To Use or Not To Use? That is the Question

To use or not to use? That is the question. Oh no! Is it even okay for me to use this quote that derives from the one Shakespeare made famous in his play Hamlet? After engaging with the materials this week regarding proper and improper use of other’s creative materials, I feel enlightened and empowered. In particular, I feel empowered when I think about how gaining this knowledge can help myself and other educators. With so many resources now available not only in paper form but digitally as well, the access teachers have to materials that can help enhance the learning experience for students is extensive. And, although this amount of access to resources for learning is an incredible reality, it can also present many problems for us as educators. This is mainly because most of us have not been taught about issues regarding proper and improper use of other’s creative works.

As former students, most educators are aware of plagiarism and how it works. But, I think this is the extent of the knowledge most of us have regarding proper and improper use of resources. When it comes to issues of copyright, I believe we are still in the dark. Personally speaking, the issues of copyright infringement, fair use, transformation, and attribution that we focused on this week were extremely new to me. I always placed these terms in the business and legal arenas, not education. But, I quickly learned this week that it is just as important for us as educators to familiarize ourselves with these terms and how they work in order to protect ourselves socially and legally.

Yes, legally! The fact that we could potentially get ourselves into legal trouble unknowingly while attempting to provide our students with a valuable learning experience is scary. This also made me wonder why most school districts and campuses do not include in-depth training on copyright issues as part of staff development. The only conclusion I could come up with is maybe they are unaware of its importance to the education field, just like many teachers. Coming to this realization along with the fact that many teachers lack full knowledge of what they can and cannot do when it comes to using others' creative materials helped me firmly realize why the need for digital citizenship training, particularly in digital law, is important. This is also where my sense of empowerment came in.

After engaging with the materials this week, I have been able to learn so much about copyright issues and am interested in learning more. Gaining more knowledge in the areas of legal and illegal use of creative content will empower me to educate and empower other teachers to operate appropriately when using creative content.