fair use and the Creative Commons—for education. I decide to design a presentation for educators because, prior to this assignment, I did not know the rules for using borrowed materials in the classroom. While I consulted many different sources and people in order to make this product, ultimately, I was the sole creator of this project.
This artifact demonstrates mastery of Standard 4.2: Safe, Healthy, Legal & Ethical Use. Not only does this artifact give facts about the legal and ethical uses of digital information, but it also models ethical use of using images from the Creative Commons and attributing all information taken from outside sources. Therefore, the project itself is an example of legal and ethical use. When I delivered this presentation to teachers at my school, I found that most of them had not heard of fair use or the Creative Commons. Additionally, I posted these slides for review by educators from other districts and received feedback from instructional technology candidates from across the state. Furthermore, I applied what I learned from the creation of this project in materials I have made for other classes, for my classroom, and for professional developments.
As an extension of the ideas from this assignment, I posted about safe and healthy use of technology in my blog later in the program. In this post, I discuss ways for teachers to evaluate internet tools and websites using Common Sense Media in order to ensure best practices for student safety online. I also provide tips for healthy use, such as ways to avoid eyestrain and correct posture. The blog post was seen by people outside of my district since it is published in a public domain.
From completing this artifact, I learned that educators fall under fair use law, which means teachers can excerpt, to a point, from copyrighted material for educational purposes. More importantly, I learned about the Created Commons borrowing images in the public domain for a website that I might publish. This is important because copyright law applies to images as well, and posting someone else’s image on a school website could still be a copyright infringement. If I were to do something differently, I would specify the amount of copying a teacher is allowed to do—depending on the medium—before she needs the author’s permission. I actually read a book on copyright law for this artifact. Looking back, I don’t think it shows. I could have been more detailed, but, then again, I created this for teachers unfamiliar with the concept.
The work that went into creating this artifact had an impact on school improvement since I delivered this presentation to teachers at my school. I know what they learned had an impact on their practice because this was entirely new information to them. The impact of what I taught can be assessed by randomly checking a teacher’s course page to see if materials fall within the fair use guidelines and if they cite images and/or use images from the Creative Commons.