Recording books for student use.
- March 18, 2008 @ 7:10amrichww says:After reading several comments in the forum, I am looking for some clarification of recording books for use by learning disabled students.
I would include the title, author, publisher & date at the beginning of recordings.
The recording would be made made for one child and taken off the MP3 player after he/she listens at home while reading (following along) in the book. If this is ok, can I keep the recording to be used by another student in the future.
What about recording small sections of text books with the same restrictions listed above?
I have some text books on CD with permission to copy for student use, as long as the the publisher & date are put on the label. Can specific small sections of these be put on MP3 player with same information in the title?
Thanks for your help. - March 19, 2008 @ 11:31amAFry says:The following message was a response to your original, unedited post.
I think that you can find discussions of extremely similar situations using the search function on the menu at the top.
As with many questions on this board, there is no simple answer. I think that the conventional wisdom is that this situation would be a copyright violation. However, I believe that the conventional wisdom is not well-supported by evidence. As far as I know, very little case law is applicable to this situation.
In my opinion, what you suggest could be considered fair use, depending on the details. Fair use is determined by four factors. You can search this board to find many discussions that explain fair use in more detail. I’m going to use a hypothetical situation with a few variables to explore how those variables affect the four factors in my determination.
The basic situation: A high school literature class. Every student has purchased a hypothetical anthology (which is not available in audio format) that contains an excerpt of Robert Fagles’ translation of the Iliad (which is available in audio format) and other selections that are available in audio format. Students are also required to by The Odyssey and other complete works (which are available in audio format). One student has a particularly difficult time reading this.
Are you making the audio just for the student with trouble or for all students? If you are making a copy just for the student with trouble, I think the first factor (educational use) is strengthened. If you make copies for everyone, you can still claim educational use, but your claim is not as strong as it could be.
Are you making an audio of just the Iliad excerpt or the entire Odyssey? If you are using the excerpt, I believe that the third factor (amount used) would trump the fourth factor (market effect). If you are using the entire Odyssey, I believe the third and fourth factor work against you.
Are you making an audio of an excerpt from the Odyssey? This is tricky. Factor 3 is stronger, but is it enough to trump factor 4? I think it depends on the other variables.
Are you recording the entire Odyssey but transforming it in some way? Does your audio help the student in some way that the commercial audio version would not? If so, I think factor 1 trumps factor 4.
Are you making an audio which takes pieces from everything and assembles it into a unique whole. Basically, an audio coursepack. Assuming that no one profits from the creation of this audio coursepack, I would say that the first and third factors trump the fourth.
I’m a little rushed. I hope that helps. - March 19, 2008 @ 11:48amAFry says:
After reading several comments in the forum,
It seems you have found the discussions I mentioned in my previous post.I am looking for some clarification of recording books for use by learning disabled students.
Learning disabled makes factor 1 very strong. I think strong enough to trump all others in most cases.I would include the title, author, publisher & date at the beginning of recordings.
A good idea, but irrelevant to the copyright question.The recording would be made made for one child and taken off the MP3 player after he/she listens at home while reading (following along) in the book.
In my opinion, this is clearly a fair use.If this is ok, can I keep the recording to be used by another student in the future.
I think this is ok if you have only 1 copy and you use it only in extreme situations.What about recording small sections of text books with the same restrictions listed above?
If I thought your other uses were unfair, small sections might strengthen factor 3 enough to change my opinion. However, I already think this situation is fair. Small sections of material which is theoretically not available in audio format only strengthens your case.I have some text books on CD with permission to copy for student use, as long as the the publisher & date are put on the label. Can specific small sections of these be put on MP3 player with same information in the title?
Audio CDs or scanned pages on CD? I'm assuming scanned pages. Fair use and permission are separate things. Ignoring permission for a minute, I consider this situation almost identical to the above situations, so I think it is fair use. The publisher probably hasn't considered that you would make an audio copy. I think that it is likely that the publisher would give you permission to do this, but you never know. You might get a knee-jerk reaction. Many publishers are paranoid about electronic copies. - March 25, 2008 @ 10:49amMKardick says:AFry is correct in his analyses, however, I would like to emphasize that this use is most likely 'fair use' IF there is no audio version already available. Another educational factor in your favor would be if the child in question has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that stipulated audio formats are needed.
- August 11, 2008 @ 11:49amrichww says:I came up with another scenario that may work better educationally as well. What if I record several pages and then the child reads the next couple pages into the mp3 player at home. We keep this up over several assignments for an entire book for a learning disabled child. This is a way of reinforcing the share read that is done in elementary school classrooms, only my students are middle and high school level, and I am trying to get them through the required classroom reading of regular English classes and come up with a way for them to actually "read" some of the material not just "listen"
- April 13, 2011 @ 12:06pmcheefinspector says:I have a similar question to the one posted by Richww. I would like to have gifted students read a book aloud to practice fluency, and record their recitation as a sound file to be used later by special ed students so they can listen while they read the same text.
Ideally, we could keep the recordings and have them on hand for repeat use by the special ed classes, but if having the gifted kids recite the text lends credence to the first fair use factor, then we could create them fresh each time.
I don't believe that there are commercially available recordings of these texts (factor four).
I would also like to bring the gifted students into this discussion about copyright and fair use; as I understand it to be an opportunity to think critically about real world issues. However, I would benefit from some conversation on the topic myself first!
Thanks for any input you may have.
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