Copyright is one of the most exciting things you could ever learn about! Now that you have stopped rolling your eyes, maybe I can convince you that copyright isn't exciting, but it is important -- for both teachers AND students to understand! Lots of people in education ignore copyright -- maybe because they don't understand it; maybe because they think it's too complicated to understand; maybe they just don't really know what it is all about; and maybe they simply don't care.
Let me attempt to simplify it for you: if you didn't create it, it's someone else's work, and it's protected by copyright law. No little copyright symbol required. So that means you need to document the use if it's being used here at school (whether by you or students) and not outside of school (like being published somewhere or displayed outside of school). This can be done formally in a works cited following a standard format, or it can be done by simply including a name and website for where the item or information was found.
Images found online are also protected by copyright, but there is an easy way to search for images that already have built-in permission to use. Here's a short video that shows just how easy it is to do this and respect copyright!
In a nutshell, document your use of images, video, or information you use because it's someone else's work and you're respecting copyright. Yes, there's lots more to know, but this is the important stuff right here!
Want to really delve into copyright? Let me know! I've got a great presentation that explains it all AND shows you some fantastic tools you can use to make working within copyright law super easy!
