Copying and Classroom Ethics
In a former life, I taught design to high school students (specifically, graphic design and web design). I recently read a blog post by ‘Digitalkarma’ discussing how she might change/construct her curriculum to accommodate fair and ethical practices with students who are designing their own work.
When I taught the graphical arts, I never really encountered this problem. It did creep-in by the time we got to web design a few years later. What I think is a bit different today is the “digital” culture, portrayed by many authors as one caught-up in a daily practice of mashups and re-mixes.
Part of that, I believe, is our easy grasp of so many things in a digital format via the Internet, that can be mixed, combined, and re-tooled using digital tools on the computer, at relatively low cost. Motion pictures made with free (iMovie) software? Sure, why not. Kids today have all the best tools to not only re-create, but re-mash digital copies of what they can find online.
I am not sure this re-hash, re-mix culture is ever going to go away.
But if it does, or not, we still have laws and ethical standards in place that say we cannot, in fact, just find content online and “use it” as we see fit. And this, I think, is her dilemma.
I personally see some difference in copying (tracing, copying from a poster on the wall) and webpage copy/paste. I think the ability to draw what you see elsewhere is an important skill. I think tracing the lines made by others with a new and unfamiliar tool can help you learn how to manipulate that tool.
I see two ways to combat this issue.
- Take away the Internet. I’m serious, take away their ability to go online and copy.
- Design the assignment so that each step requires an original contribution.
The second requires very careful distillation of the assignment: you start by going backwards; from the proposed finished project, step-by-step, to the project’s genesis. This takes a lot of time and effort on the instructor’s part, but I think you’ll end up with a profoundly more affective learning experience this way.
What still upsets me is to see teachers who do not understand this issue, as Digital/TechKarma does. They tell the kids to go steal using Google Images, etc. Likely, some of what she faces is the learned behavior (mis)taught by others in her school.
January 6th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Thanks for the first reply to my new blog, I really value your insight.
I’d like to talk to you more about the “start by going backwards; from the proposed finished project, step-by-step, to the project’s genesis.” I have done that as a way of teaching techniques, but I’d like to see how this would translate into the students working with some sort of idea that is distinctly theirs. More on the creative problem solving side of things rather than just technique.
The other thing I failed to add to my list of ways I might combat this would be for students to use the sketching process as a matter of routine when they begin a project.
Thank you again for your thoughtful discussion.
DigitalKarma