What it is: Copyright can be tricky for students (and adults) to understand. Copyright Exposed: Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright does a good job of just that, taking the mystery out of copyright. Here your students will watch a short video/comic that explains copyright. Next, students can explore how copyright came to be by looking at the milestone files on record. Reading the Fine Print helps students answer questions such as: “Do I have to register a copyright to secure protection?”; “If it’s on the Internet can I use it?”; and “Is it okay to use up to 5% of someone else’s work?”. Finally, students can learn what steps they need to take to secure a copyright for their work.
How to integrate Copyright Exposed: Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright into your curriculum: Copyright law is important to teach our students of all ages. As soon as we ask students to create original work, we should be teaching them about copyright. I always found copyright difficult to teach, students had a hard time understanding what was fair use and when they were violating copyright. It didn’t help that many of the adults in their lives weren’t model good copyright habits. When students create their own original work, and you can walk them through the copyright process, it starts to resonate with them more. Students may think nothing of “borrowing” something off of the Internet for their own use without permission but when they think about someone else claiming the work they created, they start to feel differently about it. Copyright Exposed is an excellent presentation/site to go through as a class. It helps answer those “sticky” situations of fair use, owning a copyright, and using content from the Internet. The site is written in easy-to-understand language so students will have no trouble following along. Students can navigate this site independently, but I prefer using it with a projector where the whole class can work through copyright together and discuss what they are learning with others.
Tips: I wrote about Cyberbee in 2008, it is another great site for teaching about Copyright!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Copyright Exposed: Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright in your classroom!
Kelly, I think that is a GREAT idea to walk the students through the copyright process. Can you elaborate a bit on that? What is the process you use?
A great idea as many teachers don’t know (or care) about copyright. How can our students understand it if their educators don’t? I think this site will help both students and teachers.
I agree, students aren’t the only ones who could use this site!
Robin, after students finish a “published” piece of work, we go through the steps on this site (mock) and pretend to register for a copyright.
Wow! This week we were learning about Copyright law, this site really helps teachers and students. This site has steps of how to secure copyright for their work. It was great reading this, it will help me on next week’s project.
This site was really interesting for me to read because I am currently learning about Copyright Laws and Plagiarism. When learning new things I find it very informational to read other different texts on the subject. This website is wonderful.
As a student, I know why we copyright. It’s because we can’t get it into our own words or we are just to lazy. No one ever told us it was wrong in school or at home. So, I think it’s a great idea to tell students and teach that copyright is against the law and it doesn’t help you when you have to write an essay, in class without anyone else work to copy from.
I agree with this blog because some kids think its okay to just copy and paste from any website, but they are all wrong. How would you feel if someone takes your work without asking you or without giving you credit for it and they turn it in to a teacher and they get a good grade on it? Wouldn’t you be pissed off? I know I would, so people shouldn’t do that. Overall this is a good blog.
As a student I have to agree with the fact that we really do have a hard time trying to figure out what piece of work is illegal or legal to take. Sometimes when we read something, often we feel an urge to just copy and paste the sentence or work because we believe that we cannot rewrite the same thing in “any better way.” However, most of the time we are just too lazy to even try and reword the work. Thank you for sharing your ideas to all the students and teachers and possibly even parents trying to teach their children about copyright. Since copyright infringement is such a huge issue now, because everyone is using internet, students will need to know about copyrights even before they go on the internet.
I agree with you that we should have more knowledge about copyright. That way, we can be comfortable with our creation. Because we know copyright, we can protect our creation from strangers who try to steal our ideas or works that we have done. Also, I think it occurs to all the ages. So, we have to learn about copyright. I like this site because some people like me may have trouble with trying to read and understand what some site is really trying to say, but this is not written that hard to understand.
I agree that you should teach kids about copyright in case they want some of their work to be copyrighted or they could lose out on the money for their idea. Or if they are downloading illegal music they should know that they could be charged a lot of money.
