Case+37-Mrs.+G.'s+Multi-Cultural+Digital+Story


 * __Mrs. G’s Lesson plan for Digital Story Telling __**
 * __for Multi-Cultural Awareness __**

 Mrs. G is a computer literacy teacher at a large NJ middle school. One area of success she has had with her students is digital story telling. She will ask her students to produce a multi- media digital story about their family, their heritage and where their ancestors came from. The project addresses several NJCCCS and fits in nicely with the school’s December theme of multi-cultural awareness. To kick off the project, Mrs. G decides to create a digital story about her own heritage. She uses several old family photos that she scanned into digital images. To complete her story, additional pictures are needed. She knew that her relatives had immigrated to the US from County Kent, Ireland; however, she had no photographs from Ireland. Mrs. G found some appropriate pictures on Google-Images. The images were imported into her digital story. The additional pictures helped to complete the story. The finished project was then posted onto the password protected classroom wiki. Mrs. G knew that some of the photographs were copyrighted, but contends it is Fair Use because the project was created and shared for educational purposes. Fair Use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances, such as in an educational setting. After reviewing the four factors of Fair Use, Mrs. G does not seem to be violating Fair Use. The uses of copyrighted materials described her are reasonable and appropriate for the purposes of teaching and learning//,// //none of the four factors that determine Fair Use are being violated. // In conclusion, this case falls under Fair Use.
 * __ Commentary __**
 * 1) 1 The purpose of the use was for non-profit, educational purposes, this project was not used outside of Mrs. G’s classroom. She was using the material in order to enhance her lesson.
 * 2) 2 The nature of the copyrighted work- The photographs were factual in nature, they were showing a true representation of what the homeland country looked like.
 * 3) 3 The number of photographs that were used were a small portion of the photographs that were found on the website as a whole.
 * 4) 4 There is no effect upon the potential market for the value of the copyrighted work.

= = __**Additional Commentary**__ //I would agree that Mrs. G has not violated any fair use laws by using the photographs. Based on the four factors stated, she is clearly in line with the fair use categories. In fact, I believe that is why Google Images is out there for people to use and enjoy as long as you cite the source properly. -Julia S.//