[Bridging_the_digital_divide] Royalty Free video library

[bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net]

Royalty-free videos available to schools
By Corey Murray, Assistant Editor, eSchool News
November 30, 2004

Though the use of video in the classroom is on the rise, the fear of 
legal recrimination has discouraged many educators from reproducing or 
editing digital video clips for educational purposes. Now, Discovery 
Education--the world's leading provider of streaming video and 
multimedia learning services to schools--has found a way to help 
educators avoid many of these copyright concerns.

Through a new offer, subscribers to Discovery's unitedstreaming 
video-on-demand service now have access to more than 1,000 video clips 
that have been copyright-cleared by their producers for editing or 
reproduction by teachers and students in class projects. (For a full 
list of available titles, click here.)

Rod Dunklee, technology applications specialist for the 30,000-student 
Clear Creek School District, in a suburb of Houston, says the 
copyright-free clips enable him to facilitate professional development 
exercises for teachers in ways he never would have imagined before.

Rather than use entire videos, Dunklee tries something many educators 
in this age of file-sharing lawsuits and huge copyright infringement 
fines ordinarily might avoid: He splices together pieces of the most 
relevant video clips, building his own visual presentation from a 
library of clips without ever once picking up the phone to ask 
permission from the copyright holder. And he does it all without 
batting an eye.

Not that he takes copyright infringement lightly. "Teachers could 
potentially lose their jobs over allowing students to break copyright 
law," explained Dunklee, who warned that the "fair-use" provision in 
current U.S. copyright law is very narrow in scope and does not 
necessarily protect educators from the threat of lawsuits.

But, he added, with Discovery's copyright-approved clips, teachers 
needn't worry about that. Instead, they can spend time thinking of ways 
to use the technology to promote innovation in the classroom--editing 
and splicing videos, for example, to make the most of limited class 
time. And students are free to use the clips in multimedia 
presentations and other class projects.

Company spokesman David Pendery said the goal is to increase the use 
and versatility of Discovery's popular unitedstreaming tool, which 
reportedly is used by more than 26,000 schools. Instead of merely 
showing the videos in class, he said, students and teachers now have 
the ability to take select clips and alter them, providing just one 
more way for educators to integrate video into new learning 
opportunities.

Current Discovery subscribers who want access to the editable clips can 
log onto the unitedstreaming web page and select the box for "editable 
clips" on the advanced search page.

By January, Pendery said, every editable clip in unitedstreaming's 
library will be flagged with an icon that signifies to educators it has 
been cleared with producers for use in projects and can be edited 
without fear of legal reprisal from the copyright holder.

Discovery began approaching authors and producers of its video content 
with the idea of providing editable material that could be altered by 
teachers and students in the classroom in response to an outpouring of 
requests from educators, Pendery said. Primarily, subscribers indicated 
they wanted a multimedia service that provided tools not only for 
screening educational videos, but also for using video in the context 
of multimedia projects and in-class assignments.

Rather than place the onus on the educators or students to secure the 
necessary copyright exemptions on their own, Discovery executives 
decided to jump through the legal hoops for them, Pendery explained. 
The idea was that Discovery could use its existing relationships with 
content producers to help expedite the clearance process and save 
educators some time.

"Teachers have asked us for this," said Pendery, who added there isn't 
really a lot of video content available for educators to use that is 
free of the threat of copyright infringement. When it comes to using 
copyright-protected material in the classroom, he said, educators are 
generally "a little gun shy" as to how to approach content producers 
and take advantage of their rights.

Because all of the clips featured in Discovery's video library can be 
accessed using a standard QuickTime or Windows Media Player 
application, Pendery said, every eligible clip is available for 
downloading with editing software and tools already widely available in 
schools.

To get clearance, Discovery approached every provider in its library of 
more than 35,000 educational-style video clips. Though many are still 
reluctant to sign on, Pendery said, the company hopes in the future to 
increase the number of videos available for teachers and students to 
edit.

The more students and teachers can do with these videos, he said, the 
more likely they are to be used in the classroom--and that works out 
well for everyone.

Schools looking to purchase unitedstreaming can take advantage of a 
30-day free trial, which provides access to Discovery's full library of 
videos and video snippets. Trial members are invited to stream as many 
videos as they wish, however, they cannot download the videos and 
manipulate them.

After the trial period, school customers can purchase Discovery's 
unitedstreaming product on an annual basis. The prices range from $995 
a year for K-8 schools to $1,495 for high schools, according to 
unitedstreaming's web site.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5392
---

Jason Barkeloo
President
TouchSmart Publishing
6522 Waldorf Place
Cincinnati, OH  45230
http://www.touchsmart.net
t: 513.225.8765
f: 206.666.4856

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