I went to Kids.gov and searched through the government websites for kids. After looking through the links I came across Fish Kids, http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/kids/, and thought this was a fun website for future use. We live in Alaska, so naturally fishing is a fun hobby for many! This website teaches children that fish makes a nutritious meal, but that some fish are unsafe to eat because of mercury or PCBs. Through reading about the "Fisher family" and their adventures, students can learn about the health benefits to eating fish, which fish to eat, and which fish to avoid. There are three different stories to read, along with a memory game and a fishing game. This website can be used after a lesson on fish, or as a free time website. The information is kid friendly, there is some music to the games, and the animation is pretty good. The only thing that I saw lacking was the option to have the stories read out loud, but I think a second or third grader could easily navigate the site.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Common Threads in Blogs
As I searched through the blog I'm following (http://blogs.scholastic.com/top_teaching/) I came across a posting from November where one of the authors, Angela Bunyi, discussed lesson plans for identifying reliable sources and the proper way to cite them. There isn't specific information given about copyright, but the fact that an elementary teacher is putting together lesson plans on citations focuses on the need for teachers to address everyday issues with their students. As Casey mentioned in her blog, an issue of copyright for teachers has to do with both students and teachers not citing sources correctly in bibliographies. By exposing students to citations while in elementary they can begin to get a sense of copyright issues. In Peter's blog he discusses the need for young students to learn about "proper ways to cite sources" so that they can be better prepared when entering high school and college. One of the main reasons why Angela put together the lesson plans on citations, was because colleges are saying that it's never too early to begin to teach about plagiarism. Ariel pointed out in her blog that the issue of copyright and citations has to do with digital citizenship. We as teachers have the responsibility to educate students about using technology as digital citizens. Along these same lines teachers need to model a good digital citizen. In Heather's blog she talked about the idea of teachers being examples to students when using the work of others. It is important to teach about citations and it is also important to practice proper citations so that even young students can learn about copyright laws.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Copyright
Which selection did your choose to read or watch?
I watched Wesley Fryer's Slideshare talk on Copyright.
What is copyright?
Copyright has to do with the ownership of a person's work and the legality to reproduce it in a new work. It is used to protect the content and owner or creator of a work. Everything that is put online is automatically copyrighted, whether there is a symbol or not, that includes images. Understanding copyrights is difficult because there are time gaps where the copyright began to be enforced. Creativity is an essential purpose of copyright. Often times that is not mentioned.
What are some of the issues around copyright for teachers and students?
Teachers need to know about copyright because the more that we bring technological learning into the classroom the more that we will be facing the issue of using media legally. As a teacher we need to understand copyright, not only for our legal use, but also to be able to teach our students. The message of copyright should be more informed and more nuance and complex, more than just don't do it. Digital devices and social networking have brought about the need to face the challenge of copyright. Teachers need to be preparing kids for digital life, which involves not only accessing things, but knowing legally how to share and publish. It's important for students to know how to take control of their digital footprint because a future career or opportunity could depend on what they have posted on the web.
What is Fair Use?
Fair use discusses ways of “fairly” using copyrighted work, but it is difficult to determine and should often be a last resource for determining legal use of resources. The copyright.gov website states the following factors to be considered when determining if use of copyright work is fair. “1.) The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes. 2.) The nature of the copyrighted work. 3.) The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. 4.) The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work.”
Fair use is complicated, but the following should be kept in mind when trying to use work. Adding value to and making a final product transformative. How did the use of copyrighted sources add value? Using material just because we like them is not going to stand up to a fair use argument.
What is the Teach Act?
Teach act provides distance learning instructors legal ability to do similar things in an online course behind a log in like you might do in a face to face class. Blackboard or noodle is an example of a learning management system. Teach Act allows teachers of online courses to share videos, pictures, or other work online without getting permission. But the Teach Act only applies to the use of material within a classroom setting, like blackboard. When material is posted to facebook or youtube people have to be aware of copyright to make sure they are following the law.
What is something new that you learned?
Homegrown is media that we as an individual have made ourselves. When putting together work we should try our hardest to use our own photos or music. Using this route completely eliminates the issue of copyright within the classroom.
Creative commons is another source for media that is important to know about. CC work has some rights reserved. On Flicker for instance, you can search for images with attribution only, which means that you can legally use the image by simply mentioning the photographer's name. Compfight.com is another great source for creative commons licensing images to use instead of google images. It's important for students to understand creative commons because it lets them know that they can license their work and grant permission for others to use it as well.
I thought it was interesting that citing sources does not ensure that you won't be sued for improperly using material because fair use does not have to do with citation. Attribution should not be confused with copyright. It's important to have discussions of copyright with teachers and with students as preventative measures. I learned a great deal from Wesley Fryer and now feel like I have a better understanding of the copyright issues that face classrooms.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Educational Blogs
I was surprised to find hundreds of blogs dedicated to teaching or to using technology in the classroom, but finding a blog to follow proved to be harder than I expected. There seemed to be so many blogs that it was difficult to sift out useful ones. Many blogs contained good information, but were not kept up regularly. I hadn't thought about blogs as a source of information for teaching, but it's a great way to share ideas. As a future teacher I can use blogs to to find helpful tips, get ideas on activities, or to learn what not do. I enjoyed the following blogs.
http://blogs.scholastic.com/top_teaching/ [I'll be following this one]
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