Fair Use and the TEACH Act

ISTE Standards: 1.2c - Intellectual Property -" Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property." (Iste, 2023)

Students, and often teachers themselves, are often not aware of what resources they can legally use in the classroom. There are complicated copyright rules around what and when certain media, written materials, and graphics can be used in order to protect the intellectual and creative rights of the creator. We can't just take any image off the internet and use it in a presentation, nor can we make multiple copies of another teacher's materials without permission. The TEACH Act does provide some safety around what material educators can use in the classroom, but students often don't know what a credible source is or when to use them.

The JIT lesson related to this concern is focused on recognizing if a source can legally be used in a particular assignment. The graphic provides a flow chart that can easily be followed by the student when working on a presentation or a research paper. The conversation that constitutes the lesson includes discussing the importance of protecting creator's rights, going into detail about how to identify the copyright laws surrounding the source (often it is stated at the bottom of the website or image), where to find sources that are appropriate and legal for the assignment, and how to acquire permission if needed (such as emailing or paying for the source). The goal of the lesson is to ensure that the student is aware of their responsibility as a digital citizen to appropriately use material.