I think it is fantastic that you are teaching kids about copyrighting now, because this is around the age where they start using the internet a lot and they don’t know what they are doing. You are helping these kids become more successful at life by your teachings of the law. Now they know what illegal downloading is when they look for that new song.
I DIDN’T KNOW THAT COPYRIGHT WAS AGINST THE LAW WOW YOU TOLD ME SOMETHING NOW THAT I KNOW THAT I WILL TELL OTHER OR TELL THEM TO GO ON YOUR PAGE.
It dosen’t matter anymore. People will continue to pirate stuff that they are not allowed to do. In this digital world today, people can do almost anything and get away with it. I think the internet needs to be more secure about what people do.
AUSD student 11th grade
wow, I agree with most people, this website really helps you understand what Copyright is, and I think helping other people to understand why copying things that are copyrighted is wrong is not a good thing to do.:)
Personally, as a student, I think that copyright rules are hard to learn. I think that students should learn about copyright and their rules before they break them like copying and pasting other people’s work and using it as their own. I think that watching a video about copyright is a good way to learn about copyright.
I think it is important to make students understand what copyright is. Because a lot of students just copy and paste someone’s work into their homework. And many people will download music on the internet too. This is the one thing about copyright that is a problem.
I think it’s a great idea to tell kids that copyright is against the law and it doesn’t help you when you have to write an essay, in class without anyone else’s work to copy from.
I agreed with this blog because I think it’s wrong for people to copy others work when they didn’t do it. It’s like taking credit for someone elses work. Everyone should protect their creations before anyone else steals their ideals and uses as their own.
This is a really good website it teaches student what copyright is. It teaches them while they are still a student, they will learn how to respect the others work. I think this is important because I respect other’s work it is a way to encourage them to make more great inventions for the country
I am learning about copyright right now and this is like a a good review of what I learned and I don’t think a lot of people know about these copyright laws and should read it.
I agree, some students don’t know what copyright means. This semester we are learning how to avoid breaking copyright. When a student is in a rush they just copy and paste on the internet, and that is not good it’s like stealing someone else property.
I think that it is a good thing that this site is helping everyone learn more about copyright. I think that all schools should teach kids about this, so that they are prepared in the future. I also think that you shouldn’t use someone else’s work without their permission, not because of the consequences, but because it is wrong!
When I was young, I didn’t know what was copyright. As I read more sites and ask my parents more about it, I have started to realize how important it is. People should learn what copyright means and why is it against the law to break it.
Students tend to copyright when they are too lazy to think of their own words to say so they use others. Copyright makes things easier because you won’t have to think for yourself when someone else has the same information you need. Even though copyright is illegal students don’t really follow it because they dont really know what is the consequence of copyright.
What I’ve learned is that pirating or watching pirated movies is against the law. It’s a great idea that copyright websites teach younger kids on taking other peoples ideas. This is a great way for kids to be original. Since our times is all about the internet and electronics, make sure you get your music and movies from a legal and copyrighted place, otherwise there would be consequences. Make sure you surf the web and download the right files too!
agree, students aren’t the only ones who could use this site! I DIDN’T KNOW THAT COPYRIGHT WAS AGINST THE LAW WOW YOU TOLD ME SOMETHING NOW THAT I KNOW THAT I WILL TELL people about.
This a good website teaching everyone about copyright and what the consequences are and why we should not copy one’s published work or whatever that person published, whether it’s a story, poem, song, etc.
This is a good website on informing others about copyright and how kids nowadays think differently of what is okay when it comes to ‘borrowing’ or ‘copying” . I feel many kids/teens don’t think about the consequence or plagiarism & copyright.
I think that teaching students about copyright is a good idea. If they know more about copyrights they can prevent themselves from doing illegal things. People shouldn’t take work that doesn’t belong to them. Copyright is important for people to know.
This is what we want to learn about copyright, and what’s the main point of copyright. It is important to know you need to make your own idea is better then copy someones with out permission.
I think that they should teach copyright to even younger students because at this time most students just plagiarize other people’s work and think it is alright. Plus, this site is great for teaching copyright to all ages.
