Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Collaborative Wiki Page, Lexipedia Writing Tool--NET-S (3,5)

Fair Use Harbor Copyright Assignment--NET-S (4)

Copyright Assignment 

 Audio-Visual Lagoon, by Beth Piper 

   An audio-visual, or AV work is a sequence or combination of pictures, 

sounds. It is not to be confused with a multimedia/hypermedia, which 

involves sound, text, graphics and/or video clips in a computerized 

environment. AV works include: VHS and DVD movies, laser discs, 16mm 

movies, 35mm slides, and flimstrips, with or without audio 

accompaniment.  An AV work is protected by copyright, because it is a 

form of expression. When educators present AV works to students, they 

are not violating copyright laws because the 1976 Copyright Act allows 

educators to use copyrighted materials in classrooms for performance 

and display. The Fair Use section of the Copyright Act also allows 

educators to portions of AV works to be used in the classroom. It is 

important to note that, under Fair Use, educators may not copy an entire 

AV work, only what they need to support their instruction, and must be 

lawfully made copies. Under this law, AV works may not be performed as 

a reward for students, or as part of an extracurricular activity. Until 

recently, the Copyright Act specified that educators could only use AV 

works in face-to-face teaching. However, in November 2002, the TEACH 

Act was passed, which allows teachers to digitally transmit AV works, 

under certain conditions.  

Application for Teachers: 

    As a future teacher, I intend to use portions of AV works to support 

lesson plans and encourage classroom discussion about lesson content. 

Although students may look forward to seeing AV works in class, it is 

important to remember that any AV works must specifically support 

instructional objectives, and that entire works may not be performed in 

class. While the copyright laws might seem inconvenient, they help 

ensure that lessons are driven by content and good instruction, rather 

than by AV works.  

 

Dist-Ed Point, by Beth Piper 

    With the recent emergence of online education, the issue of digital 

transmission of copyrighted materials has become increasingly 

important. Before the TEACH Act in November 2002, educators could not 

legally present audio-content digitally, or over the internet. The TEACH 

Act allows educators to display and perform AV works to distance- 

learning students without permission, under certain conditions. Most 

importantly, only non-profit organizations may use and display material, 

and the material may only be displayed to students enrolled in a course. 

The conditions for teachers state that only "brief and reasonable" 

portions of AV material may be used, and the material may only be 

available to students for a short time, when they are engaged in 

instructional activities which involve the material. This means that 

instructors must make AV material available to students for a limited 

amount of time, or session. The educator decides how long the session 

will be, and must take steps to ensure that students cannot access the 

material once the session is over. The TEACH Act requires instructors to 

use digital versions of AV performances, when possible. If digital versions 

do not exist, or are copy-protected, then the instructor may digitize and 

display portions of the material directly related to instructional content, 

but only for a limited amount of time, similar to the amount of time the 

information would be available to students in a face-to-face classroom. If 

the instructor stores the information digitally for future use, they must 

ensure that no one else can access the material, and this must be the 

only copy made. The non-profit online instructional institutions 

employing these instructors also have great responsibility, under the 

TEACH Act. The institution must have defined policies designed to 

manage the use of copyrighted materials, and they must notify students 

that course materials may be subject to copyright protection. Online 

educators and institutions must work together to ensure that they meet 

the requirements of the TEACH Act in the virtual classroom.  

Application for Teachers: 

    As a future teacher, I will become familiar with the copyright policies 

governing my school, and continue to stay updated about federal 

copyright policies concerning both the digital and face-to-face 

classroom. As technology offers teachers new opportunities to access and 

share information, it also brings great responsibilities to teachers and 

schools. By staying abreast of current technological issues and policies, I 

will be able to supplement my curriculum with AV material, without 

violating any copyright laws.      

 

 Background Beach by JC Cooper 

 Contributing Authors: Georgia Harper, Benedict O’Mahoney, Daniel 

Tsyver, Esther Synfosky, Bruce Lehman, Mary Carter, Brad Templeton. 

 

What is copyright and how is it defined? 

Copyright is a way for authors, creators, and publishers to control their 

work in order to protect their livelihoods. By definition “copyright” means: 

The exclusive right of a creator to reproduce, prepare derivative works, 

distribute, perform, display, sell, lend or rent their creations. 

 

Copyright Protects: 

Poetry, Prose, Computer programs, Artwork, Music, Animations, Movies 

and videos, Web pages, Architectural Drawings, and photographs. 

 

Copyright does not protect: 

Ideas, Titles, Names, Short phrases, Works in the public domain, Mere 

facts, Logos and slogans (although protected by trademark),  and URL'S 

(i.e., a link to a web site.). 

 

Copyright does give the author of the work five rights including: 

The right to reproduce the copyrighted work. 

The right to prepare derivative works based upon the original(s). 

