Copyright+and+Fair+Use+Assignment

__Copyright and Fair Use Assignment__

Overview
Today students have the ability to use a vast amount of applications, technology, and search the Internet for research, projects, and entertainment. It is very important for the students to be exposed to what their legal rights and responsibilities are when they are completing assignments. They need to be taught what they are allowed to do according to the copyright laws which are in place in our society today.

This project is designed to give students the opportunity to learn about what they are allowed to do when they are performing their own research and doing their own projects. It will expose students why there are copyright and fair use policies in place today. This assignment will also give the students the opportunity to compare and contrast certain songs and make a decision if the artists disobeyed certain copyright infringements. The students will then have the opportunity to use Google Docs to submit their research to the instructor. Finally, the students will use VoiceThread in order to present their material to the rest of their classmates.

Unit Goals

 * Educate students about copyright laws
 * Educate students about fair use
 * Explore different songs and find out if the musician violated copyright laws
 * Use of technology through the Internet, Google Docs, YouTube, and VoiceThread

Objectives for Students

 * Critical and Creative thinking while learning about copyright and fair use, deciding if the artists violated copyright laws, and presenting information through computer applications
 * Identify examples of copyright infringement
 * Research on copyright infringements and organizing the data
 * Technology: use technology to submit and present information

Lesson 1 Copyright and Fair Use (60 Minutes)
What do you actually know about copyright? Why do you think we need copyright laws? What is fair use? These are some of the questions you will be answering. You will not be graded on this assignment. This is just to see what you already know about these issues. Please answer each of the questions with a minimum of 2 complete sentences. Do this assignment prior to going any further with this lesson. This paper will be completed and submitted by using your Google Docs account.

[|Background on Copyright and Fair Use]

Now that you have completed your Google Docs part of the assignment, here is some information on copyright.

Copyright provides the author legal protection for creative materials they have produced. This would include works like poetry, video games, movies, plays, paintings, music, recorded music, books, software, photos, sculptures, choreography, and architectural design. The original authors would have various rights like displays of their work, reproduction of the entire work, copies of their work, and dramatizations of their material.

Fair use allows copyrighted material to be used with the permission of the copyright holder. Even if you have permission from the author, you still can only use their work in certain ways. You are able to use their work for teaching, research, parody, news reporting, and criticism. In order to fall under the fair use exception, you need to follow four guidelines: 1. Purpose and character of use 2. Amount of work to be used 3. Nature of the work 4. Effect of the use on the market

Something that you really need to understand in education is that educational uses of the work are not always allowed under fair use. The copyright holder may not want you to be able to use their work so, you need to research and find out if you are actually allowed to use the work in the educational setting.

Here are some YouTube videos that will explain more about copyright and fair use. Make sure you are taking notes on each video and really become familiar with the topics that are covered.

Now that you have a background in copyright and fair use watch this video that discusses copyright. [|Copyright and Fair Use by Kate Robinson duration is 1:59]

Here is another video that also describes copyright basics. [|Copyright Basics by Copyright Clearance Center duration is 6:19]

The next video discusses copyright and how to use work that is copyrighted. [|YouTube Copyright School by YouTube Spotlight duration is 4:38]

Finally, here is a video mashup that discusses copyright and fair use using famous Disney characters. [|A Fair(y) Use Tale duration 9:54]

After watching and taking notes on each of these videos, you should have become more familiar with copyright issues. If you are wanting to learn even more about these very important topics, you can go to Google and type in "Copyright and Fair Use." There are many resources out on the Internet that provide a lot of information that you could find very useful.

Lesson 2 Application of What You Learned With Copyright and Fair Use (60 minutes)
After learning about copyright and fair use, it is now time to apply what you have learned. In this lesson, you will be researching songs that have been accused of copyright infringements. You will then decide if the artist did, in fact, violate copyright laws.

For this assignment, you will be going to Google Docs and downloading the worksheet [|Do you think there were copyright infringements?]

Follow what the Google Docs document tells you to do. Here is a website that has various artists with their songs that you can listen to for your assignment. [|Top 10 Music Rip-offs] You are not limited to this website. You can use whatever website that you want to use for this assignment.

Once you have filled out the worksheet with this lesson, please submit it through your Google Docs account.

Each case study you perform is going to be worth 25 points. You will be doing two case studies which means this document will be worth 50 points.

Lesson 3 Sharing What you Learned Through VoiceThread (30 minutes)
Copyright and fair use are controversial issues that we are dealing with in our society today. It is important to become familiar with these laws because you could find yourself in "Hot Water" like the artists found themselves in for copying someone else's work without proper permission.

Now it is time to share what you learned by using an application called VoiceThread. You need to register an account before you can submit your recording.

In your VoiceThread recording please focus on answering these questions: 1. What did you learn about copyright? 2. What is protected under copyright laws? 3. What is fair use? 4. Why is it important to have copyright and fair use laws? 5. What did you like most about these activities?

You might want to write down your answers to these questions before you try and record your response. You can record and re-record your response until you are satisfied with your recording.

Here is the active link on VoiceThread that you will need to use in order to record your response. [|Copyright and Fair Use VoiceThread]

Your grade for the VoiceThread will be based upon your responses for each of the 5 questions. If you answer the question completely, you will receive 5 points. The total grade for this assignment will be worth 25 points.


 * Thank you for your hard work and dedication on these lessons on copyright and fair use.**


 * References:**

Copyright and Fair Use for Teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2014, from https://www.ocps.net/lc/east/htc/mediacenter/Documents/FairUse.pdf

Copyright Clearance Center. (2009). //Copyright Basics//. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiq42O6rhW4

Faden, E. (2007). //A Fair(y) Use Tale//. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://www.teachertube.com/video/a-fairy-use-tale-2523

J, B. (2010, August 23). Top 10 Popular Music Rip-Offs - Listverse. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://listverse.com/2010/08/23/top-10-popular-music-rip-offs/

Kaemming, L. (2001). Copyright and Lesson Plan. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://www.cyberbee.com/copyrpln.pdf

Robinson, K. (2014, January 10). //Copyright and Fairuse//. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miADtFEuoH

Teaching Copyright. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://www.teachingcopyright.org/curriculum/hs

YouTube Copyright School. (2011, March 24). Retrieved October 5, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InzDjH1-9Ns