In first-year and general education courses, information literacy education will empower students to:

Explain their ethical and legal rights and responsibilities to share and use information

Essential questions

Essential questions are useful in the classroom to help students think about the big idea. These questions should provoke deep thought, new understanding...and perhaps more questions! The question might be asked multiple times a semester as a way of connecting course content back to a core (big) idea.

Some questions to consider that are relevant to the learning outcomes above:

What is copyright?
Why should I cite my sources?
What is a citation guide?
Is it fair/legal to reuse any images you find for free online?

Resources/Activities for Class

The following are resources to share in class or online. Activities are designed to enhance student learning, allowing practice for application or prompting discussion.

Understanding Copyright (PDF): Use attached song, readings, and discussion activity to cover the basics of copyright and its implications. Provides a foundation for students to understand copyright.
Defining and Applying Fair Use (PDF): Use attached examples to have students reflect on what constitutes fair use and what does not. Creative activity, discussion questions, and writing exercises can be omitted or modified to fit your class content.
Evaluating Citation Tools (PDF) : Have students explore citation tools, filling out the attached chart for later discussion. Citation tools can be replaced with whatever is most relevant.
Creative Commons license comparison: Use the linked handout and direct students to compare/contrast the different levels of creative commons licenses.

Assignment Exemplars

Example assignments were developed by librarians and GEAR ambassadors as a way to assess student understanding of Respecting information in foundational courses.

The purpose of this assignment is for students to recognize poor citations and reflect on why the citations are problematic. This assignment could be revised with your own examples.
Prompt for a discussion board: Find an example of plagiarism outside the academic setting. Consider music, politics, literature, dance, journalism, or others. Read at least three different news/magazine articles about this incident. Reflect on whether you think the accusation is valid. What could the person being accused have done differently? If you don't mean to commit plagiarism, is it fair to be accused? Use in-text citations and a reference list to acknowledge your sources