What is copyright? And how does it impact teaching and learning?

If you had asked me this question at any given point in my 10+ years of teaching, my immediate initial thought would’ve been “you can only photocopy up to 10% / a chapter of a book”! As a teacher, there is so much focus on content and outcomes to be covered along with ways to engage and enrich students for enhanced learning with set goals and targets to achieve, that other areas, although essential, (seeming insignificant in comparison) are not addressed or understood as they should be. Copyright is one such area.

I am almost certain that the majority of my colleagues would have a limited knowledge of copyright laws and legal implications for educators as well as students. Although schools and educational systems have their copyright obligations simplified through statutory educational licences (pay to use copyrighted material for teaching and learning purposes) , there are still legal issues that need to be considered and various misconceptions corrected:

• all content created is protected by copyright (there is no formal registration required for the work)
• even in the absence of the copyright symbol, the work still belongs to the copyright owner and is under copyright protection
• work that is published in a public domain does not equate to free use. The work still belongs to the copyright owner and unless agreed upon otherwise, is protected by copyright
• there are some exceptions to copyright laws such as providing equal access for students with a disability (e.g dyslexic readers requiring audio version of a text)

There are so many variables and aspects to copyright. In order for educators (teachers, executive staff and TLs) in school and educational system settings to gain more insight and familiarity with the legal implications and laws surrounding copyright, they need to explore the website Smartcopying: the official guide to copyright issues for Australian schools and TAFE.

“Copyright vs Copywrong” by glenda01 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Other implications are posed by the use and sharing of materials in schools without careful consideration of copyright protection. However, educators and students can openly access materials given they credit the owner and use as specified through The Creative Commons licensing system. In this system, creators of material grant rights as to how their work can be used, without payment, while retaining control over their copyright.

Creative Commons provides teacher librarians with a way to teach about copyright in a positive way, using a system that works for digital content – Jessica Coates

The use of Creative Commons is recommended by The Australian National Copyright Director and state education jurisdictions recommend to licence educational resources. This policy initiative is directly relevant to both the collection management and the IL roles of the TL.

References

Coates, J. (2013). Creative Commons in the the classroom. [slideshare]. Retrieved Nov. 2016.

Creative Commons Australia. (n.d.). About the licences.  http://creativecommons.org.au/learn/licences/

National Copyright Unit. (n.d.). Smartcopying.  http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/