To Sue or Not to Sue?

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Title: Digital Video Technology

  Course Title: Digital Video Technology 2

  Course Number: 8201420

  Career Cluster: Arts, A/V Technology and Communication

  CIP Number: 0610010523

  Course Type: Career Preparatory

  CTE Benchmarks

  15.01 Define terminology related to ethics and laws (e.g., plagiarism, copyright law, libel, slander, and right to privacy).

  15.02 Summarize and explain the legal and ethical acquisition and use of digital materials; appropriately cite sources.

  15.03 Research and understand the Fair Use Act of 2007.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Inspiration vs Copyright Infringement.” See CPALMS resource ID#209241.

• Career Connection

  
  

  In this lesson, students will investigate the importance of copyright laws and how to keep a person, company, or institution out of legal disputes. Helping students to, "Know your rights!" is an important skill in digital design.

  
  

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Explain ethics and laws pertaining to copyright infringement when evaluating a case study scenario.
  • Summarize the legalities and ethics of copying someone else’s work.
  • Apply research on copyright laws, creative commons, and Fair Use Act to an argument on copyright infringement.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • Understand copyright laws, creative commons, and the Fair Use Act
  • Read, write, and analyze text to build arguments for a class discussion.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • What are some legal and ethical considerations when using digital materials that you did not create?
  • How does the Fair Use Act apply in different situations?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. To introduce the lesson, ask the students, “How well do you know your copyright laws? Could the next video you post on social media get you sued?” Allow students to discuss with their partners the question. Ask a few students to volunteer to answer the question.
  2. Hand out the case study, “Inspiration vs Copyright Infringement” (see CPALMS resource ID#209241) and allow students time to read. Encourage discussion using the following questions:
     • What would happen if the boys did go viral? How would that effect the lawsuit? Should that matter?
     • What would toned to be changed to ensure the boys would not get sued?
     • How does the Fair Use Act fit in this situation?
     • These questions could be written on the board or even on a paper or handout for students to be thinking about as they read the passage. Think time is critical for a creating an excellent class discussion.
  3. Tell the students, “Today you will be given 30 minutes with a partner to use your notes and the computer to research copyright laws and determine whether the boys could be sued for copyright infringement. At the end of 30 minutes, we will present our cases.“
  4. Hand out the Supporting vs Opposing graphic organizer (see attachments) with the probing questions to help the students begin using the text and research to create a pros and cons list. Challenge the students to create a pros and con argument for each probing question.
  5. During the 30 minutes time, use the following questions to help scaffold the student’s thoughts.
     
     • What are the main points of the argument? What jutifcations can be used?
     • What guidance does the Fair Use Act provide for this situation?
  6. After 30 minutes, depending on the size of the class and the amount of time, students could be broken up into groups of 4. Each group of 4 will have 2 students arguing for and 2 students arguing against. This will give everyone the opportunity to argue a case.
  7. Next, explain that now that students have spent some time creating their agreements, the class will take the time to hear each other out. The students will return to their groups and the affirmative will go first and have 5 minutes to state their case. Before going on to the opposition, go around the room and share a few of the arguments from the affirmative side. Next the opposition will have 5 minutes to state their case. Afterwards, go around the room to share some of the oppositions side.
  8. To bring the lesson to a close, ask the students to write on the back of the paper a quick written response using evidence from their research to support their thoughts on the copyright infringement ethics and laws presented in the case study.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • It is suggested to save time by pre-assigning the students to either the affirming or opposing side.
  • To keep student interest and focus, circulate the room listening to the conversations and provide scaffolding in the conversations.

• Optional

  
  

  Formative Assessment Ideas:

  • The supporting and opposing document could be taken for a formative assessment on student research and understanding of the Fair Use Act..
  • Teachers can use the students written responses to assess the students understanding of the legal and ethical guidelines for use of digital materials.

  Extension Ideas:

  • Ask students to create a classroom video library of digital images and videos to be able to be used in class. Signed releases could be created to keep a growing digital library for the classrooms use.