Blog Journal 3

Copyright and Fair Use

Generally speaking, I am of the opinion that the current copyright and fair use system is extremely antiquated and primarily exists to line the pockets of inordinately wealthy entertainment companies, but let's not get into all of that. In theory, the copyright system is meant to provide legal protection of various forms of media and intellectual property so that said work is not stolen or appropriated without proper compensation. Fair use is a particularly complicated facet of this system which is meant to provide other creators the ability to use said materials without penalty. This is done by limiting acceptable uses of copyrighted content, (other than paid licensing), to categories such as artistic critiques, satire, commentary, and most importantly in our case, educational settings. This means that as long as there is no monetary gain associated with the material's use in the classroom, it is free to use. 

To go on an amusing tangent that shows a blatant misunderstanding of this, allow me to tell a brief story. Back in high school, my best friend of nearly 10 years had a particularly awful teacher. She was rude, did not understand the material she was teaching, created arbitrary rules to penalize students, and was just generally a cruel person. One day, while explaining an assignment to the class, she made the bold claim that it was illegal to use any copyrighted content in the project. This is obviously not true as explained above, but when my friend tried to politely explain to her how that would fall under fair use, she angrily proclaimed to the class that he would be the first student to go to prison, which in my opinion, blatantly crosses the line of the teacher student dynamic. It goes without saying that in my theoretical classroom, I would not use copyright laws to uphold a weird grudge against one of my students, and would instead like to inform my them as to what is and is not fair use if it ever comes up.

Tech Implementation Issues

While technology provides limitless potential applications in a classroom setting, it doesn’t come without its potential problems. Amongst the examples given, I think some of the most important and interconnected issues are cyberbullying and student privacy. Cyberbullying is a very serious issue that has developed as technology is further incorporated into children’s lives, often with drastic consequences. With this concern in mind, it is extremely important to implement anti-bullying policies and take the time to honestly discuss the dangers with my students, without becoming hyperbolic. Their internet activities in class should be monitored, but this is where the issue of student privacy comes in. I strongly believe that students reserve the right to privacy, whether in real life or on the internet. While I would monitor their in class activities, anything that happens outside of class, (beyond any serious dangers directly brought to my attention), is none of my business. 

What I’ve Learned

I really enjoyed working on the teacher’s newsletter. While I already have visual art and design experience, it was great getting to apply and develop those skills practically. As someone who hopes to work in a classroom setting, I appreciated the opportunity to put so much thought into how I would approach delivering information to my students. What I learned the most from was having to get my point across within a confined amount of page space, and how to keep that info visually engaging.