Copyright is a complex issue that educators and students must navigate. Copyright means having a legal right to copy, distribute, license and exploit works created. Students and teachers have original works that have been created and could be subject to such copyright and fair use laws. When mixed with multimedia and social network learning special care must be taken. I have found an excellent guideline for determining the meaning of educational multimedia according to PBS:
“Educational multimedia” means those projects that combine educators’ or students’ original material (such as course notes or commentary) with copyrighted media in any format (such as video, music, text, graphics, illustrations, photographs, or software) into an integrated presentation as part of a systematic learning activity of a nonprofit educational institution. (2010)
How do you feel about copyright and fair use? Does this concern you? Inhibit you and your style of teaching? Please leave a comment or take my poll, I would love to hear views from my peers.
PBS Teachers- Educational Multimedia (2010). Retrieved November 28, 2010 from http://www.pbs.org/teachers/copyright/ed_multi.html
Social Network and Multimedia Learning 