|
I'm sure you're all aware of
copyrights and their importance in protecting the work of the creators
of unique and innovative educational materials such as
FinanceFREAK.com.
Fortunately, for teachers and students
there is something called "fair use." Simply put, fair
use is the exception that allows teachers and students to use (within
some very restrictive guidelines) copyrighted materials for educational
purposes in the classroom. I've found that many teachers are
unaware of the specifics regarding fair use of copyrighted materials
like web sites. ( I, too, was quite uninformed in this area until
I started to do some investigating! )
For students, fair use is
easy! Students can use graphics and content all they wish
(without permission) as long as it is for a class assignment.
The only restrictions are that the "borrowed" content cannot
be displayed in a public forum such as a web site (e-portfolios come
to mind here) without the permission of the copyright holder and the
content cannot be put into a situation where it can be distributed or
copied. (Students cannot give the content to someone else for
use.)
For teachers, it's a bit more
complicated and MUCH more restricted.
- Amount
- A teacher cannot use more than 1000 words or
10% (which ever is less). For Finance FREAK, this would be 1000 words. (Once 1000 words are used,
a teacher can no longer legally use content from this source in the
classroom without securing a site license for classroom use.
This also includes a teacher simply reading the lessons and using
them to guide lesson plans.) A maximum
of 5 graphics can be used.
- Type of Use Allowed
- Face-to-face instruction,
student self-study, evaluations of teaching performance and job
interviews
- Duration of Use
- A teacher can use the 1000 words of content
for 15 days. (Once the 15 days are up, the teacher can
no longer use the content without obtaining a site license.)
- Copying
- Copies cannot be made and students cannot be
given copies (digital or photocopy) as this would open up the
opportunity for additional copies to be made and distributed.
- Inspiration for Use
- This one is a bit odd, but, here it is. A
teacher cannot provide the 1000 words of material to another teacher
for use. The INTENT for use must come from the teacher
who gets the material. An example of this would be if a
school's librarian found some material and provided it to the
teachers for use. This would be a violation of the
copyright. However, if Ms. A went to the librarian (on her
own) and asked for the materials, it's OK.
So, where does this put us with
Finance FREAK?
Teachers: Coolmath.com, Inc.
is granting you the right to use Finance FREAK in the classroom as
much as you'd like -- AS LONG AS YOU VISIT THE
SITE LIVE! You cannot print the lessons and you cannot
download (or cache) the lessons onto your hard drive. You cannot
simply read a print-out of the lessons to your students.
Please understand that we can only
afford to continue to maintain our web site and create new and
innovation learning materials if we can be reimbursed for our time and
expense. Your assistance in this area is greatly appreciated!
How can you help us? Please ask your school and your district to
create links on their official websites to both FinanceFREAK.com and Coolmath.com. These links help our rankings with search
engines such as Google. Higher rankings help our money-making
areas like Spike's Game Zone.
For more information about copyrights
and fair use, please check out section 107 of the copyright law.
The above guidelines were created at the Conference on Fair Use (CONFU)
over a period of two years and were finalized in 1997.
Thanks for your interest in Finance
FREAK!
|
