That's Fair Use. I think. Probably.

Posted by Kenneth Ronkowitz on

I found a post on the Digital Digs blog that pointed me to a report from American University’s Center for Social Media called “The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy." The Center based its report on interviews with 63 educators.

Here's an issue that certainly bridges the two education worlds that we call K-20. And the results aren't good. Educators at the secondary school and higher ed levels are equally confused about copyright, especially the battlecry of Fair Use.

The report concludes that educators receive almost no training on copyright law and Fair-Use doctrine. As a result, they are not only possibly violating copyright, but also avoiding using materials because they are unsure about the legitimacy of that use.

I have done several presentations on copyright for educators and the two things that everyone is really interested in are when I present scenarios and "answers" and when they get to ask about their own situations. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to give definitive answers that have some precedent in an actual case. I have even heard lawyers give copyright & education presentations and say the same thing.

So, we have teacher#1 who creates his own advertising examples for a lesson on persuasion so as not to being in violation, and teacher#2 who posts excerpts from the movie version of the novel she is teaching into her online LMS. I'm sure that that #1 is within Fair Use. I'm fairly sure that #2 is safe too - but I'm not positive about that.

Though the report focuses on media-literacy teachers (who I would have mistakenly guessed would be better informed than many other disciplines about copyright), this is classroom issue that crosses all the lines.

The report's authors recommend that a solid set of best practices for fair use are needed rather than the usual "guidelines and rules of thumb" that serve as answers when educators ask for answers. I couldn't agree more. But who is volunteering to write those best practices?

Download a PDF of the report

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