Copyrighted Material

“The effective use of copyrighted materials enhances the teaching and learning process.”

While reflecting on my days as a high school student back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, a memory of the dreaded research process comes to mind. Research that was limited to a card catalog and the few books my small-town high school had on hand. The bulk of the time I spent gathering the information I needed to write my papers and create my projects was often wasted changing topics multiple times due to the inability to find the required number of sources in connection with my topic of choice. The process was long, frustrating, and I definitely didn’t learn as much as I should have based on the limited availability of information. Moving forward to my experiences teaching high school in a 21st-Century classroom, times have certainly changed and educational resources have improved dramatically as a result of the increased access to technology. Due to the evolution of the Internet, educational institutions have access to more informational resources than those of previous generations, and the effective use of those copyrighted resources can enhance the process of both teaching and learning.

Teachers employed before technology was a part of daily life, often had to resort to the use of older curriculum that was purchased the last time the school district had extra funds. In my home town, I feel certain the resources were ten to fifteen years old. If an educator wanted to bring something new into their classrooms, oftentimes they had to create it, and I’m sure there were few who had time to do that. The result of the shortage of curriculum resources was a classroom that was driven by worksheets and following a textbook from chapter to chapter. It wasn’t very exciting or engaging. Thanks to the Internet, teachers have unlimited resources at their fingertips to help them introduce new and interesting methods of instruction in their classrooms. Sites like Teachers Pay Teachers (Edelman, 2006), Pinterest (Sharp, Silbermann, & Sciarra, 2010), and teacher blogs offer a wealth of information for helping to find new instructional ideas, and typically those lessons are well-received by today’s students. Of course all these resources much be used with copyrights in mind. You should always be sure to give credit to the author and only distribute the number of copies specified. For example, a lesson purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers should not be distributed to teachers all over your district. Each teacher should purchase their own access.

As far as the effect of these resources on students, the quality of education they are receiving has improved dramatically. Almost any topic they choose to research is available with the click of a mouse, and they can visit far away countries or landmarks via virtual tours and online videos. The sky is the limit as far as exploration goes, and virtual tools allow for the unique and creative compilation of a student’s learning. Although these resources appear to be open and free to all, that is not the case. Students need to be trained on the proper way to cite sources and give credit to wonderful writers and artists who bring these materials to life for their benefit. After all, that is a critical piece of the process.

The world would look much differently without access to the resources we have today, and they have certainly enhanced educational outcomes, but teachers should definitely monitor the utilization of these materials very closely. The Internet is not a substitute for good teaching, and the students must be held accountable for giving credit to the originators of the information they are using.

References

Edelman, P. (2006). Featured. Retrieved from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

Sharp, E., Silbermann, B., & Sciarra, P. (2010). Pinterest. Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/