Copyright Paradox

The Blog assignment for this week is kind of ironic. We are supposed to simply define what fair use is via copyright law and how does it applies to education, after reading multiple articles about it. So in reality all of our answers should be the same for the most part and will be derived or quoted from the articles. This in itself hopefully becomes an example of fair use as long as our explanations abide by the fair use policies.

To directly answer the posed question, “the basic idea of fair use is that a work can be used or copied for educational purposes as long as the use is not solely a substitute for purchasing copyrighted the work. - [To take it a step further] educational fair use is a use of the work for teaching, scholarship, or research. Congress took special steps to protect educational fair use and authored special protections for this type of use in the copyright law. The fair use statute provides that making “multiple copies for classroom use” is an example of fair use.

In determining whether a use qualifies as fair, courts will analyze four factors:

1. The purpose of the use, including whether the use is commercial or for nonprofit educational purposes.

2. The nature of the work; for example, is it a fact-based or highly creative work?

3. The amount of the work used in relation to the work as a whole; generally, the greater the amount used, the more likely that the use is not fair.

4. The effect of the use on the market and potential income for the work,” (Thompson, 2005, p.11).

In my above explanation of educational fair use I quoted K. A. Thompson from her article Copyright 101 from Learning & Leading with Technology. I am myself exhibiting educational fair use by taking a small piece of her work for a research based educational purpose, which I am not being compensated for, while giving her credit for it. Also, since we all were supposed to read it my use of the information is not taking away from anyone in the class reading the whole article and since our Blog audiences are small it does not inhibit outsiders from not reading it either.

When we do things on a day to day basis copyright is probably the last thing on everyone’s mind. I took the quiz first just to see where I was at with copy right knowledge before digging in. While taking the quiz and then reading the articles numerous instances flashed through my mind where I had previously used images in Power Point presentations, made copies at the library, downloaded music, have gotten to watch movies in school as entertainment, etc. I think definitely paying attention to the rules of fair use needs to be kept in the back our minds as we go forward with our careers in education.

Though, I do have to say that I am very glad that all of my intellectual property is legally seen as mine and I can hold people accountable if they do not abide by “fair use” practices.

Fostering Curiosity

I chose the cell that is in the cross section between authentic learning at the infusion level using shared access to computers/technology. The lesson deals with students using the web to learn sign language and then make a tutorial video to share with other students and to keep in the school's library. I liked this lesson because getting dual certified in special education I think its great that the students wanted to get involved in different ways that people communicate and show that those with disabilities are capable people who are valuable members of their school and society.

The example of the lesson can pertain to a couple of the NETS for Teachers standards. Under number 2, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, there are two sections that are applicable. Section A, design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity, and Section B, develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress. Both of these standards are relevant because the teacher took the learning experience a step further by using a book that the class had read and derived an additional lesson using digital media to explore the themes more in-depth so her class could explore their curiosity further on how different people communicate.

Number 4, Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility, can and should be applied to all lessons in one way or another. Section A, advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources, was seen in this lesson by the students using a safe web browser while looking up the content they needed and by the teacher guiding them through each step of the project from formulating the vocabulary list to directing the video.

Before I chose a level of technology integration to further think about I watched a couple of examples of lessons from both of the Infusion and Transformation categories. After watching I knew I was definitely comfortable with the Infusion category but a little tentative with the Transformation category. The technologies used in the Transformation category are not at all hard to use but the lessons used many at same time very interdependently. While watching I felt that the Transformation level needs more thorough preparation of the lessons and all the different ways they can go since the students had more say in the direction of where the lesson was headed. I feel confident in using all of the technologies we have learned so far and those I knew before hand. Now I just have to work on using different medias together to make the lessons more enriching.

Just Breathe

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Students are to listen to the podcast and then write a one to two page journal reflection on the following. There are many things that cause us stress in everyday life. From school, to extra curricular activities, to jobs, to relationships with family and friends, and even society in general. Write about at least three of the following questions. What are somethings that bring stress into your life? What do you currently do to positively deal with stress on your own? Do you think that any of the techniques listed could work for you? Do you think any of the techniques could be highly successful for a majority of people? Do you think any of the techniques would not work for most people?

(Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Standard: 2.1 Wellness, Strand: E Social and Emotional Health, CPI #'s: 2.1.6 E3, 2.1.8 E4)

The Haves Vs. The Have-Nots

Well with the state of the economy right now there are not going to be funds to add anything new since there are still talks about cutting more. So the only way this can be done is to start small in the classroom with what we already have so that fostering creativity doesn’t die off in the midst of the worries about “teaching to the test”.

