Lessons on Copyright the Robotic Way!

Though this post is a reminder of copyright issues, it is also a focus on one of the many cool things going on at our campus!

Our ACE (Academy of Career Education) students are juniors and seniors from all of the county's high schools dually enrolled in postsecondary vocational certificate classes in pursuit of a technical career. Brenda Harrison's ACE Computer Electronics class created a video of their robots and robotic programming. Their focal point here was the content, but we all appreciated the venue of production and wanted to share it outside of the classroom.

Upon investigation of the background music (a key element of the production), it was assumed under copyright protection - and though, students gave attribution, ethical and legal lessons determined that more was needed - either substitute another song with public domain or Creative Commons license OR seek permission from the artist. Finding an 'approved' musical title was not an option - this song 'worked'! So, with some doubt as to a positive response, a request for permission was sent to the musician, Dani Garza - a week later, we were happily surprised with 'permission granted' along with the comment, "I think it would be wonderful to let students use my music."

Thus, reinforcement for the teaching and practicing of digital ethics AND the continued efforts to allow student's learning to include creation of new content, experimentation of new skills and sharing with others!