Answer: How can one refrain from violating FERPA and TCPA guidelines in online communication? What methods could be employed to verify that copyright is not being violated? Does copyright require that all work, images, words, and graphics must be original?
As educators, we often engage in communication with stakeholders about students and their progress in learning. We must be diligent in ensuring that our communication does not violate communication laws such as FERPA, TCPA, and Copyright law.
When using any form of electronic communication, we must be cautious to protect students and the privacy of their personally identifiable information (PII). To refrain from violating students' right to privacy, teachers should never electronically share PII including students' numerical grade, demographic information, medical information, special needs and/or services, as well as student or teacher-produced work and comments. Any of these items should be addressed in person (or via secure web conference) or over the phone. It should also only be discussed with the students' parents/guardians, or on a need-to-know basis with other teachers/administrators directly involved with the student's instruction and education.
An increasing number of schools and other organizations now utilize an automatic dialing system, such as One Call Now, for disseminating general information to students and parents/guardians. According to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 2015 (TCPA), any organization that uses such a service and places calls or sends text messages to cell phones must obtain prior consent from the receiving parties. This opt-in process is an important consideration for any school, district, or individual considering the use of such tools as a means of automated electronic communication.
Finally, the last -- and most likely -- legal liability that teachers may face deals with copyright infringement. In our online environment, it is not only tempting but also easy for students (and teachers) to find information and content online and use it in their own work. Students must understand that once any form of intellectual property is created, it is immediately and inherently protected by U.S. copyright law, whether the creator intended or asked for it to be or not. Using someone's work or ideas may subject a person to legal consequence. This does not mean that all work, images, words, graphics must be original. Others' work may be used, but only if the following conditions are met:
As educators, we often engage in communication with stakeholders about students and their progress in learning. We must be diligent in ensuring that our communication does not violate communication laws such as FERPA, TCPA, and Copyright law.
When using any form of electronic communication, we must be cautious to protect students and the privacy of their personally identifiable information (PII). To refrain from violating students' right to privacy, teachers should never electronically share PII including students' numerical grade, demographic information, medical information, special needs and/or services, as well as student or teacher-produced work and comments. Any of these items should be addressed in person (or via secure web conference) or over the phone. It should also only be discussed with the students' parents/guardians, or on a need-to-know basis with other teachers/administrators directly involved with the student's instruction and education.
An increasing number of schools and other organizations now utilize an automatic dialing system, such as One Call Now, for disseminating general information to students and parents/guardians. According to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 2015 (TCPA), any organization that uses such a service and places calls or sends text messages to cell phones must obtain prior consent from the receiving parties. This opt-in process is an important consideration for any school, district, or individual considering the use of such tools as a means of automated electronic communication.
Finally, the last -- and most likely -- legal liability that teachers may face deals with copyright infringement. In our online environment, it is not only tempting but also easy for students (and teachers) to find information and content online and use it in their own work. Students must understand that once any form of intellectual property is created, it is immediately and inherently protected by U.S. copyright law, whether the creator intended or asked for it to be or not. Using someone's work or ideas may subject a person to legal consequence. This does not mean that all work, images, words, graphics must be original. Others' work may be used, but only if the following conditions are met:
- only a small portion of the work is used
- new content or ideas have been added to make it original
- the work is used in new, original way
- the work is not used for commercial gain (or in a way that negatively impacts the market share of the resource)
Teachers deal with this same temptation in procuring and sharing lesson content and instructional resources. We must be careful not to copy, share, or distribute material we find online. Just because something is publicly accessible doesn't mean that it should be publicly shared. From worksheets, to videos, to entire lesson plans, teachers must consider the rights of the individuals who have created content online or in print. We must be careful what we copy, handout, or share online.
It is our job as the lead learner in our digital learning community to model appropriate digital citizenship. We must proactively teach our students to identify and avoid copyright infringement and plagiarism rather than reacting to these issues when the arise. Perhaps the most important lesson we can teach our students (and remember for ourselves) is "When in doubt, identify the creator and ask for permission."
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