This is very useful for people who are really not aware of what is not legal and are legal.some people do not know what copyrighting is.This site is amazing.
I like how the website pretty much summarizes copyright and makes it less confusing. It is also a good teaching tool. Anyways i think it is really good because it is a fast easy way to teach people about copyright.
I agree that students and adults should use this website because copyright is a serious matter. If they learn the material then they will know that copying another persons work is never allowed. Therefore the copyright law is vital for students and adults to learn and understand.
Wow! This week we were learning about Copyright law, this site really helps teachers and students. This site has steps of how to secure copyright for their work. It was great reading this, it will help me on next week’s project. I feel that it is necessary for kids to learn what copryrights are
This is a good website on informing others about copyright and how kids nowadays think differently of what it is. Students tend to copyright when they are too lazy to think of their own words to say, so they use others. This will make students, possibly adults as well from copyrighting.
I think all students should know about copyright. I think that because students need to know what to copyright and the consequences if they break the copyright rule.
Well I think copyright infringement is a big problem these days and it is good to know there are people out thee wanting to prevent this issue from getting really out of hand or else everything we have today would be exactly the same.
To be honest I think students are often considered not able to understand something like copyright.
I believe it’s not true, and I believe that the copyright would be useless if everyone had some common sense, harder, but more important, to teach everyone.
I think we should concentrate on this. Giving student a sense of ethic and justice. Copyright is just the legal equivalent.
Copyright is very difficult to understand and I wish that it was better enforced and taught about at schools.
I think the reason why adults aren’t the “perfect role models” when it comes to copyright is because we have just entered the digital age. Some adults still like to use VHS – they’re not very well informed, either.
Also, how much of a preexisting work can be used? Because for College Board’s AP Art Portfolio/Exam, I know it’s acceptable if a student reproduces an artwork so long as they change at least 30% of the work. Is 30% acceptable?
I think that its a great idea to talk to students about copyright. It can also make them what to get ownership of their own work.
Teenagers usually unaware of things they do. sometimes they don’t realize they copyrighting something.
I agree what Mike said because it’s not right stealing other people’s work or ideas and taking credit from it. It’s not right and you can get sued for a lot of money nowadays.
I think that everyone knows about copyright, but they don’t really know what it is which is why there’s so much problems about it. We mainly have a problem with copyright because we don’t completely understand what it is so when we read something, we often either copy and paste the phrase we like or try to reword it, but sometimes we have a hard time trying to find the words for it. I think that it is important for people to learn about copyright which is why I think that this would be a good website to learn about it from.
I fully agree with you. Role models, such as adults and teachers, should really explain copyright basics with students and kids. Most students heard of or may even know what copyright is but they don’t fully understand the use and importance of it. They definitely don’t know the consequences either. I believe they should have a little knowledge on it because it will help them in the future. They should learn about copyright and also be informed of how to register one if ever needed in life. Honestly, I never really knew what copyright was until I did a project on it recently. I learned about the use, the consequences in violating it, and that you must register it at a copyright office. I didn’t even know copyright offices exist. Plus, you can copyright something electronically now! How convenient right? Anyway, I like that you blogged about copyright and that website is fantastic!
Th concept of copyright is sometimes extremely difficult to understand. There are many rules that people tend to break. I think teachers should teach their students about it every time they have to do a project or and other type that deals with the internet or other sources. Children at a young age may not understand the concept, but it is always worth a shot to teach them. There are so many consequences when you mess with any copyright issues, I’ve heard that usually one in ten people have copied something from somewhere throughout their whole life.
This site has a good text where children could understand and also grown ups. It has good information and it is easy to read. I agree with Jalen on that kids should be taught about copyright and downloading.
I agree, because many students and adults do not know about copyright, including me. I believe copyright law is a serious law, everyone should know it. Copyright is also about being fair. Right now, my teacher is teaching my class about what copyright is . I think it is a great idea to understand about copyright law, and it can also help our life in the future.