You don't have to stay after school or go out in the evenings to take this course. It's ready for you 24-7. As an online course participant once said, "This is a great course for two reason: 1. I don't have to put on my eyeliner to attend sessions, and 2. Everyone has permission to copy anything here. Now that's Fair Use."

When you copy information from a web site, just what information should you add to cite the source?

You won't always find all this information online, but use what is available: author, title of information, address of site, and the date you visited the site.

Suppose I want to put a song in a slide show just for use in my class. Can I do this?

You can use no more than 30 seconds or 10% of the song, whichever is shorter. It's the same for your students.

What are the legalities about using what you find online?

Most sites allow what is called Fair Use of materials for education. This means you can use the materials with your students in the school or the classroom, but you cannot publish the information on your web site (or in other media) unless you have permission of the author/owner of the site. You can't enter the information in a competition beyond the classroom, and you can't use it for profit. You aren't allowed to make copies instead of purchasing the book or other media. There are certain amounts of material that you can copy that is considered Fair Use. You can't copy an entire book, for example, but you can copy up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less (with documentation, of course).

For more specifics on Fair Use, check the Technology and Learning site. In addition on the Kathy Schock section of Discovery School, there's a pdf on fair use that you can print.

I'd like my students to use movie segments in their PowerPoint presentations. Can I do this?

They can use commercial video segments that are up to 10% or 3 minutes (whichever is less) of a video. Of course, if they made the video on their own, they can use as much as they want.

If you want to use an image, cartoon, text, video, etc. for a competition, you will need to contact the author and ask permission. This is usually done by writing to an address on a web site. If you don't hear from the author, this does not mean you have permission to use the work.

Are the copyright police going to come after me and my class?

No, I don't think so. But it is important that you familiarize yourself and your students with what is legal. Your students will need this information for projects they do in college, so you should get them started following what is acceptable.

Keep in mind that some works are in the public domain and are not protected by copyright.You can use them freely. For example, anything published before 1923 is in the public domain. It's lots more confusing about works published after 1923 and 1978. Check this source from the University of North Carolina for specifics.