Fair Use and Education.

Fair use is a fairly simple concept that becomes a bit confusing when you begin thinking about the gray areas that exist when it comes to copyright laws and regulations. When somebody puts a copyright on something that they have created, such as an invention, it gives that person exclusive rights to the idea, design, and distribution of that invention. If I were to run home and build the same thing and try to sell it, I would be breaking copyright law.
Fair use comes into play when copyrighted material is being used for educational purposes in the classroom and therefore it is very important for teachers to understand the policy. As I learned from the articles that I read fair use is determined based on four factors: purpose of use, nature of work, amount used, and effect on the market. The first factor is pretty simple. Are you using this work for profit or are you using it to enrich a lesson in your classroom? If you are using a work as an educational tool then much of the time it is fair use. The only way that this could be deemed copyright infringement is if teachers were photocopying entire books and handing them out to the classroom. This is copyright infringement because it effects the market for that book. Since the teacher has copied the entire book for free, none of those students ever have to purchase the book to use it for their educational needs. This loses the publisher and author money for the work that they have created and therefore is against the law. If small excerpts from works or movies are being used to enhance the classroom experience than it is generally fair use. If a teacher is not making a profit, uses only the parts that they need, and does not effect the marketability of a work than it is fair use and can be used in the classroom to help educate students.