The right to distribute copies of the work. 

The right to perform the work publicly. 

The right to display the work publicly. 

 

"Fair Use" is the base belief that copying should be allowed for purposes 

of criticism, news reporting, teaching and scholarly research. Fair use 

gives non-profit educational institutions the ability to use and copy a 

small and sufficient amount of the original work in order to educate.   

 

The four "fair use" criteria from the 1976 Copyright Act are: 

1. The use may be for non-profit educational purposes, but not for a 

commercial nature. 

2. The nature of the copyrighted work. 

3. The amount used in comparison to the original work. 

4. The effect of the use on the market for or value of the copyrighted 

work. 

 

Application for Teachers 

It would be helpful to teach my students about copyright law not only for 

written works, but also for photos, music, and Internet programs as well. 

As an assignment I could split the class into small groups, and each 

group would have to take a different entity of copyrighted works. The 

students would then report on the legal and illegal copying of their 

assigned type of material according to what they have learned.  

 

 Single Copy Inlet by Michael Slemp 

  

    * The Copyright Act of 1976 allows educators to legally make a single 

copy without getting permission or paying a fee to the author. Copies can 

come from sections of a book, periodicals, newspapers, poems, short 

stories, charts, graphs, diagrams to name just a few. 

    * The copyright privilege that educators have under the fair use act is 

rather broad and includes copies for research, scholastic pursuits and to 

place copyright items in reserve rooms at the library for access by the 

students. 

    * In case selected articles are deemed by teacher as important 

supplement to the lesson, teacher can put selected articles into reserve 

rooms in library. Students are allowed to make single copy of these 

articles on copy machines that have notices that cite the protection of the 

authors work via the Copyright Act. If students use information from 

these articles for their own work, they are responsible for proper citation 

of the source.  

    * Educators have begun to use an Electronic Reserve system. This 

system is composed of a webpage with numerous hyperlinks. Only 

students enrolled in specific class can log to this webpage and read 

selected copyright articles. 

    * Coursepacks is another tool that educators use but the policy varies 

with each educational institution. In general creating coursepacks does 

not fall under single copy inlet but under multiple copy policy. However 

under certain circumstances creating coursepacks can be considered as 

“fair use”. It must be done at a non-profit educational setting, limited to 

one term or semester, permission or licensing may be needed, and have 

the college attorney review all coursepacks that are being proposed to 

the students.  To lessen the burden of coursepacks an alternative would 

be to put the information on reserve at the library for student’s access.   

 

 

Gasaway, Laura (2003, January). Fair Use Harbor. Retrieved March 10, 

2009, Web site: http://www.stfrancis.edu/cid/copyrightbay/fairuse.htm 

 

 

Application for teachers 

 

Understanding legal background of accessing and distributing items that 

are copyrighted is important especially for teachers. With infinite 

information available to teachers via books, articles, periodicals, 

professional journals and mainly electronic articles, everybody needs to 

be familiar with proper ways using and citing their sources. As a teacher I 

am able to use single copies for research and preparation for my classes. 

I can also share important articles with students by placing them in 

reserve rooms in school library. When creating a black board for students 

enrolled in my classes I can legally post hyperlinks on my webpage. I will 

also become familiar with the policies of my institution on creating a 

coursepacks to avoid any legal challenges. 

 

 

 

 

Cove of Multiple Copies by Michael Slemp 

 

 The fair use guidelines for multiple copies are a lot more involved and 

detailed than the guidelines for single copy use. Below is a list of some of 

the requirements that teacher should follow in order not to break the 

copyright laws. However, whenever possible the educator should try to 

obtain publisher reprint or permission from the publisher. 

 

Guidelines for multiple copies: 

 

    * Article copy limit is 2,500 words 

    * Longer work of prose copy limit is 1,000 words or 10% off total work 

(whichever is less) 

    * Poem copy limit is 250 words 

    * No more than one chart, diagram, cartoon, or picture from a book, 

periodical, or newspaper. 

    * Copying must be done at the initiative of the teacher at a spear of a 

moment 

    * Limit to one copy per student, students can be charged for only the 

cost of copying 

    * Copying is only done for one course 

    * Same item is not copied without permission from term to term 

    * No more than one work is copied from a single author 

    * No more that 3 authors are coped from a single collective work 

    * No more than 9 instances of multiple copying occur during a single 

term or semester. Exceptions are newspapers and periodicals which can 

be copied as much as you want (no 9 instances limit) as long as you 

follow the rest of the guidelines 

    * Once copied, items cannot be used in collective work. 

    * Consumable work such as workbooks and standardized tests cannot 

be copied under any circumstances 

 

.  

