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Jetgirly
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 741
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 Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:50 pm Post subject: Calling All Copyright Experts! |
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As anyone who has read my numerous disgruntled postings knows, I am in Mexico on a student visa. I was not allowed to enter on a work visa. I receive a living allowance every month "that is not to be considered payment for teaching hours". My contract (if you can call it that) says that I am a "traineeship student". My contract is for twelve teaching hours per week, until June 25th. School is finished for the year so I have no more teaching hours. However, one could construe that I still owe the school eighteen hours, to cover this week and half of next week.
I have been asked to design the curriculum for a short, grammar-based "refresher" course for students entering the school. I would like to know who the copyright for this curriculum will belong to. In Canada, I maintain the copyright for work that I produce for my university classes. Since I am not on a work visa and I am not being remunerated for my teaching duties, I would think that- if the laws are the same as they are in Canada- I should hold the copyright for the curriculum that I design here. Is this correct? If it is correct, what does that mean in terms of my "employer" (who doesn't pay me for duties performed and has done me NO favours!) implementing, referring to and/or even just seeing my curriculum?
PS - I officially received my B.Ed on Friday, if that affects my "student" status in your mind. |
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Oreen Scott
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
Posts: 179
Location: Oaxaca, Mexico
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| Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Congratulations on attaining your B Ed. May your future be bright and may your experience with the prepa's dim into a vague memory of a distant past. |
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MELEE
Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 2583
Location: The Mexican Hinterland
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| Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:14 pm Post subject: |
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If you are really truely concerned over this issue do not right the curriculum for this school, you will only be making your bad experience there worse. If you need to do something with those 18 hours, copy the curriculum from some course book or something on-line and give it to them as your work.
Mexico has copy right laws, but they also have lots of other laws, like not drinking beer while actually driving. Enforcement is always the problem. |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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Doubtful there's anything you could do in this case. The copyright is yours for US and Canadian purposes, but there's not much you could do here to prevent it from being used in Mexico.
Last edited by Guy Courchesne on Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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MELEE
Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 2583
Location: The Mexican Hinterland
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| Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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| The school will obviously believe it belongs to them. Jetgirly will believe it belongs to her--just more bad blood in the making. |
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mapache
Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Posts: 202
Location: Villahermosa
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| After years of watching schools, universities and students copying everything and anything, I find it hard not to be amused at the naivety of anyone thinking copyright laws mean anything in Mexico. |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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| Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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| mapache wrote: |
| After years of watching schools, universities and students copying everything and anything, I find it hard not to be amused at the naivety of anyone thinking copyright laws mean anything in Mexico. |
Good reply mapache. It's another example of people transplanting their gringo ideas to another place.
Copyright laws...in Mexico? Sounds like an oxymoron to me. I've heard that Mexico ranks number 2 globally for piracy, after China. Even when there is a crackdown for a day or two in one of the hundreds of markets that sells pirated goods, it's just a show. It's done to show that the big, tough, law and order govt. of Mr. Calderon doesn't take too kindly to illegal DVDs Cd's etc. They do that to appease the international companies and recording associations that are getting bent out of shape over people pirating $20USD products and reselling them for 10-20 pesos in a country where 60% of the people are in poverty and the minimum wage is about $55 pesos per day.
So, what do they expect people to do? Go without food for a week to afford a dvd? Riduclous! Piracy is the free market at it's best. People can't or won't pay outrageous prices for a little plastic disc, so they do what they gotta do to afford it.
My students always plagerized other peoples works and even copied directly from the likes of Wikipedia and never once did they give credit where credit was do. After all, they were the ones that spent 5 minutes cutting and pasting their report so that makes it their work after all, doesn't it? That's the Mexican mentality for you, why work or do something when someone else has done it for you or will do it for you. |
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Jetgirly
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 741
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| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:34 am Post subject: |
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| Prof.Gringo wrote: |
| My students always plagerized other peoples works and even copied directly from the likes of Wikipedia and never once did they give credit where credit was do. After all, they were the ones that spent 5 minutes cutting and pasting their report so that makes it their work after all, doesn't it? That's the Mexican mentality for you, why work or do something when someone else has done it for you or will do it for you. |
When my students copied work they got a zero, but part of the instructions and assessment for every assignment was that the work be in their own words. I showed them how to use a website that automatically cites their sources, but nobody ever chose to use it.
I have decided to give the school a copy of my work, but all the files will be in Office 2007 format, which I think can't be viewed in the school. It definitely can't be viewed in the staff room. All of the work will be read-only with massive "COPYRIGHT MY NAME 2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED" stamped across it, so if they want to use the information they probably can, but they can't outright use the materials and resources that I developed without investing some serious time and effort. I will show them the work on my laptop, then hand them over the disk with the files. I think this is a pretty fair compromise. |
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