Caitlin Maynard

ITEC 7500
Reflection – Standard 4.2

4.2 Safe, Healthy & Ethical Use - model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses
of digital information and technologies
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In the Summer of 2019, I took ITEC 7445, Multimedia & Web Design in Education. One of
the assignments was to research copyright and fair use. The artifact that I have included in this
reflection is the presentation I created to share with my colleagues. The presentation covers the
importance of following copyright, the legal obligation to do so, and scenarios of copyright
infringement to review personal comprehension. I researched the material, composed practice
scenarios, and compiled all of the information into a concise and interesting presentation.

Within the Digital Citizenship & Responsibility standard, Element 4.2 requires the modelling
and facilitation of safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and technologies.
Copyright and fair use are perfect examples of the legal responsibilities we take on as educators
and the ethical examples we must provide to our students and colleagues. We are in the business
of building the next generation of citizens and therefore, we must model appropriate technology
use and behavior. That is why presentations such as the one included with this reflection are
important. The definitions of copyright and fair use need to be fresh in everyone’s minds so they
can make conscious choices as they plan their lessons. They also should be presented with
scenarios that could very well be real in the school as they spark conversation and can help
teachers collaborate on innovative ways to still teach the content without breaking any rules.

The main lesson that I learned while working on this artifact is that there will be difficult, yet
very necessary, topics to cover with colleagues and a technology coach must stay strong.
Copyright is a tricky subject because so many people, myself included, have found ways to
justify their actions. With budget cuts affecting the little funding we receive, making copies of
workbook pages or sheet music don’t seem like a large crime. However, this assignment
reminded me of the moral standards educators are expected to uphold and the legal ramifications
that could come our way if not. I think that many people think that the copyright police are a
myth and no one has time to pay attention to the little peon teacher showing a film or copying a
page out of a book, but I would rather err on the side of caution and I encourage my colleagues
to do the same. In this presentation, I focused on printed materials and videos often used in
class. To improve the quality of this artifact, I could have included two other forms of media
that many people accidentally break copyright when using: images and music. To make our
Google Slides exciting and funny for our students, we will often insert an image without thinking
about from where it came. The same can be said about background audio for videos and class
presentations.

The work that went into creating this artifact impacts faculty development. Especially as we
step into more digital learning and the amount of content we create to share with our colleagues
and our students is growing, we must be mindful of the resources we gathered and give the
proper authors and creators the credits they deserve. Therefore, it is important that information
such as this copyright presentation is shared with others; some people may simply not be aware
that they are breaking the law. After creating this artifact, I shared it with my team and other
teachers at my school. For the most part, they were very appreciative for the information.
Recently, my school paid for a movie license to show films as a Positive Behavior Intervention
and Supports (PBIS) reward. The decision to pay for the license was in part due to this
presentation and the reminder of breaking copyright and fair use rules.