 

Gasaway, Laura (2003, January). Fair Use Harbor. Retrieved March 10, 

2009, Web site: http://www.stfrancis.edu/cid/copyrightbay/fairuse.htm 

Application for teachers 

 

As a teacher I have the choice to decide how to present information to my 

students. When appropriate I am allowed to copy and incorporate 

attained information into my lecture as long as it follows the specific 

guidelines for multiple copies. For example, if I come across an 

interesting article or diagram related to my lecture the evening before my 

class I know that I can be safe to make needed copies and hand them out 

to my students.  

 

 

Multimedia Wharf by JC Cooper 

 

Contributing Authors: 

 

Gasaway, Laura (2003, January). Fair Use Harbor. Retrieved March 10, 

2009, Web site: http://www.stfrancis.edu/cid/copyrightbay/fairuse.htm 

 

 

What is multimedia? 

Also known as "hypermedia," multimedia involves the use of text, 

graphics, audio and/or video into a computer-based environment. 

 

"Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia." (not considered official 

law) 

*  Students may incorporate others' works into their multimedia creations 

and perform and display them for academic assignments. 

 * Faculty may incorporate others' works into their multimedia creations 

to produce curriculum materials. 

  * Faculty may provide for multimedia products using copyrighted works 

to be accessible to students at a distance (distance learning), provided 

that only those students may access the material. 

  * Faculty may demonstrate their multimedia creations at professional 

symposia and retain same in their own portfolios. 

 

Acceptable amounts of Multimedia to be used: 

*  For motion media -(e.g., video clips) up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever 

is less. 

    * For text- up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever less. 

    * For poems - 

          o up to 250 words. 

          o Three poem limit per poet 

          o Five poem limit by different poets from an anthology. 

    * For music - up to 10% or 30 seconds, whichever is less. 

    * For photos and images 

          o Up to 5 works from one author. 

          o Up to 10% or 15 works, whichever is less, from a collection. 

    * Database information-- up to 10% or 2,500 fields or cell entries, 

whichever is less. 

 

Goal of Fair Use with Educational Multimedia 

As with all practices of fair use it’s important to use the smallest portion 

necessary of an educational work to achieve the instructional objective. 

 

Application for Teachers 

I think it is very important for teachers to be given a short seminar or 

work shop on fair use for educational multimedia. Technology is such a 

large part of today’s curriculum, which makes it important for teachers to 

understand the acceptable amounts of multimedia they may use in order 

to achieve an instructional objective. In addition to the teachers having 

knowledge about fair use it will also allow them to give insight to their 

students during projects and reports using multimedia.  

 

I contributed to this collaborative assignment to better understand 

and model responsible digital citizenship.  

 

 

 


Wednesday, April 29, 2009

imovie software proficiency--NET-S (3)

I created this video using imovie. 

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Journal Response #10

Bonne & McKercher, Judy & Patrick (2004, March). Intercultural Education and Virtual Reality. New Horizons For Learning Online Journal, 10, Retrieved 04/08/2009, from http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/bonne.htm

The article I read for Journal #10 discussed the Knowledge Web, or K-Web, which is an interactive tools that educators and students may use to explore subjects, and apply their knowledge in a contextual way to other subjects, and to the world in general. The K-Web is easily accessible, and provides opportunities for student collaboration. At the time of this article's publication, it had been tested by some educators in Vancouver and San Jose. The K-Web was also featured in 2003 at the Intercultural Educational Alliance's online summit. At this summit, James Burke was one of the key speakers, as he explained his involvement with the K-Web, and some of the broader cultural implications of the increasing accessibility of technology on a global scale. A portion of James Burke's speech was featured in the article.
Burke's speech emphasizes his belief that technology shapes society, and that technology can and does inspire students in a dramatic way. He mentions the fear that some people (educators and those who are not teaching professionals) have that technology brings about a way of thinking that is completely technology oriented, and this causes people to lose their connection with individual cultures. He says that, to the contrary, technology is a great unifier, and that his K-Web tool helps connect and unify students.
The speech expresses Burke's hope that, as technology becomes more accessible, it will offer cultures alternate means to express themselves and preserve their unique cultural beliefs. He also believes that technology will expose people to many different cultures, and that this exposure can and will cause people to become more accepting of diversity.
Burke's vision is that of a world where people can travel seamlessly from their own local culture to a new culture, gaining a sense of the new culture's traditions, where the culture might be headed, and what the culture means on a global scale. He hopes that technology can help people understand and appreciate one another's cultures.

Questions:
How might I use tools from ED 422 to encourage students to develop increased awareness of their own cultures?
By using tools such as social bookmarking and Inspiration, students could research their family history and present it as a cultural web. This web could incorporate a student's immediate family, or several generations. 

