I have recently had a “discussion” with colleagues over copyright. These teachers had written a grant to improve motivation to read through a program they created. Within this program, they wanted to create a video very similar to the one made by Ocoee Middle School and Full Sail using a different song but a similar message. Since I am the music teacher, they asked for my opinion on the song. I asked if they had researched the copyright issues. They told me they did not have to worry about copyright because it was for education. Obviously I argued that this was not correct and that being educators did not stop us from following the law. Needless to say, I was viewed as a dream killer but I know that this project would have run into some major issues if they did not get permission from the song writers/performers. I’m not sure what has actually become of this project but I have not heard anything about it since our discussion about copyright.
My rely:
Thanks for your story Jenn. I sometimes find it hard to believe that we as educators assume that we are exempt if what we do is in the name of "education". We, as educators, should be lifelong learners and as a lifelong learner we will continue to learn even if comes from our "dream killer" colleagues.
I applaud you on your stance and hope that the next project that is in store, your colleagues take a moment to reflect on all the legal issues (even if it is for education).
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