3.1 Choosing a publication license: four activities for the creative  (Page 2/7)

As the instructor, you may choose to investigate the subject and create a presentation about relevant licenses for the creative activities in your classroom. If it is feasible, however, I recommend turning this step into a hands-on, active-learning class inquiry on the subject. This should help engage students in the presentation and discussion, and will also help them learn how to find this type of information when they need it.

Inquiry summary

• Goals - The students will practice investigating, thinking critically about, and presenting arguments concerning, the legal, ethical and creative aspects of intellectual property.
• Grade Level - Recommended for secondary and adult students
• Student Prerequisites - Students should possess the skills necessary to conduct an independent literature search.
• Teacher Expertise - Expertise in copyright law is not necessary. Be prepared to help students locate resources and to guide them in critically thinking about the usefulness and trustworthiness of the sources they find.
• Time Requirements - Allow at least two weeks with few other assignments, for the students to organize, research, and create their presentations. Schedule some in-class time during which the group can work on their presentations while you check in with each group to ensure that they have been doing their research and that they are critically evaluating their sources and their findings.
• Objectives - In response to a set of questions, each group of students will cooperate to locate relevant sources of information, critically evaluate the usefulness of each source in answering the questions, and create an accurate and well-reasoned presentation to educate their classmates on what they have learned. Students in each group will also engage with other group's presentations, asking pertinent questions and discussing their findings.
• Evaluation - You can assess each group's learning based on the extent of their research, evidence that they evaluated their sources or their prior assumptions thoughtfully and critically, the quality of the presentation, ability to answer questions about their presentation, and thoroughness of any written report and reference list.
• Adaptations - For younger or less experienced students, you can simplify the investigate task by providing a list of approved resources, or by providing copies of the resources and scheduling time for research during class when you can answer questions and help them locate what they need.
• Extension - Extend the activity by asking each student to choose a specific example of the reuse or reworking of a creative work to research and write about, with a focus on the effects of copyright freedoms or restrictions. Examples of possible subjects: a reworking of a famous story, such as H. C. Anderson's Little Mermaid or Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ; the rules regarding the reproduction of a famous work of art, such as the "Mona Lisa"; or the negotiations over movie rights to a famous book, for example the Harry Potter books and movies.