OTL504-1: Creating Correctly with Creative Commons

Creating Correctly with Creative Commons

The Internet has made copying and reusing information quick and easy but this also created a perfect storm for using information and resources created by other individuals in ethically questionable ways. There's actually quite a few fair use protections for students and teachers to using copyright materials for academic purposes, however if students are not educated about the importance of copyright law, we are running the risk of them infringing on copyright outside of an academic setting that could have a number of repercussions.

At the time of this writing, there was a recent story that broke about Lady Gaga tweeting out against music pirates stealing her music which she ironically did using a stock image from Shutterstock without permission of the original photographer (which Shutterstock was quick to point out in response). With a slight twist to this story, the original photographer got involved and gave her permission to do use a non-watermark image. Unfortunately most of us do not have the celebrity status to receive such permissions!

This lesson focuses on helping students understand and practice using Creative Commons for finding truly fair use resources. It aligns with ISTE's Digital Citizenship standard 2c for respecting the rights of intellectual property.

For this lesson, it's time we get a little personal with money. No one likes the idea of loosing money for their hard work. A quick classroom exercise with some crudely dawn pictures can make the point. Using the students' work, we can create a hypothetical situation where the student managed to make money off their work, but then they learn someone else is using that same work, without permission, and making money off of it. Is this fair? Or should that person have to pay up?

Creative Commons developed a useful system for determining various levels of acceptable sharing using just four icons. However, without a little bit of guidance, the combination of those four icons can be rather overwhelming. One thing that can help with this is the Creative Commons Kiwi video explaining the symbols and their various combinations. However students still need a little help. The worksheet below is meant to be used in small groups for students to write, in their own words, what they think the various combinations would mean.

At the end of the lesson, students should be directed to a flow chart resource provided by Creative Commons Australia as an at a glance resource. Should a student get confused about what the different icons means in combination, this chart helps guide through a series of questions to help us determine the right sharing-level.