This section commences with a planning overview on responsible information management. Obliviously this is a macro level approach, which requires integration into the school’s planning cycle. From here we move into specific actions required in terms of people, content and technology to fulfil copyright obligations within your schools.
Planning overview
Developing a whole of school approach to responsible information management involves generic planning steps.
- Assess what the current information management situation is in your school community.
- Analyse with key staff and stakeholders the key issues involved – staff, training, knowledge, technology, copyright materials and resources.
- Review existing processes and strategies that your school has in place.
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the organization in relation to information management and any issues, processes or actions that might be needed to improve performance and awareness.
- Plan priorities and actions to advance information management processes within the school including roles, responsibilities and timelines.
- Evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the information management plan.
As a school leader it is up to you to determine what components of the Copyright Aware action plan relate to your school’s needs. Variables such as the size of your school, or the complexity of information management issues that you face, will influence your decision to either embark on a proactive information management planning process or to merely implement the minimum legal requirements that you as school principal are accountable for.
Moving forward
The whole school information management process
Education
- Appraise your own and your staff’s knowledge of copyright issues through the Copyright Awareness test included in the action pack.
- Familiarise yourself with the major changes in copyright law and its implementation by reading material provided on this website and by following through any relevant links to other resources.
- Brief your School Council on the changes to copyright law. You can do this by:
- tabling a short update on changes to copyright law;
- running a presentation on copyright information using the Copyright Presentation included in the action pack.
- Provide staff with information and training on the changes to copyright law.
You can do this by:
- referring staff to the Copyright Aware website;
- downloading and distributing the information on changes to copyright law;
- posting information on recent changes to copyright law in the staff room and on physical and electronic bulletin boards at your school;
- using staff meetings to actively make staff aware of changes;
- running staff training sessions on copyright information using the Copyright Presentation included in the action pack;
- requesting a more specific professional development or resourcing from your education authority.
- Form an information management-working group consisting of staff drawn from technology, library and curriculum areas. This group could develop a whole of school approach to responsible information management and take the running on some of the actions detailed here.
- Develop strategies and practices for your school on:
- role modelling best practice in responsible information usage to students;
- streamlining attribution of creators in any copyright materials reproduced and communicated in the school; and
- avoiding denigration of copyrighted works and infringement of the moral rights of creators.
Copyright materials
- Assess what processes your school uses for managing the use of both physical and electronic copyrighted materials.
- Review your access arrangements to copyright materials.
- Check that reproduced and /or communicated copyright material is accompanied by the appropriate legal notices as required under the Copyright Act.
- Update required notices, if need be, by downloading or installing them from the Copyright Aware website.
- Check that school published content has the appropriate copyright notices and permissions associated with it.
Technology
- Identify technology (VCRs, reticulation systems, computers, photocopiers etc) your school uses for reproducing and communicating information. Key locations include the school library, the school’s computer laboratories or facilities, the schools photocopying facilities, the schools audio visual facilities.
- Assess the security and location of the technology. Determine who has access? Is access supervised? Does it need to be?
- Check if the technology has the appropriate legal notices as required under the Copyright Act associated with it?
- Update the notices to be associated with the technology by downloading or installing them from the Copyright Aware website as required.
- Display additional information on different categories of copyright material and their permitted usages around relevant technology. See the Knowing the Limits poster.
Building a culture of responsible information use
Copyright is one dimension of a more challenging issue - information management. The Copyright Aware website aims to assist schools to use information responsibly.
Building a culture of responsible information use calls for a variety of approaches.
- Create awareness of the issues through posting Copyright Aware posters and screen savers throughout relevant areas of your school. See the action pack.
- Develop a resource base that consists of information, expertise and tools to assist your school community to meet their copyright obligations. This might entail:
- getting your school library to build an education specific collection of resource material on copyright; and
- running regular short news updates through the school newsletter or intranet on copyright issues.
A short article on current copyright changes is supplied for such a use and there will be further, regular news updates published on the Copyright Aware website.
- Develop a program of school driven activities on responsible information use that pools the expertise of information technology, curriculum and library staff. Topics could include:
- the relative cost and efficiency differences in use of copyright materials under different license and exemptions;
- the statutory and voluntary license agreements that your education authority has struck with collecting societies for schools; or
- the major issues associated with using copyright material from the Internet.
The minimum legal compliance requirements
- Inform all relevant staff and students in the school about the recent changes in copyright law.
Actions:
- Distribute information available from this website to the school community via it newsletter or intranet, or as a handout.
- Run a staff presentation on this issues using the presentation in the action pack.
- Refer staff to this website.
- Make sure that all technology (computers, reticulation systems, VCRs, scanners, photocopies) involved in reproducing, copying and communicating copyrighted materials has the appropriate notices as required by law.
Actions:
- Check existing notices, replace with the notices supplied on this site if required.
- Make sure that all reproduced and communicated hard copy and electronic materials has the appropriate legal notices associated with it.
Actions:
Check existing notices, replace with the notices supplied on this site as required.
- Make sure that copyrighted content that is used by your school attributes authorship and that any reproduction or usage does not diminish the integrity of the creator’s work or reputation.
Actions:
- Distribute information on moral rights available from this website to the school community via the newsletter or intranet, or as a handout. Run a staff presentation on this issue.
- Encourage staff to use the supplied Student Assignment Checklist.
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