Case+51+-+The+Planet+Earth+Problem!

//Case Study: The Planet Earth Problem//

Mrs. Sanfilippo finished up a PowerPoint late on a Thursday evening in final preparation for tomorrow’s lesson on symbiotic relationships in her unit on ecology. Her examples of mutualism, commensalism and parasitism are well defined and several pictures are present, depicting these relationships, but still she thought, “What could be better than actually viewing the these interactions first hand?” Mrs. Sanfilippo logs into her school website and logs into the school library’s page and discovers the school library has a Plant Earth DVD that would compliment her lesson perfectly. She stops by the library first thing Friday morning to sign the video out, only to get into an argument with the school librarian!

“Is this video integrated into your Unit or Lesson plans?” barked the librarian. Quite surprised, the teacher asks the librarian why it matters. Apparently, unknown to our young teacher, the department supervisors let the school librarian know when they notice a video in teacher’s weekly lesson plans in the beginning of the week when plans are submitted.

The librarian informs Mrs. Sanfilippo that the purpose of all this is to ensure that the school library videos, like Planet Earth: How Animals Interact are used appropriately. This DVD video clearly states that no reproduction of the disc is allowed, it is not to be shown to large audiences, you cannot charge money to watch the DVD, etc. While Mrs. Sanfilippo is in fact planning on showing the DVD to over 100 of her high school Biology students, this is acceptable use of the DVD under the “Fair Use” Exemption due to it being for educational purposes. The librarian also lets the young teacher know that the video may not be screencasted or copied and posted to the internet that it may only be shown it a controlled, educational environment such as a classroom.