U.S. copyright law includes five exclusive rights, but educators can use copyrighted works under the fair use practice.

With headlines about tough copyright rulings fresh in their minds, educators across the nation might hesitate when it comes to using copyrighted material in their lessons or sharing copyrighted works with students.

But according to the American Library Association (ALA), educators should not worry about using such material to boost student knowledge if it falls under the scope of fair use.

The original and intended purpose of copyright law is to promote learning and the dissemination of knowledge, said Carrie Russell, director of the library association’s Program on Public Access to Information. “The copyright law was just as important to them as the post office,” she said, adding that the founding fathers wanted to ensure that the new democracy was well-functioning and that people had access to valuable information.

U.S. copyright law includes five exclusive rights: reproduction, distribution, derivative works, public performance, and public display. Creators of copyrighted works have a limited monopoly on those works, meaning they are the only ones able to profit from or sell their works, for a particular period of time under certain conditions. Currently, the “time limit” on copyright is defined as a lifetime plus 70 years.

One important part of copyright law is idea versus expression, Russell said. A person can’t obtain protection of an idea unless that idea is expressed in an original way.

(Next page: How to determine fair use)

Other countries share common U.S. ed-tech concerns.

U.S. educators spend much time touting the benefits of taking a global look at classroom technology, but many countries struggle with the same ed-tech challenges facing the U.S., including dwindling funds, accessibility issues, and adequate teacher support.

“This is a challenging time today in education technology,” said Robert Martellacci, president and publisher of MindShare Learning, a Canadian ed-tech consulting, news, and events firm. “We sometimes refer to it as the Wild West. We realized there is a pent-up demand to understand what’s really working in the classroom.”

There are 15,500 K-12 schools and 5.1 million K-12 students across Canada, with 85 to 90 percent of the country’s population living within 100 miles of the U.S border. There is no national department of education, but control is segmented among 10 provinces and three territories. On average, the country maintains a one-to-five computer-to-student ratio, and Martellacci said mobile computing and BYOD initiatives are “gaining serious traction” as they are in the U.S. Also similar to U.S. schools is a strain on financial systems.

(Next page: What a Canadian survey revealed about classroom technology)

A number of considerations are necessary for success with online learning.

Progress monitoring tools and proper training in online teaching are critical factors in supporting and sustaining successful online education programs, according to a survey of school leaders.

The survey, released by K12 Inc. and conducted by MDR’s EdNET Insight, included responses from superintendents, assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, principals, and special-education directors who are experienced in implementing online education programs. The 220-plus respondents identified and ranked a number of key success factors.

Four factors were ranked by at least 80 percent of respondents as “extremely important” to the success of full-time online education programs, individual online courses, and credit recovery programs.

(Next page: The four factors in particular that contribute to successful online education programs)

Schools must be proactive in securing the funds to sustain ed-tech initiatives.

Involving the community, identifying backup revenue sources, and dedicating time and resources for professional development are the keys to sustaining technology funding and ed-tech initiatives, according to a survey conducted by the nonprofit Digital Wish.

The Digital Wish Study on Sustainability, co-authored by Digital Wish Executive Director Heather Chirtea and School Modernization Initiative (SMI) Program Manager Eric Bird, examines how schools approach the often complicated matter of technology funding.

Digital Wish launched SMI, a one-to-one computing program, in 2009. The initiative involved 28 schools and 1,294 students in grades 4-6, and it gave curriculum and training to 79 teachers. At the end of the program’s first year, school leaders turned to the challenge of sustaining this initiative, and the A.D. Henderson Foundation commissioned Digital Wish to examine how schools could do this successfully.

The foundation also tasked Digital Wish with developing free resources to spread best practices in sustaining ed-tech programs. The study included responses from administrators, IT specialists, media and curriculum coordinators, librarians, and teachers.

The survey results revealed that, when it comes to technology funding, the “most successful schools develop multiple sources of revenue, they trigger strong community engagement, and they prioritize daily support and training for teachers.”

(Next page: A breakdown of how successful ed-tech programs are funded)

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Educational gaming can prompt shy students to engage with their peers.

Educational gaming is a well-known concept in educational technology by now, though many schools have yet to implement it in their classrooms. But as experts often agree, gaming can have a positive effect on student achievement and engagement.

The focus should not be solely on games, but on good games, said Dan White, CEO and a founding partner of Filament Games. Filament aims to merge best practices from learning with best practices from commercial game development to leverage the power of games and technology for learning fully.

“The question of ‘how’ is important, because this isn’t yet a part of mainstream reality for us,” he said.

Effective games use specific learning objectives in which students perform certain actions. Empowered identity is another component: Students are put in roles that give them access to those learning objectives. Games also need interactive systems that interest students and motivate them to interact with the game in order to master the learning objectives.

(Next page: What educational gaming offers students; how teachers can use games in the classroom)

With a mix of vibrant images, visual annotation and text, the modules are designed by educators to engage students in information literacy and the research process. What constitutes credible information? How does source type contribute to relevance, authority and point of view? How do I evaluate and cite born-digital images and online sources?

Over twenty full modules are available, addressing source and website evaluation, digital literacy skills, plagiarism prevention and ethical writing. There are three progressive levels to choose from (Starter, Junior and Advanced) for elementary through university students.

Show Me is already used by the thousands of schools subscribed to NoodleTools Premium – a school-edition product – where it is embedded at the point of need. NoodleTools Premium teaches information literacy on the go, as students build citations, notecards and reports.

Debbie Abilock, co-founder of NoodleTools and author of “True– or Not,” states, “In this age of information proliferation, determining information credibility is a matter of judgment, and a lively part of an engaging research process. Schools must protect students from an auto-cite, cut-and-paste mentality that inevitably leads them to treat research as a rote task and plagiarism as a mindless solution.”

“The NoodleTools Show Me tutorials help our students to clarify sources like never before,” commented Sydnye Cohen, Library Media Specialist at Brookfield High School in Connecticut. “Being able to distinguish between a magazine or journal article in a database, with visual steps along the way, teaches students that citation is a thinking process. Additional tools that help students decide if a source passes our C.R.A.P. Test (Currency, Reliability, Authority, Perspective) align with our mission to develop discerning digital citizens.”

NoodleTools is an online classroom environment for the research process, designed by educators for educators. Online tools – including citation, source evaluation, note-taking, outlining, document annotation/archiving, and real-time collaboration – are paired with expert assistance. Teachers and librarians say that NoodleTools intuitively supports the way they naturally teach and develops students’ critical thinking skills. NoodleTools has three differentiated levels, supporting elementary through university students. http://www.noodletools.com/tools/subscriptions.php