Thing #23

My teacher is a Fraud?

23 Things Wilton Teachers Need to Know About Web 2.0 is brought to you by the Wilton Tech Institute. Email hepferm@wilton.k12.ct.us to contact the project facilitator.  



I didn't know that this wasn't Dr. Walls Creation!!!  Excuse the double negative, it's just an exclamation. 


This doesn't meant that my teacher is suspect to being a plagiarist.   She used the material that has been used by many others by following the laws laid before us by the Creative Commons Attribution License.  She followed the correct directions.  


Let me just give you a quick lay of the land.  Copyright laws have been extended over the past few years. The old law stated that work was protected for 14 years.  Well, that changed.  Due to the greed of money, copyright now lasts a lifetime, the producer of the work, plus 70 years.  Yes.  You just read that right.


Don't get upset though.  We can use stuff to teach!!!  As long as we aren't bothering the sales, and reputation of the work for sales, then we can use work under the Fair Use Law.  For example:  I can use any rap song I want to explain iambic meter, so long as I don't sell the lesson or use it in a way that would devalue the music itself.  


23Things is a program that was used under this law.  The past 23 blog postings have been prompted to me from a pre-existing set of prompts that were slightly modified to meet the needs of the course.  It is copyrighted material, but it is out to be shared for educational purposes with a Creative Commons Attribution License.

By using these rules and regulations with care and responsibility we won't have any conflict with the laws of the copyrights, which by the way are probably still in affect for another 100 years, at the least.

It's smart to review these laws for your own, that way you can know for sure if you are abiding by lawful actions upon taking up the responsibility of altering any instruction or, also, adding instruction by use of material covered by licensee.  Be mindful that your actions are a reflection of your own research, and you can't research too much of the wrong thing when it comes to copyright laws.

Share this information with your students!  Especially if you are a teacher that addresses students in high school, as they will be researching topics, and will most likely be tempted by the greedy side of why a piece of work is copyrighted.

Be Careful With Your Work!!!