Copyright Practices for Instructional Design

Instructional designers are faced with many challenges and hurdles when creating instruction. It's almost impossible to create instructional design content from scratch, and with new developing technology, society has made it easier for people to access information using a global network. It has never been as easy as it is now to simply take a photo or video from the internet and simply add it to any part of the content creation. However, being able to practice ID means understanding how the ethical, legal, and political implications can impact the organization for which you are working.

Understanding how these copyright laws work and how to use them will ensure that your content creation is in fair use or are sourcing materials responsibly. This doesn't mean that you can't find information out there that is available to use. Believe it or not, some content creators want you to use their work responsibly. Costa (2018) explains this by stating, "You’d be surprised at the number of people that generate content simply because they have a passion for a particular subject. They’re often willing to share that content in exchange for a simple acknowledgment."

Videos

Media platforms such as YouTube allows users to create videos for education, promotion, and entertainment with the purpose of allowing others to view this content. Youtube allows the creator to create content and publish it online, all while the creator has the copyright. All one has to do to receive permission to use the content is to send a message and get permission for usage. Usually, the creator will respond back with a response (Costa, 2018). One piece of advice I can give is to search platforms that give free usage to videos, such as CreativeCommons, which is a public domain that gives users rights to use the content.

References

Costa, A. (2018, July 27). Copyright and intellectual property in instructional design. eLearning Industry. Retrieved October 21, 2022, from https://elearningindustry.com/intellectual-property-in-instructional-design-copyright