Ethical Student Use of the Web
Rochelle Henely
Walden University
Erica Watson
Integrating Technology in the Curriculum-part two
March 3, 2007
Plagiarism of content on the web is a new concern in education. Until recently, with technology becoming an integral part of education, copyright issues in regards to teaching were pretty simple. Copyright is defined as “rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information (Wikipedia, 2007). These same issues relate to students and the use of material from the web. Students have always had to be aware of plagiarism in print, but today these concerns include content found on the Web as well as in print. In 1998, Congress tried to bridge this divide by passing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Russell, 2003). Unfortunately, Congress did not envision the speed with which technology would expand and the DMCA is insufficient in protecting copyright holders. Awareness of the legal issues in regards to plagiarism, copyright, and fair use policy is essential in today’s classroom. Teachers can only hope to inform their students using available information relating to plagiarism and copyright infringement on the Web.
The librarian or media specialist may be the only professional in the school system trained in the legal issues of plagiarism (Simpson, n.d.). With this in mind it may be appropriate to utilize the skills of the media specialist as a resource when teaching the students copyright issues. As a preventive measure, the students also need to be informed of the Acceptable Use Policy of the school prior to beginning any online research. The students will benefit from attending a lesson in the Media Center on appropriate use and copyright issues. These lessons will inform the students of the proper uses of the internet in the school setting. Another setting that contains helpful information for the students in regard to appropriate use is online library sites. The University of Maryland Library Services (http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.shtml ) and OWL (Purdue University, 2004), the Online Writing Lab, are a few samples of sites that provide thorough and easy explanations on copyright issues. High school students would find these sites informative and useful in many applications and different classes.
Along with definitions and writings on copyright, library resources also provide students with valuable techniques on note taking. This is an important skill to avoid plagiarism. Taking short, concise, brief notes while researching will avoid copying text directly from an article. In a perfect sample of note taking, the OWL website asks students to” capture the gist” of the article in a two inch by three inch space. Different methods that may work for students are using note cards, summarizing, or just plain note taking (Purdue University, 1995-2004).
These preventative measures may help the students understand copyright and plagiarism more fully. Students are taught in English classes the essentials of copyright throughout their education. For the most part, this information has been in regards to printed material. The many articles and resources that are available explaining copyright all seem to clearly explain these terms when it comes to print. The first line on the Information and Library Services explanation of copyright is “The copyright protections that we normally associate with print also govern the use of audio, video, images, and text on the Internet and the World Wide Web” (University of Maryland, 2007). This seems clear, but there are so many gray areas when it comes to copyright that this comment becomes inadequate. The above mentioned library source goes on to explain more specifically what is allowed for teachers and student
s for use of material for educational use. More stringent rules are expected when publishing material on the WWW.
Another measure that may ensure that the students do not infringe on copyright is to display posters near computer stations. These posters can contain the basic copyright and Fair Use guidelines. This is a simple and tangible method that the students can utilize when in doubt. An even more practical method to help the students “own” this knowledge is to have a poster contest and have the students create posters for the classroom or Media Center.
All of these measures will help guide the students to be well informed users of the Web.
Copyright infringement is an unchecked problem in schools. It is not that teachers and media specialists are not aware that it is a problem; it is that the task of correcting the problem is overwhelming. One would hope that as students are made aware of and taught methods to avoid plagiarism, this problem would correct itself.
References
Purdue University. (1995-2004). Writing a research paper. Retrieved February 28, 2007 from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/notes. html#PLAGIARISM
Russell, C., (2003).Libraries in today's digital age: The copyright controversy. Retrieved February 27, 2007 from http://www.michaellorenzen.com/eric/copyright.html
Simpson, Carol. (n.d.). The school librarian's role in the electronic age. Retrieved February 26, 2007 from http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-3/librarian.html
University of Maryland. (2007). Copyright and fair use in the classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web. Retrieved March 2, 2007 from http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.shtml#copy
Wikipedia. (February 2007) definition. Retrieved February 27, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright