Fair Use and Copyright

     As we navigate the web in our quest for more information we curate items that we find that will benefit our needs. These items can be videos, infographics, articles, podcasts and images.  With the click of a button, we can quickly save and reuse this content.  As a computer using educator it is crucial that we teach our students our rights and responsibilities as consumers and producers of information.  
     This video is provided by Common Sense Media and Common Sense Education.  This video summarizes copyright and fair use.  This is a great start for any Internet user.  

     This week as I navigated my Twitter feeds using Tweetdeck I came across a perfect example of Copyright infringement and also the power of the PLN.  Everyone that knows Technology and Education knows of Alice Keeler.  She co-authored "50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom" with Libbi Miller.  This book is a highly recommended book for anyone wanting to implement Google Classroom into your classroom.  Where does the copyright come into play?  Well turns out that Melissa Becky published "Google Classroom For Teachers & Educators from A to Z: From Good to Great Effortlessly".  Alice Keeler identified much of the content and images from her blog and website as being published in the book without permission and credit. I remember seeing a post regarding this situation and took a look on Amazon and noticed many reviews detailing the situation.  After many reports, Amazon has taken down the book.  
     As educators we must be careful with the information we find and the uses that derive from our recent finds.  You can refer to Common Sense Media for some assistance on how to proceed when you want to use information.  In the scenario given above it was about copyright infringement at it's finest.  Alice Keeler has a strong PLN, so when she posted regarding the situation her PLN jumped to her aid.  This is one of the greatest benefits of a strong PLN!