In January 2023, I served as a visiting lecturer at Municipal Tanagura Takano Elementary School in Fukushima Prefecture.
The lecture lasted 45 minutes.
We shared a PowerPoint presentation via Zoom, an online conferencing tool, and used AhaSlides, an interactive communication tool, to make it fun.
At the request of the school, the content of the training included “Basics of Copyright,” “How to Cite,” “Differences in Copyright between School and Non-School,” and a quiz.
The target audience was about 40 elementary school students in grades 2-6. There was also a person from the Board of Education to visit the event.
We then asked them to come here and we had a 30-minute training for teachers a week before the event. We conducted it online and had the town’s Director of Education participate.
We asked each elementary school class to participate in Zoom, and we had it set up in advance so that each classroom could view the Zoom screen on a large screen. We then asked each child to prepare his or her own device to use the AhaSlide.
Before getting to the main topic of the training, we had an ice-breaker.
We had them experience the survey and word functions of the Ahaslide.
First of all, we asked them about their “favorite food”. With the word cloud function of Ahaslide, letters of the same answer are displayed in a larger size.
From the second question, we asked them to be aware of copyrighted works.
We asked about their favorite manga/anime characters and the reasons why they like them.
What is the content of copyright training for children?
First, we teach them that the principle of copyright is that the work belongs to the person who created it.
Just as you ask permission when borrowing an eraser from a friend, you should ask permission when using pictures, illustrations, photos, music, texts, etc. created by others. And the person who asked can say “OK” or “No”.
Next, “how to cite,” and “the difference between school and non-school copyrights.”
Both are very difficult parts to explain because limitation of rights = exception. It was a rapid flow of teaching the principles and then immediately teaching the exceptions.
After giving examples of the conditions of citation and how to write them, I explained that “school is an exception, so outside of school, you need to get permission according to the principle.
Then came the quiz.
・Notes on using “free” and “free” illustration sites (a question requested by the principal).
・Rights of the person who took the picture and the person who was photographed
The difference between wallpaper and icons
etc. were answered in a quiz format.
The quiz was so exciting that the students returned reactions such as “nice,” “smiling,” and “surprised” with aha-slide expression buttons along the way and were happy or sad about the results of the quiz.
Due to the nature of Zoom, it was not possible to pick up all of the multiple voices in the classroom and from each classroom, and I felt some of the limitations of online. However, I think it was a learning experience for the students.
“My student”recommended me to the school as a visiting lecturer
What triggered me to speak as a training instructor this time was “teaching practice”. One of the trainee teachers I supervised during my time at Setagaya Junior High School attached to Tokyo Gakugei University became a teacher and recommended me to the town as a training instructor.
I told the trainees I supervised about intellectual property rights, saying, “Now that you have been involved with me, you should go home knowing about copyrights. The client of this training requested it because he remembered this talk from his educational training.
Teaching junior high school students is planting seeds. The content of this lesson will sprout and bloom in years and decades to come,” and I took a long view when teaching junior high school students. Similarly, in teaching trainee educators, there are times when things sprout years later.
What I taught one university student will be passed on to hundreds or thousands of children over time.
I am truly grateful for that.
Comments from participants
I learned that if I want to use a work drawn by someone else as an icon, I have to ask for permission and that I can only use it for quotations or in schools without permission. Also, the game format made it fun to learn. (6th grader, elementary school)
The time allocation and structure were excellent. Thank you for the two lectures, one for teachers and one for children. Although the content was difficult, I think it was a fun and meaningful time for the children because they could learn it like a game. I myself was able to deepen my understanding of copyright, as it was an area that I both knew and did not know about. Looking back on myself, I felt that there are many areas where I am in conflict with the law. From today, I would like to start living my life being careful with what I can do. (Participating teacher)
I learned once again that it is important to know about copyright and to respect it, as it protects oneself as well as the author and the continuity of the work. Thank you very much.
However, there are some parts that are difficult to judge, and I would like to continue my study. (Board of Education)
Comments from the person in charge of planning the training
I requested this training because I was very impressed with the lecture on “Intellectual Property Rights in Musicology” given by Ms. HARAGUCHI when I was a student. I am very glad that we requested Ms. HARAGUCHI because she was able to explain the topic in a way that was very easy to understand, even for elementary school students.
I feel that there are many exceptions in the school setting, which can be a bit confusing, but I think the children were able to understand what she explained because she gave them examples that were very familiar to them.
Thank you very much.
Conclusion
I was very nervous because it was the first time for me to conduct a lecture for elementary school students and to do it online.
I exchanged e-mails with the client, who was close to the children and saw what was going on in their daily lives, about the study guidance plan and PowerPoint materials. In addition, a former elementary school principal and a current elementary school teacher reviewed the draft of the instructional plan, and a person from Shueisha, who is at the forefront of anti-piracy activities, provided advice on the use of “ONE PIECE” as a teaching material.
With the understanding of the schools, we recorded the lessons and had them viewed by copyright experts. We will link this practice to the next practice and presentation at the training.
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