A Teacher’s Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons in the United States

Abstract

This multi-day lesson introduces preservice teachers to copyright laws and how they influence resource use. The lesson also introduces fair use principles and components of a fair use claim before describing the limitations of fair use for practicing teachers. Creative Commons licenses are then introduced and explained as a better approach for resource use. Creative Commons resources are still protected by copyright law. However, the authors/owners of these works automatically grant some use rights under specified conditions. This granting of rights leads to a discussion about open education resources (OER). After this discussion, learners discover how to locate Creative Commons resources, cite them, and use them appropriately.

Time: Two, 50-minute classes