How might I use tools from ED 422 to encourage students to develop increased awareness of other cultures?
As a teacher, I could create a classroom wiki (similar to the one Jeff created for our web 2.0 assignment), and allow students to choose from a list of various cultures, picking one to research, then posting their findings on the wiki. I could check the thoroughness and validity of their research by using social bookmarking on delicious, to follow students' research and check their sources. Student would post their findings, then comment on other classmates findings, within the wiki.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Journal Response #9

Waters, John K. (2009, March 1). The kids are all right. T.H.E. Journal, Retrieved 4/1/09, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24104_1

In his article "The Kids Are All Right," John Waters investigates the impact that digital technologies may have on student's learning, focusing on a particular study of the John D. and Katherine T. MacAurthur Foundation. The study supports the idea that digital technology enhances learning. He explores ways that teachers use their student's familiarity and knowledge of digital technologies to further a student's education.
Waters mentions that many teachers are familiar with little or none of the current technology their students are using outside of the classroom. The author explains that, since students view the technology as an integral part of their everyday lives, when teachers refuse to see value in it, the students perceive teachers and their curriculum as irrelevant. The article calls on teachers to find creative ways to reach out to their students, using the technology that their students use to communicate with each other.
The author then takes a closer look at the study, introducing the term "media ecologies," which are defined as "collections of interconnected technologies and activities involving new media." The study used three "genres of participation," to explain students' various levels of participation in new media activities. These levels are:
Hanging Out--This level is often friendship-driven, according to researchers, who say that kids today are using online social networks the same way that their parent's generation hung out at the mall. In this level of contact, kids "move seamlessly between online and offline worlds, compensating in some ways for their increasingly restricted lives." Kids involved on this level use digital technology to learn social skills that were once learned face-to-face.
Messing Around-- The study describes this as a "hybrid level," which combines elements of Hanging Out and Geeking Out. In this level, kids are developing interests, and searching for information about them in a self-directed way. Waters describes this as "a level of playing around that leads to interest-driven activities."
Geeking Out-- This is described as "a level of intense interest, even a high level of commitment, with media or technology." At this level, the research is about a subject of interest, rather than the focus being on the technology. According to Waters, this is the level of engagement that teachers really want to see, and he encourages teachers to search for ways to use technology to peak their students interest.
Waters concludes by re-stating that educators need to see the value in the time kids spend online, whatever their level of involvement is. The article stresses that teachers need to be open and receptive to technologies their students are using, and how they are using them. As educators, it is important to find ways to use technology as a tool to communicate with students, rather than seeing it as a barrier between teachers and students.

Questions:
1. What level of participation will most of my future students likely be at?
In my opinion, most students are at the "hanging out" level. As teacher, I hope to move students up to at least the "messing around" level, so that they can start developing various areas of interest, while also developing technology skills.

2. What are some ways that I can show my students that I appreciate and understand the role that technology plays in their lives?
Integrating technology in my classroom will show students that I am "down" with technology. By becoming familiar with the technology available in my classroom, and practicing operating the equipment, I will model technological proficiency for my students and earn their respect with this knowledge. By using tools such as social bookmarking, a class blog, and email, I will be able to communicate with students and parents efficiently, offering them opportunities to connect with me as a teacher, as well as with other students in the learning community. 

Monday, March 30, 2009

Lexipedia: A Cool Web 2.0 Tool--NET-S (5)



 This is an example of a word search, using lexipedia. You can see that the word web is displaying synonyms, antonyms, and various parts of speech for the word "green". This is simply a scree shot, so it is not possible to limit or expand this particular search, nor is it possible to access the "say it" feature, as it is on the actual site. However if you're interested in investigating this cool tool, you can visit lexipedia.com through the link on this blog!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Journal #8--Course Management Systems--NET-S (1,3,4)

Course Management:
  I decided to focus on Course Management Systems (CMS) for the Web 2.0 assignment.
  A CMS is basically software that allows an educator to create a web-based virtual classroom. I also found that a CMS is sometimes referred to as a Virtual Learning Environment, or VLE or a Learning Management System (LMS).  CMS's provide students and teachers with tools for both teacher and peer assessment, collaborative learning, collecting, organizing and grading of student's work, communication, content uploading, and tracking tools. New features in some of these VLE's are: blogs, wikis, RSS and 3D virtual learning spaces. 
  I learned that there are many Management Systems available, at varying prices, and with varying teacher reviews. Blackboard and Moodle were the two that came up the most in the Web 2.0 discussions I followed. One of the discussions I followed concerned teachers whose districts were switching from Moodle to Blackboard.  The feedback the teacher got from her peers seemed to indicate that, while Moodle and Blackboard are different programs, they are both effective and fairly easy for students and teachers to learn. In all the discussions I followed, teachers seemed to be either "Blackboard types" or "Moodle types," so I suppose it would be in my best interest, as a future teacher, to become generally familiar with various CMS's, from both the perspectives of teacher and student. 

I gathered this information using a website specifically designed to further educators' professional development.