Journal 6

Do Students Respect Intellectual Property?

This article discusses how teachers are becoming more and more aware of how in or out of touch they are with copyright laws/guidelines. It also discusses how aware teachers are of their student’s point of view and knowledge of copyright issues. One teacher created a project for her student strictly based on copyright laws/guidelines and found that most students are very naïve on the rules they should be following but when she required the rules to be followed and made it a part of their grade, students do respond positively and remember what they learn when they are required to apply rules. Another teacher realized that she had not even been introduced to the proper copyright guidelines and worried that some of the work she used in her classroom was violating the rules she had learned about. I related to this article because of the copyright assignment I completed in class. The issues were similar and made me realize that if I teach my students and show them how important it is to really follow the guidelines, they will listen and follow the lines set.
Question 1: Why do you think copyright has been a growing issue recently?
These days’ copyright issues have to be followed very carefully because of all the technology being used. People have access to much more information, images and music online today than they did in the past. Because they have access to it people do not think about violating rules or laws, even though they may be. Teachers need to be careful of what they use and know their rights so they can always be sure to use and demonstrate proper copyright usage for their students.
Question 2: Why is it important to teach students about copyright guidelines?
It is important to teach students about these guidelines because they need to know the guidelines and how they should follow them properly. With all of the technology being used in and out of the classroom today students have to be just as careful with following copyright guidelines as teachers do.

Sources:
Tammy Morris is a technology staff development
coordinator with the Ketchikan Gateway Borough
School District in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Jennifer Janesko is a teacher and the IT coordinator
at the Dresden International School in
Dresden, Germany.

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