More than words… | Reflections on Teaching

You’ll see it’s a copyrighted photo. You’ve probably read a lot about using creative commons photos to avoid violating copyright (Sue had some great suggestions on finding them here), but there are going to be times when using copyright images is necessary. There is a part of U.S. copyright law called Fair Use doctrine. The bad news is that it is vague, subject to judicial interpretation, and handled on a case-by-case basis. The good news is that there are parts of it that allow for educational or journalistic use.

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It takes practice to gain confidence in applying the fair use reasoning process. There is no one “right” answer in making a fair use determination, which is why the courts have established a “reasonableness standard” which limits the liability of librarians or teachers who make a good-faith judgment that might be judged to be a violation of copyright.

No one fair use checklist “fits” a particular case or situation. In some cases, a checklist can actually interfere with reasoning. A checklist can become a substitute or a short-cut for critical thinking. In thinking about fair use, each particular case must be critically examined through a reasoning process. SO if an educator goes through such a process to justify their use as fair use, it would be unlikely that that educator would “get into trouble” for copyright violation.

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