Copyright

Policy Brief

For the administration, faculty and staff in our school district, the accessibility to various resources has grown dramatically with the enhancement to our technology options. With the increased accessibility comes the need to establish an understanding of the copyright laws and fair use guidelines for educators. The complexity of copyright laws, vagueness of fair use guidelines, as well as, the ease of resource accessibility has created a situation for content users who are now in need of clarification.

As the district prepares to establish its copyright policies for all employees, one aspect to consider is how the information will be clarified and disseminated. Training sessions provided by professional attorneys or organizations devoted to copyright education is an option within the policy. A benefit of this approach is the level of expertise of the trainer. Experts have a wide range of knowledge, experience and informative documents to apply to our specific setting. The disadvantages of using an outside resource to train district employees are the amount of time and money associated with researching the options and the actual training itself.

The other direction to go with this part of the policy would be to keep the training in-house. With the magnitude of resources available online, our district could assign a team to build a training program. The extent of the training could then vary from the cost effective use of informative handouts to the analysis of examples and situations typically occurring in the district. There would be possible costs accrued from the employees working on the team, but based on the extent of the district’s entire policy on copyright and fair use, the amount of hours spent developing the training materials and approach could be limited.

With these two options in mind, the creators of “The Copyright Site,” an online resource for educator copyright issues, offer advice when researching information. The disclaimer proposed by Dr. Vivian Wright and Dr. Susan Lucas, both Professors of Education at the University of Alabama, indicates that although they have provided a great deal of information, compiling several sources to compare issues of copyright is recommended. Another key point offered is, “we’re not lawyers. We’re educators. If you’re in doubt, ask a good copyright attorney.”

A second aspect of establishing the district’s policy on copyright and fair use is monitoring or enforcement. According to Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources, “Most unauthorized use is never discovered, after all -- there are no copyright police roaming the nation's classrooms.” SULAIR also indicates, “In the past 200 years, only a handful of copyright infringement suits have been brought against educators.” With this in mind, monitoring or enforcement of copyright and fair use rests in the hands of the school district.

Self-regulation is going to be necessary, but procedural guidelines will need to be set for employees to follow. To keep the copyright and fair use district policies in mind throughout the school year, employees will need to have ready access. Identifying locations where employees will most frequently need the guidelines is important to recognize.

Other monitoring or enforcement strategies may include peer reviews or administrative checks during informal walkthroughs. Departmental meetings regarding recent examples of copyright and fair use situations would allow for honest review without penalty. Communication of various anonymous situations could occur throughout the school. Administrations’ use of informal walkthroughs would help to build awareness of the concern for any infringing activities, but without penalty. Major reoccurring problems can then be handled long-term through collaboration between union members and administration.

The copyright and fair use policies and guidelines are in need of daily review by all educators. The ramifications are too serious to simply leave it to chance that no legal action will ever be taken. With the distribution and access possibilities via the internet increasing the chance of infractions by educators, incorporating and managing copyright and fair use policies within the school district is necessary.

References:

1. Stanford University Libraries. Copyright and Fair Use University of Stanford, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2009 .

2. Susan, Lucas, and Wright Vivian. The Copyright Site University of Alabama, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2009 .

Technology Access, the Digital Divide, and Special Populations

Policy Brief

Our school district has been progressive in its incorporation of technology to enhance the education of our students. However, there will always be concern that we are not doing enough internally to decrease the digital divide of two very important populations, students and teachers. Increasing the knowledge of teachers and students in regards to technologies improves the school system internally, but also externally the digital divide that exists for these populations has a chance to decrease. Two approaches our school district could take in the near future to increase our knowledge and skills with technology are described in this document providing the benefits and disadvantages.

Considering the need for the faculty to be thoroughly educated to maximize the potential of our current technological resources and many web-based applications, establishing formal training sessions must be considered. Trainings for half-day, full-day or multiple day sessions are options associated with learning about the benefits of technologies, as well as, practicing how to use them. The type of technology, accessibility in and out of school, amount of time needed to adequately train teachers, and trainer resources will need to be researched and organized.

The benefits associated with providing adequate training of technologies for teachers are building confidence in skills to begin establishing resources, immediate use in class, critically thinking about providing for student needs, and assessing approaches to meeting state standards for subject matter. The disadvantages are scheduling professional development days, funding, volume of demand for specific technologies, and follow up on teacher development.

Considering the array of student needs associated with technology and the digital divide, gathering data regarding the inaccessibility of technology outside of school to improve the options within the school day for students must be considered. Some issues to be examined are methods of obtaining information regarding the levels of inaccessibility for all students, what inaccessibility issues can be partially remedied in school, scheduling conflicts, and staffing needs.

The benefits associated with gathering data regarding student technology accessibility outside of school are teachers gain knowledge to use as they approach educating students in and out of class, student development of skills, student ability to use technology outside of a specific class, and improved completion and quality of assignments. The disadvantages to overcome are the logistics involving space and computers, scheduling to meet minimum graduation requirements, staff scheduling or cost for more employees, and communication between staff regarding class work and the necessary technology resources.

The issues presented regarding access of technology, the digital divide and special populations must be examined to assist in enhancing our school district’s policies for technology in the school setting. In my search for knowledge regarding these topics and how they could apply to our schools, one source of a variety of reliable, research-based information was the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Further supporting information to help our district develop policies regarding the digital divide and our special populations can be found in the source documented at the end of this document.

References:

1. Critical Issue: Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 2005. Web. 15 Oct. 2009 .