I think about all the times I have googled an image, copied it and then pasted it into a document or printed it (either for personal or professional use). I can’t even count the times I’ve used images online, never thinking about copyright. I mean, no one’s losing income if I use a photo on my bulletin board at school. And yet, I am taking something from someone else without their permission. I wouldn’t allow my first graders to do that. Are we, as adults allowed to live in a gray area?
I honestly never gave it much thought until we started discussing copyright in our class. Not long after our discussion, it was brought up at school in regards to using images for vocabulary cards. Someone commented that we need to make sure the images are “legal.” These cards are used only at school, we don’t publish them, put them on the web, sell them, etc. But still, we have a responsibility to attribute images to the rightful owner.
I’m not saying I’m going to be perfect (although I’m now a big fan of using photos from flickr), but I certainly am more thoughtful in my image searches.
Since learning more about copyright, I too have been more careful about my image searches and which images I use in the classroom. However, I admit that I struggle with always giving credit. As a Spanish teacher who uses multiple images and visual aides every day to make language input comprehensible, I find it hard (time consuming) to give credit for every single image I use. I understand what you mean about adults living in the grey area, especially when doing so includes benefits to student learning. Living in the grey area for me is always a question of is it helping more than it’s hurting? I find it much easier to give credit in a power point presentation rather than for flashcards, props, etc.
Hi Laura!
In the past, I too have used countless images, unaware of the legalities involved. It is amazing how education changes our thinking and understanding. I am now ridden with guilt if I do not cite my Creative Commons images used in the most simple of presentations, even if only given to a small group of students in class.
The great news is that with consistent citing practices, we are paving the future for our kids to both understand and also utilize this same practice. My 6th grade students now recognize the consistency of my “Image Attribution” slides in presentations or self-created movies, and have themselves, gained an understanding of this practice and also use it regularly in their work. It has become a standard, routine practice, and points are actually knocked off from visual literacy assignments if they skipped it. While this sort of thing is obviously not developmentally appropriate for your 1st grade kiddos, pointing out your own image attribution, and why this is there, under the big picture of a Chair that is show to represent the /ch/ sound is!
Best of luck to you bringing our little digital natives steps ahead to legally using the amazing digital resources around us!
Cheers!
-heather
I have always been sensitive about the abuse of music on the internet. Typical musician, I guess, but I didn’t think so much about images. Recently I did a project with my MS class. They had to use CC licensed images (or their own) to produce their video to which they were composing their own music. I could not believe how much time it took to re-teach the students regarding the use of images. One student even told me “if you put it on the net, you should be prepared to have it stolen!” There is no doubt in my mind its going to take some time before we all become a little bit more legal in our digital resource management. I’m sure thankful your starting it at such an early age. Thanks for a fantastic post!