It was interesting to find out that instructors caan be heavily fined for copy right infringement.
Copy right abuse is something that can happen very easy when you are trying to prep for your class and to find supporting meanigful material. You-tube has been a life saver.
To know about copyright laws is something basic and relevant int the process of constructing a course on line.
Fair use is explained well. Determining the "necessity" of the work can be tricky. However, fair use doesn't apply to online learning in for-profit schools, as is my understanding.
As adjunct on-line faculty for a for-profit university, I found the potential legal ramifications to be very interesting material (it definitely induced an eyebrow raise!) Starting immediately, I will ask myself if something is necessary for student learning, which I think it isn't in most cases.
Students see no harm in in copying and pasting from their internet sources. These modules gave an excellent history of the origin of copyright laws in the US. Defining the factors that go into fair trade provide opporttunity to share with fellow instructors.
It was good to see that Fair Use explained easily into a 4 part process to make sure you are doing it correctly. I will use these 4 steps in my classroom to teach about Fair Use in our copyright and ethics unit of the class.