Copyrights and conversations: Intellectual property in the classroom

Abstract

Traditionally, academic uses of portions of the work of others have fallen under the protection of the doctrine of fair use. However, as we move courses online, many standards we relied on in the classroom have suddenly become litigious. How we approach teaching students conventions of citation and fair use, therefore, must change. By approaching conventions of citation and prohibitions against plagiarism in the classroom from the perspective of copyright issues, students can come to have a greater understanding of the nature of scholarship. In this article, therefore, I make some recommendations for teaching students about the issues involved, and I suggest ways that we, as authors, teachers, and researchers, may want to think about intellectual property in the digital age.