Media Restrictions and Laws

A challenge for many teachers is understanding the myriad of laws the comes with using multimedia in the classroom. In the current era of social media, it is easy, even encouraged, to share content created by someone else. This is seen in the widespread sharing of memes and the sensation created by the latest viral video. When using social media, we are accustomed to sharing work others have created without attributing the author or creator of the content.

This often transfers to the classroom. The teacher will not consider how to site an image or video used when delivering content and information to the class. This most often looks like a teacher using an image in a slide deck that was grabbed from an image-based search engine without citing the source. Teachers may think this is harmless as the content is only being shared within the classroom. Many have an understanding of fair use that leads them to believe they can use whatever they need tom as long as it is in the classroom. However, copyright and fair use laws require that all content that is acquired from another creator must have citation.

Teachers can search for resources uses Creative Commons guidelines, posted on their website, or filtering their searches to only include images in the public domain. Teachers have the responsibility to model appropriate content use to their students and teach these behaviors to their students.

This page was created as part of the requirements for TEC 561: Multimedia Instructional Strategies and Methods