I think the bigger issue of creativity not being nurtured is “compassion fatigue”. It’s an easy way out to use the same lesson plan year after year and have students read out of the book and have them take the same tests over and over again to see if they retained the material. Going along with this syndrome Sir Ken Robinson said, “All kids have tremendous talents and we squander them pretty ruthlessly.” The power that teachers have over their students is tremendous and having an apathetic teacher that makes you feel like your ideas are not important or makes you feel horrible when you make a mistake can extinguish creativity and interest in learning. I think that we’ve all had an experience with this whether or not it happened to us or we saw it happen to someone else.

Sir Robinson pointed out that most public education forms did not exist before the 19^th century and the needs of industrialism came about. So until the societal shift towards creativity and 21^st century thinking becomes an official age or era in society and/or we hit another sizeable stint of economic recovery, growth, and prosperity adequate unfortunately the hierarchy of subjects will stay the same and funding will most likely not go towards anything new or extra in this area on a wide scale.

Week 6 - #1 "Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In the article The Workforce Readiness Crisis, it states, “particularly disturbing is the study's findings on the current lack of preparedness of the nation's high school graduates. In addition to the deficiencies in communication and professionalism shared by those with varying degrees of college education, well over half of new workforce entrants with only a high school diploma are deficiently prepared in all ten of the skills that employers rate critical.” How can we expect students to be successful in whatever they choose to do with their lives after high school if they are not equipped with the know-how to apply these 21st century skills to the knowledge they have learned. As technology continues to make the world smaller and smaller everyone needs to be able to deal with what lies ahead for them in the “real world”.

After being a manager in my field for the past five years the ability to have these skills makes the difference between not only the amount of shifts awarded but just keeping a job in general. We make it a priority to try and coach employees on these skills to see if they will pick up on them and be an integral part of the team but for a lot of them it’s too late and they have already become apathetic to the process and either quit or get terminated.

If you take a in-depth look at the critics’ articles they aren’t even truly against integrating these ideals into education, they just don’t want the content knowledge to go by the wayside and for this movement to be eased into since it is not data based at this time. For example, Diane Ravitch states, (in her article Critical thinking? You need knowledge), that she believes, “What matters most in the use of our brains is our capacity to make generalizations, to see beyond our own immediate experience. The intelligent person, the one who truly is a practitioner of critical thinking, has the capacity to understand the lessons of history, to grasp the inner logic of science and mathematics, and to realize the meaning of philosophical debates by studying them.” Isn’t that what this movement is trying to accomplish in the end?

I think that the critics of 21st century learning are taking the p21 information too literally. In the article, Flawed Assumptions Undergird the Program at the Partnership for 21st-Century Skills, the president of P21 Ken Kay states “Our real expertise is in the setting of goals. Other people have the expertise in how to make it happen.” These standards or any standards really are just an outline. It’s up to educators to put on their thinking caps when they make their lesson plans to be creative and find ways to implement these standards into their content learning and research ways to coach them so students can be better equipped to be successful members of society.

Week 5 - Back To School Night In Surround Sound

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I think adding the audio lecture to the Power Point can be very valuable. Not only can you have the presentation with the bullets posted on the Web but you can add your lecture so the class can have a full representation of each point you are trying to focus on. This can really help with different types of learners. Also, the media can be paused and replayed numerous times so that students can stop at different points to write something down they want to remember or repeat something they may have missed without having to ask a teacher to repeat in front of their peers and becoming embarrassed. With a lot of the smart technology the information is also downloadable and portable to a number of different devices.

I really thought that the last video “The Flipped Classroom” made some great points. Chemistry teacher Aaron Sams said, “When kids come to class they don’t show up to learn new stuff, they show up to apply the things they learned at home and to ask me questions about the things they learned at home.” Going along with Mr. Sams’s practice viewing and listening to lectures posted on the Slide Share site can become the homework and the students can be guided through different activities in the classroom with what they learned.

(*The actual application of this specific technology of course depends on the availability students have to Web accessible devices outside of the school.)

Week 4 - Back To School Night

Welcome

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I think being able to share presentations over the web is a very useful tool. Not only can it be used as a technology accommodation for students with special needs, it also makes the material available for all students and parents to access at anytime to use as a study guide or to catch up on missed classes. I think it is great because even before you take a class with a teacher or professor you can get a feel of their teaching approach and the general material that will be covered in the class.