Topic 5 - Copyright, Cyber Safety and Cyber Bulling

When most teenagers or internet users hear the word copyright, they immediately think of pirating music.  The media coverage of the illegal downloading of music on the internet has schooled most of the growing youth today as well as the older generation on the ramifications of illegally downloading such music.   However, the copyright issue does not stop there.  It extends far beyond music to any literary work that is created.  Classroom teachers have an obligation to cover the copyright rules, fair use rules and the ramifications of breaking those rules.  Each teacher has a unique opportunity to instill a respect for another’s work.  Student’s will no doubt, use the internet for the majority of the information that they will utilize throughout their schooling years as well as their collegiate years.  Students can easily engage in copyright violations in the classroom, if the teacher is not careful to guide the students in the correct use of another’s written, video, musical or illustrated information.  “Teaching copyright will require your students to think about their role in the online world and provide them with the legal framework they need to make informed choices about their online behavior” (Teaching Copyright).  We are teaching students to be life-long learners, innovators, and free-thinkers… not to take another’s work and make it their own.  Stealing is stealing and students should know the punishment that goes hand-in-hand with it.

The internet can be a very unfriendly place for many students especially as they grow into their teenage years.  Many students now come home to empty houses, where one or both of their parents are working, allotting them the time to explore the World Wide Web.  Unfortunately, far too many children give away too much information during their explorations.  Cyber predators are lurking everywhere on the internet and are just waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting and trusting minor.  Anyone can easily see the sting operations on NBC’s Dateline program, “To Catch a Predator” that these individuals come from every walk of life.  There is no single common link that we can warn our children to be aware of.  Simply, it can be anyone and in any website.  There are no guarantees when sharing information over the internet.  We teach our children stranger-danger.  Why don’t we emphasize more the dangers of cyber predators?  It is not an easy concept for young students to understand, simply because it is not tangible.  They cannot see or touch a predator online.  Children can only see words on the screen and many do not connect that to a physical person.  However, it is not only cyber predators that our students need to watch out for, cyber bulling has grown in its own right. “Savvy students are using Instant Messaging, e-mails, chat rooms and websites they create to humiliate a peer” (Cyber Bullying: Statistics and Tips, 1998-2009).  According to I-Safe.org, cyber bulling has become common place among our youth today with an estimated 42% of kids being bullied and one in four being bullied more than once.   Parents used to easily spot the victim of bulling by seeing evidence of a black eye or a bruise on their child, but cyber bulling is much more difficult to spot.  Warning signs of a child being cyber bullied are a reluctance to use the computer, looking nervous when receiving a text or email message, displaying anger or sadness after using the computer, not wanting to be involved with school or their families, as well as several others (Shoemaker-Galloway, 2007).  Cyber bulling cannot be taken lightly or simply shrugged off as if it were nothing serious.  To our students, it is their primary means of communication with their peers when they are not at school.  Clearly more needs to be done to protect our students in the World Wide Web.  As educators, protecting our students should be one of our primary focuses.  Technology will advance in the years to come and the government will be forced to implement new laws to protect our children.  Unfortunately, until then it will be the responsibility of the schools and parents to make sure that our students are watched, warned and responsible while they utilize the internet.

Copyright rules and regulations are very specific and vague at the same time.  At first when I read the articles for the assignment, I was, to say the least, overwhelmed.  Thank goodness that there is a “cheat sheet” that can and should be utilized.  I know that I will be using it often, especially after taking the copyright quiz.  It has definitely made me wonder if I have committed infractions in the past and it would be inaccurate to say that I have not.  As an educator, copyright is a prevalent issue and will need to be addressed in my future classroom.  I found great relief in doing a Google search for teaching copyright and found tons of websites devoted to teaching copyright to students (of any grade level) the correct way to access and utilize information.  There is simply no excuse for a teacher who does not teach their students the value of someone else’s work or the importance of their own work.  “Teachers have a moral obligation to practice integrity and trustworthiness” (Newsome, 1997).  I must admit that I have never paid much attention to the copyright laws and what exactly that entails but I know that being in a classroom, I will have to know exactly what I can use legally and what I cannot.  Being an ethical teaching professional is a requirement in the competencies of the State of Texas.  As a student in school, copyright and fair use rules will be invaluable to me as I continue along my collegiate journey.  I will need to keep my “cheat sheet” handy.    

Being the wife of a computer professional and a parent of two middle school and one elementary school students, you can imagine that cyber bulling and cyber predators have been discussed in our home.  My husband and I have struggled with wanting to allow our children to keep pace with their peers regarding the internet and video gaming while not allowing too much social media to come into our house.  We have taken measures to ensure that our kids understand the dangers of sharing information over the internet.  Do they grasp the full ramifications?  Without a doubt… absolutely not!  My children have tried to convince me that they get it but then they will prove my conclusions right when they say, “It’s only… so and so”.  We have setup time tables as our children have gotten older to allow them some internet freedom and allow us to still feel like we are protecting/parenting them and have discovered that this is definitely a delicate balance.  Basically, this boils down to mom and dad having all passwords to any social media websites and periodic checks of their laptops.  “As a parent, specifically, as a Internet parent, you need to do your best to make sure your child is safe online and knows how to handle sites and people that are inappropriate” (Internet Parenting, 2006). 

I-Safe.org. (1998-2009). Cyber Bulling: Statistics and Tips. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.isafe.org/channels/sub.php?ch=op&sub_id=media_cyber_bullying

Newsome, Cathy. (January 21, 2000). A Teachers Guide to Fair Use and Copyright; Modeling Honesty and Resourcefulness. Retrieved February 19, 2011 from http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm

Theparentedge.com. (2006).  Internet Parenting: It Takes More Than Just Talking!. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.theparentsedge.com/internet_parenting.html.

Teaching Copyright. Teaching Copyright.org.  Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.teachingcopyright.org/.