Copyright Issues

Did you know that a large percentage of teens and  adults illegally download music and other content from the internet, without even realizing that they are doing something wrong. The Internet has made respecting copyright so much more complicated due to easy methods of copying and sharing media or content.

How do we teach students to start thinking about these issues and stop copying and downloading content that they have not purchased? We might start by encouraging students to use free legal images through Creative Commons licenses for their presentations and projects instead of picking images from the more generic Google image search. We also could encourage  students to credit ideas and drawings that are on in-school bulletin boards and in other classroom projects. And so that we model best practices, when you create a presentation for the students, make sure that you mention all the websites you referenced and encourage students to do the same.

In addition to all of this, it is important to directly discuss these issues with our students. Ask them where they get their music and if they watch movies on their laptops and phones. As we talk about and face these issues, we help students make conscious decisions about how they use the internet.

What are some ways you help students learn about copyright issues?