July 8, 1998

What effects will technology and copyright issues have on education?

Our discussion on copyright laws opened my eyes. I was not aware of many of the restrictions, and I think that other teachers are not either. Or perhaps they choose to ignore these laws. My own children attend schools where video tapes of movies are shown to help students get the feel of a period in time in history, or see a book come to life on the screen.

It is our job as teachers to set examples for our students by following these laws and make sure that our students do the same. They must learn that it is necessary to obtain permission from an author or publisher before using any material. We are not able to share a movie with the class "just for fun". Movies cannot be shown to "babysit" students.

More planning and communication is needed between teachers and the librarian to get video tapes and books and software that would be pertinent.

~Alma

There will be more accountability on the part of teachers to model copyright ethics in the profession. It will cause schools to spend money wisely in their use of media and technology. The Library will need to be more of a multi-media access center with part of their budgets spent on media as well as books. Hopefully it will cause the creators of quality media to work closer together with education and create opportunity to access quality media realizing budget limitations.

~Cheryl

I believe the end result will have a positive effect because it will force educators/users to re-educate themselves and update/keep abreast of copyright/technology issues, laws, information. Hopefully, as educators, it will become infectious.

~Zelda

Technology will continue to effect our education system and world. The students will be capable of learning at a higher and exciting speed. Parents and teachers will need to keep up with the children's enthusiastic speed of acquiring increased information through technology.

My only concern is that, how will technology effect the children's interpersonal and social interaction with one another.? Will social behavioral problems decrease? Will we be able to interest or excite more children with technology and draw them away from gangs, drugs and violence?

Copyright issues appear to be on the road to drastic changes. Through lack of knowledge or awareness, individuals, teachers included, appear to lack the knowledge of the severe consequence of violating those copyright laws. It opened my eyes, listening to your presentations. Perhaps we should review it again at faculty meetings, at the beginning of this school year, to remind others of the copyright rules. It seems to effect individuals only, when you present experiences of others who broke the law .

~Mona

Technology options enhance opportunities to access knowledge and utility while copyright acknowledges the creator (s) of knowledge. However, there are costs in acquiring,using, storing and maintaining technologies and in increasingly paying for using information and databases that are covered by proprietary , copyright, and legal rights.

~Shirley

The argument will become how much money is spent on technology, not will it. The concern for what will be done with those educators who are not up to speed, will become a major issue that has to be dealt with. Money then becomes a concern for not just putting technology into the school, but for training the personnel to use it, hiring the people to keep it running, and providing time for it to become reality sooner than later.

Technology will need the support of software which brings in the question of copyright and ethical use. For software to be used it must be purchased which becomes part of the technology budget and to abide by copyright laws means adequate purchasing.

In other words you do not buy one copy and make it available to everyone in the school if that is not what the software maker intended.

If you have an enormous school then sufficient software must be purchased to allow all students access and follow the copyright regulations.

Depending on how you intend to use the technology you can run into the next copyright issues of use for and by students.

In the classroom through such activities as internet searches, web page creations, independent student projects, science fair, history day, and so on students and teachers need to be very aware of what is appropriate use of others' works.

~Diane

The major issue I see that will effect technology and copyright issues in the public school system is the issue of money. The use or non use of technology and copyright issues will be determined by how well the money within the school is spent. There are many other factors that determine whether technology will be implemented within the school, some of these issues are: needs of administration, teachers, students and support staff., will the students you serve benefit from the use of technology, how well the facilities will support the new technology, the cost of initial implementation of the technology, maintenance and upkeep and other issues not addressed at this time.

Copyright issues also can be determined by the use of money. Many times copyright issues may be violated because there was not enough money to purchase the necessary number of copies needed. Teachers are faced with the problem of not having enough copies so they might Xerox something so everyone in the class may have a copy.. Sometimes ignorance may also be a factor that effects copyright issues. A teacher may not know that they are in violation of copyright laws.

Technology and copyright laws are issues that school systems generally need to address on a daily basis so they should develop polices to support the education of the students within the school.

~Beverly

It will make teachers more wary about using other people's materials. It'll mean schools will have to develop a system to carefully monitor purchases, copies, and uses of materials used in schools. It will mean printing more copyright request forms. Administrators, librarians, and technology coordinators need to keep monitoring uses of all copyrighted materials more stringently and regularly. Users of copyrighted materials need to communicate and plan better uses of such materials for economic as well as legal purposes. All state employees need to be inserviced on copyright regulations - including A+ personnel, substitutes, and support staff. Teachers need to be sure the materials they use are curriculum appropriate and cleared for copyright use. The e-mail will be used more to correspond with the authors of copyrighted materials as we ask for permission to use their copyrighted works. Teachers will need to be better models for others in following copyright laws. Schools will need a source to check on usable copyrighted materials.  

~Phyllis

Technology

Technology will make available a wider expanse of resources for education, which is good. Students will not only have print sources in books, but print and multimedia resources on the Internet and World Wide Web.

Money

But because the Internet has a greater financial potential for many individuals, agencies, and corporations , there will be a greater concern for these factions to get what is due them.

Restrictions and Respect

Although there will be more resources, there will also be more restrictions regarding copyright and ownership. So, what do we do? It is critical to educate students, as well as educators, to be more respectful of academic ownership in our global society. It will be harder to just take intellectual property from someone else and rename it as your own because individuals, agencies, and corporations will be more vigilant, because they have more money to lose, whether it be profits, salary, or tenure. Control and security software to detect who is taking what is rightfully theirs will be more developed, because there is more to lose.

Legal

I can also see legal changes regarding copyright to be more detailed regarding intellectual property, whether it is computer software, or individuals publishing on the Internet, again because there is more to lose because the audience is greater.

Conclusion

We should educate formally, in formal classes, in lesson plans, ways that students and educators can be more respectful of what is the intellectual property of others.

Copyright awareness and consciousness raising should be covered and detailed in each curriculum more than ever before because the legal and financial consequences and ramifications will be greater, because there is more for the owner to lose because the publishing network is greater on the Internet.

Internet and software policies should be on paper that students and parents should sign.

Internet and software policies should be on paper that teachers, staff, and administrators should sign.

~Marylyn

I really feel it will make people more aware of various types of technology available (i.e. Internet, E-Mail, Audio/Visual products, etc.) and the responsibilities that go along with it. Because of all the ramifications involved with using copyrighted materials, the exposure to such technology will force us to take a closer look at what as well as how we are using the available technology at our own school.

In addition to that, the changing laws and procedures will affect whatever is purchased for the school. This is due to the fact that products being purchased for use by multiple classrooms or for multiple audiences will be more costly, and in turn make it that much more difficult to purchase. By the same token, when using media such as the Internet, research must be done to make everyone aware of what can be copied and used, as well as how to go about getting permission. In other words, we will have to put careful thought into what kinds of resources we will use to educate our students.

~Joy