Students may be under a misconception that if something is published on the Internet, it is there for public use. The time to correct this misconception is before you assign an Internet-based project. Students must understand that the same taboo of plagiarism that applies to printed resources applies equally to Internet (digital) resources—whether those resources are in the form of words, pictures, or sounds. Here are some simple ways to promote good Internet etiquette and proper legal use inside and outside the classroom.

1.      Begin by modeling acceptable behavior in your classroom. Whenever you use an excerpt or image that you obtain from the Internet, cite its source both orally and—if applicable—in writing. Be consistent when referencing online materials.

2.      Devote some class time towards a discussion of intellectual property ownership. Younger students can readily understand ownership in terms of what is and is not theirs. A simple explanation may draw on an analogy:

If you write a story, the story belongs to you. If someone else writes a story, it belongs to them. Reading someone else’s story does not make it yours.

With older students, discuss the subject of copyright and fair use. Explain that copyrights are laws that protect individuals who use creative expression. Ideas or facts, per se, are not protected by copyrights. A basic comparison can be a good starting point:

Which do you think would be protected by copyright: a news article or a hip-hop song? (the song) An animated cartoon or a weather report? (the cartoon)

3.      Quiz students on their understanding of copyright on the Internet. Here is a sample true-false test.

4.      Lead a class debate on a copyright issue that is relevant to students. Take, for example, the issue of music sampling. Sampling is a method for creating new music by mixing sounds from an existing recording—usually made by a different artist—with another recording or the sampling musician’s own tracks. Genres including rap and hip hop have fueled the popularity of this technique. Regarding its legality, a Federal appeals court has judged that unless a musician has a license to reuse any portion of another artist’s recording, music sampling is illegal. Have students debate Congress’s stance against the artists’ point of view. The Copyright Website lists a few case studies.

5.      Assign related homework and review answers in class. Suggestions include:

·        looking up fair-use guidelines for using technology resources;

·        listing all electronic resources that are subject to copyright laws (at least 17 items are possible, including e-mail, online chats, listservs, FTP files, and video games);

·        classifying which resources are in the public domain (and, therefore, not subject to copyright laws);

·        visiting the Cyberbee quiz, an interactive question-and-answer site that is particularly appropriate for middle-school students.

6.      As a group, create a classroom copyright policy and design a template for requesting permissions. Here is one example from Bellingham Public Schools in Washington.

7.      Whenever you introduce or review bibliographic procedures, emphasize the citation of electronic resources.

8.      Demonstrate ways of gathering source information for web sites, such as looking for copyright (©) notices, navigating to the home page, and viewing the “About” or “Background” section.