SUP228 --Best Practices in Fair Use for 21st-Century Educators

It's only Day One of the NECC 09 conference and already I feel like I could leave tomorrow, a happy woman. I already gotten more than I came for in this trip!

Yesterday, some colleagues and I did the White House Tour. I applied for tickets last January and we were fortunate enough to get in. The Obamas have made their lives in the White House so much more visible than previous presidential families. It was an honor to trace paths that they cover every day and to see the public rooms of state first-hand. The docents (FBI agents?) were personable and knowledgeable historians and contributed greatly to the experience. From the front gate, I was able to see the vegetable garden that has gotten so much press. And while shooting photos, Obama came out onto the balcony, causing an uproar from cheerful crowds shouting his name. He waved back to us!
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SUP228 Best Practices in Fair Use for 21st-Century Educators
Renee Hobbs, Temple University, Media Education Lab with Katie Donnelly, Kristin Hokanson, Michael RobbGrieco and Joyce Valenza
Sunday, 6/28/2009, 12:30pm–3:30pm WWCC 145 A

Today, I attended a pre-conference workshop on Copyright Confusion, put on by a team of educators from Temple University who are the creators of the new fair use doctrine, BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR MEDIA LITERACY EDUCATION. (You can download a copy of the doctrine here).

The Temple University team are no lightweights in the area of copyright law. Their research was funded by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation. They also were backed in their efforts by Peter Jaszi - Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. Peter is quoted frequently in their videos. The Fair Use doctrine has already been adopted as official policy by the NCTE.

These people are like rock stars to me. I was familar with Media Education Team Leads, Renee Hobbs and Kristin Hokanson because I've seen their training videos so many times. But the big surprise was uber-exhuberant Michael Robb Grieco, who is the author/producer of the two music videos, Copyright, What's Copyright and Fair Use/User Rights, Section 107 . He is a caricature in his own videos! Michael's songs bring clarity to issues that might otherwise be difficult to explain. They are pure genius.

I have been using the Temple University Media Literacy materials this year to educate school administrators about the new interpretations of copyright law. The team has done such a superb job at developing and sharing teaching materials, (videos, lesson plans, case studies, worksheets etc). The copyright tune comes with a lyric sheet which I like to turn into "Copyright Karaoke." I warn my own workshop attendees that those songs will be spinning in their heads all day. You may even find yourself singing them in the shower.

Kristin's classroom scenario case study is the deal-breaker in all of this, as a real-life application of the doctrine of Fair Use. A brilliantly-executed exercise with a class of high school students, it shows all of us that not only do we have to train school administrators, gatekeepers, librarians and classroom teachers, but also copyright owners need an education about the rights of users.

The Temple University team has developed an assessment Tool for Reasoning Fair Use which allows students to exercise their critical thinking skills to decide if their choices and uses of copyrighted materials are appropriate under the new guidelines. Kristin says that the worksheet for students was developed after her classroom scenario case study and that it would have been a helpful tool to guide her students.

One concern expressed by educators in California is that they are afraid to hold open houses for parents and community when students have developed media-rich presentations. They fear that they will be called to task on issues of copyright infringement. Since the Best Practices interpretations of Copyright are so new, I highly recommend that educators use an Open House as a learning opportunity for the community. It would be fairly easy to use students as teachers to explain the new concepts.

Hall Davidson has always been the King of Copyright Law in education arenas. Those of you who have been using his famous charts on Copyright from 2002 will be happy to know that he has also switched over to this new reinterpretation of copyright law. In fact, Hall has an excellent video on Fair Use Section 107 that totally supports the message of the Temple University team.

Because I was familiar with the Best Practices in Fair Use document and the training materials put together by Renee Hobbs, I knew walking into this workshop that it would be life-altering for those in attendance. It was almost as much fun for me to watch their changes in attitude as it was for the presenters.

The big disappointment was that this workshop was not a sell-out. It should have packed the house!!! Teachers everywhere are involved with use of media-rich materials for teaching and learning. Perhaps the title wasn't catchy enough - or maybe educators simply don't know that all of the rules have changed.

Everyone who came to this workshop walked away invigorated and eager to share their new knowledge! Those who did not come, missed out ... big-time!

Look for the NECC workshop wiki here. You can also find the complete set of curriculum and training resources at http://mediaeducationlab.com/