Copyright and Fair Use

         

A math teacher often has to illustrate concepts using images. There are many math educational resources that have math images related concepts posted online. However, the access and the eligibility to use the material varies from one source to another. The digital math teacher is responsible for the way he or she uses the educational images to be integrated in the lesson plan.

Under fair use doctrine, the math teacher can use images with copyright following outlined guidelines In the classroom, part of the art work and graphic images  are allowed  to print only a limited number of copies for classroom use with restrictions on adding text to images. The copyright holder doesn't allow alterations to the selected image used in the classroom. Fair use guidelines remove some

restrictions that the copyright rules exercise on the designated images that the math teacher wants to use in the classroom. In the bottom image, the copyright holder has restriction on the use of the geometric images. The math teacher has to ask permission for the use of such material. the owner of the copyright who doesn't give permission for the use of such material tend to seek financial gain. Copy right and Fair Use for teachers shows to the prospective math  teacher how the doctrine can be used and the printed copies that can be made to avoid any violations of the rules.

On the other hand, before the math teacher downloads the selected math images from the web, he should inspect the Creative Commons that the owner had applied to the material of interest. If the creator had already given permission to his or her work, the math teacher is allowed to used the material. The video lists the different licenses that a creative comment image could have: Non commercial, Attribution, no derivative or share alike licences. It could be any combination of the previously mentioned licences.

Our responsibilities to be aware and to teach students that the material posted online are to be used according to the laws established for the digital world. Students and teachers are to read and understand the Creative Commons, Copyright and Fair Use doctrines. The math teacher should ask himself on what guidelines did I base my decision to use the material online in the classroom. According to Maureen T. Lerch, in his Copyright handout, The user should know the framework for analyzing the the copyright use. The article display a list of questions that students should ask themselves before attempting to use the material online.

The creator of images, text, video and audio should register his or her own work at the US. copyright office or use one of the search engines to find and register at creative common website according to the type of material created; images, text or video as shown in the video below. 

Teachers like to vary their ways of teaching, A math teacher who introduce a song about a math concept will get his or her students attention. However, there are Ethical issues around downloading music.The common infringement of  music downloads is practical nowadays. It is immoral to use the

music illegally. It is a violation of being an ethical digital citizen. Students or teachers who would like to use music for education purposes need to check the permission granted on the song or the video.

I would suggest that users should either go the the public domain where text, images video and musi download are free because their copy right are expired and the protection rules are not in effect anymore. Otherwise, digital citizens including teachers and students should respect the fair use, copyright and common core doctrine guidelines.

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