Copyright and blogs
Lively discussions on forums, such as John Connell's blog [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] demonstrate that some teachers are still struggling with issues related to copyright and plagiarism. John's blog provides several practical examples of how a teacher might introduce copyright to their students.
It's good practice when authoring content to provide details about what rights are attached to your work or a shared website, such as a blog. This makes it clear to others, what they can and can not do with this content.
Most schools include a copyright statement on their school website, which is useful. However if staff and students at your school believe that content (that they have created), should be shared freely, remixed and re-used with others within the school and wider community, then you might also want to use a copyright license.There are several copyright licences that are suitable for school use but one of the most popular is Creative Commons.
It is also important to note that, when using content developed by others, it is good practice to check the copyright permissions, reference the source and encourage your students to do the same.
Activity 4 Caring about copyright
The objectives of this course activity are to:
- develop your awareness of the responsibilities of authors
- understand how to ethically use content developed by others.
Watch the K3/4 - Music: Teaching Copyright programme from Teacher’s TV (13.43 mins). Reflect on some of the issues and strategies highlighted in this programme.
Next play the video below.
What is Creative Commons? Wanna Work Together RG Remix
Now think about how you might address copyright on your new classroom blog.
Discussion
Want to find out more? (optional activity)
| What's this resource about? | What to look out for... |
| Secondary ICT: Plagiarism – A cut and paste generation (27 mins). This Teacher’s TV programme looks at how staff combat plagiarism in schools, colleges and universities. | There are some practical ideas for how to teach students about plagiarism and to encourage good practice across the school. |
| All Right to Copy? This website, developed in Australia by New South Wales Department of Education and Training, provides a good introduction to copyright for both students and teachers. | There are a series of short 'student-centered' videos about the copyright implications when downloading text, images, film and music from the internet. There are also a useful definitions of key terms such as plagiarism, copyright, ownership, etc and a student quiz. |
Teacher voice
Copyright is a minefield – especially when it comes to taking resources from the internet! Ideally the best way to solve this is to create your own sounds – then you know you won’t have any problems. This isn’t always practical though in a packed curriculum so another solution is use sites like London Grid for Learning’s Audio Network (requires you to contact them to confirm that you are a school) and the NEN gallery, which both contain sound clips that are all copyright-free for educational use.
This extract was copied from a discussion about animation on the Yorkshire and Humberside Grid for Learning.
E-safety when using blogs