Melissa Fleming

SLMMCD 521

Scenario #1: Mrs. Urdvardy, a music teacher, downloads MP3 files from the Web and uses them to instruct her students in the various kinds of music. She allows students to copy the files and take them home, listen to them and complete a worksheet.

By definition this is a use of Multimedia or Hypermedia in the classroom. This is when you are combining text graphics, video, or in this case audio into your instructional activities. This is fine to use when you are using it for educational uses and not for personal use, but there are rules that you must follow to make sure you are not breaking any laws when it comes to copyright infringement. Under the Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia faculty may use others’ work for the curriculum in a lesson which multimedia would be beneficial, but there are specific limits on the amount and the allowed length that a teacher may use. For this case the lime limit is either 10% or 30 seconds of the audio file. If a teacher uses this audio for a lesson for more than 2 years then they must seek permission from the owner to continue using audio files. The idea is too use the smallest amount possible to make sure that you are getting to the heart of the lesson, and at the same time not infringing on any copyright laws.

In the case of Mrs. Udvardy, it is not clear on the length of files she is downloading from the internet, but there are rules that she must abide by. There are standards that she must follow since she is in the educational field, and is clearly downloading these files for the use of her lesson only. If her clips are more than 10% or 30 seconds in length, then she is breaking the Fair Use Guidelines. If less than this timeframe then she would be okay. When it comes to copying the files for the students and taking them home, she is clearly breaking the rules. It states that there can only be a limited number of copies that can be made from a teachers’ education multimedia project. There can be no more than 2 copies of a given assignment, one of which must be on reserve, and also one back-up copy. She either needs to change her lesson plan so they do the lesson in class, or set up individual times that students may complete the assignment.

Scenario #2: Mr. Hamer is tutoring for the functional writing test out of a copyrighted series of work books from Houghtin Mifflin. He has 27 students but only 20 books were purchased for his class. The same material is available at the HM web page. She prints enough pages for her kids each morning for today's class.

By definition, under the guidelines of the Fair Use Act, teachers are allowed to make a single photocopy of a chapter from a book, article from a magazine, short poem or story, or newspaper for instructional use. The teacher is also allowed to make a single copy of a picture, chart, or graph that is tied to any of the above mentioned. For an article out of a book, a teacher can make multiple copies as long as the article is less than 2,500 words, and can contain only one picture, graph, or chart from that periodical. The copying must take place when you are not able to get permission from the rightful owner, one copy is made for each student, is done for only one course, and not reproduced over and over year after year. Copies are prohibited for workbooks and standardized tests. No exceptions!!! You are considered in the “safe harbor” when you make the copies in the spur of the moment, brief in number and size, and reach the conclusion you were coming to in your lesson.

In the case of Mr. Hamer, he is violating the Fair Use Guidelines for making copies of a workbook. He is infringing his rights when he makes multiple copies everyday, not trying to have the school purchase more copies for his class. If this was just an article, that would be fine, but a workbook is a totally different story. There are rules you have to abide by. It is okay if he makes the copies until the work has come in, but he is not allowed to make copies day in and day out, without attempting to purchase additional workbooks. Order enough workbooks along with back-ups that may be needed for class.