For whatever reason, interesting articles keep coming my way this week! In the November, 2010 issue of "Tech & Learning", there is an article entitled "Top 10 Ways 21st-Century Schools Can Protect Themselves from Copyright Violation". It was written by Renee Bangerter, a professor of English at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California. Bangerter states that educators and students must have a clear understanding of copyright regulations and lists 10 ways that educators and students can safeguard themselves and their schools.
10 - Be mindful that copyright regulations apply to various media. Copyright laws apply to virtually all copying, including copy machines and all-in-one printers that have copying capability.
9 - When using video, get permission or licenses. One of the most frequent causes of cease-and-desist letters to schools is for showing entertainment films that are not tied to the curriculum.
8 - If it's a consumable - that is, something that is destroyed or altered by being used for its intended purpose (and thus is intended for a single use only) - don't copy it. Schools can get in trouble when teachers make photocopies of tear-out sheets in student handbooks or workbooks.
7 - Lead by example. Teachers should cite the sources of the materials they use and make sure they have the necessary permissions.
6 - Just because it's easily accessible doesn't mean you can use it freely. Material on the Internet is not exempt from copyright policies.
5 - Student copyright should not be overlooked. Schools should put the same effort into protecting students' work as teachers' work.
4 - Unpublished work requires citation. Even if a work has not been formally published, it still has to be cited when referenced.
3 - Utilize your resources. Teachers should use software programs that check the originality of students' work.
2 - Policies must be in place. Without proper policies in place, including punishing copyright offenses, the whole concept of copyright becomes moot. Everyone needs to have an understanding of copyright policy and the ramifications of violating it.
1 - Teach students the importance of academic honesty. If students understand the fundamentals of academic integrity, including the value of producing original work, obeying copyright policies will become second nature to them.
All of us can use a reminder now and then to make sure we give credit where credit is due and make sure we do not just blindly copy materials because of budget cuts and such. Thanks, Dr. Bangerter, for a very informative article!
28 October 2010
27 October 2010
An extra bit of information for this week . . .
I just read something written for the EdTech UNconference Website that I thought was too good to wait to post! This was written by Lisa and was published on 10/27/10:
"21 Signs You're a 21st Century Teacher"
Are you a 21st Century Teacher? Find out!
1. You require your students to use a variety of sources for their research projects...and they cite blogs, podcasts, and interviews they've conducted via Skype.
2. Your students work on collaborative projects...with students in Australia.
3. You give weekly class updates to parents...via your blog.
4. Your students participate in class...by tweeting their questions and comments.
5. You ask your students to study and create reports on a controversial topic...and you grade their video submissions.
6. You prepare substitutes with detailed directions...via Podcasts.
7. You ask your students to do a character/historical person study...and they create mock social media profiles of their character.
8. Your students create a study guide...working together on a group wiki.
9. You share lesson plans with your teacher friends...from around the globe.
10. Your classroom budget is tight...but it doesn't matter because there are so many free resources on the Web you can use.
11. You realize the importance of professional development...and you read blogs, join online communities, and tweet for self development.
12. You take your students on a field trip to the Great Wall of China...and never leave your classroom.
13. Your students share stories of their summer vacation...through an online photo repository.
14. You visit the Louvre with your students...and don't spend a dime.
15. You teach your students not to be bullies...or cyberbullies.
16. You make your students turn in their cell phones before class starts...because you plan on using them in class.
17. You require your students to summarize a recent chapter...and submit it to you via a text message.
18. You showcase your students' original work...to the world.
19. You have your morning coffee...while checking your RSS feed.
20. You are reading this.
21. You tweet this page, blog about it, "like" it, or email it to someone else...
In the comments section, several users have added some other worthwhile points to this list:
22. You encourage students to use the right technology for the job...sometimes the right technology is silicon, sometimes it is paper, and sometimes it is slate.
23. You give your students choices on what type of project they want to do.
24. When playing a video game, i.e. Wii, counts as PE.
25. For homework, your students create written responses...by commenting on your blog post.
I'm sure many of you could also add to the list!
What can you do to integrate technology into your classroom? Here's a good idea to start with - walk through the halls at your school and see what type of work is posted. Then, think about how you could do the same project/assignment but utilize technology in some way. It may be something as simple as gathering information about likes and dislikes in class (i.e. favorite color) and drawing it out on paper - instead, show students how to enter the data gathered into a spreadsheet and make a colorful bar or pie chart! Sometimes integrating technology into your class is as easy as "pie" - a pie chart, that is!
"21 Signs You're a 21st Century Teacher"
Are you a 21st Century Teacher? Find out!
1. You require your students to use a variety of sources for their research projects...and they cite blogs, podcasts, and interviews they've conducted via Skype.
2. Your students work on collaborative projects...with students in Australia.
3. You give weekly class updates to parents...via your blog.
4. Your students participate in class...by tweeting their questions and comments.
5. You ask your students to study and create reports on a controversial topic...and you grade their video submissions.
6. You prepare substitutes with detailed directions...via Podcasts.
7. You ask your students to do a character/historical person study...and they create mock social media profiles of their character.
8. Your students create a study guide...working together on a group wiki.
9. You share lesson plans with your teacher friends...from around the globe.
10. Your classroom budget is tight...but it doesn't matter because there are so many free resources on the Web you can use.
11. You realize the importance of professional development...and you read blogs, join online communities, and tweet for self development.
12. You take your students on a field trip to the Great Wall of China...and never leave your classroom.
13. Your students share stories of their summer vacation...through an online photo repository.
14. You visit the Louvre with your students...and don't spend a dime.
15. You teach your students not to be bullies...or cyberbullies.
16. You make your students turn in their cell phones before class starts...because you plan on using them in class.
17. You require your students to summarize a recent chapter...and submit it to you via a text message.
18. You showcase your students' original work...to the world.
19. You have your morning coffee...while checking your RSS feed.
20. You are reading this.
21. You tweet this page, blog about it, "like" it, or email it to someone else...
In the comments section, several users have added some other worthwhile points to this list:
22. You encourage students to use the right technology for the job...sometimes the right technology is silicon, sometimes it is paper, and sometimes it is slate.
23. You give your students choices on what type of project they want to do.
24. When playing a video game, i.e. Wii, counts as PE.
25. For homework, your students create written responses...by commenting on your blog post.
I'm sure many of you could also add to the list!
What can you do to integrate technology into your classroom? Here's a good idea to start with - walk through the halls at your school and see what type of work is posted. Then, think about how you could do the same project/assignment but utilize technology in some way. It may be something as simple as gathering information about likes and dislikes in class (i.e. favorite color) and drawing it out on paper - instead, show students how to enter the data gathered into a spreadsheet and make a colorful bar or pie chart! Sometimes integrating technology into your class is as easy as "pie" - a pie chart, that is!
25 October 2010
A very busy week ahead . . .
This week will prove to be a busy one! I will be out of the office two days. Tuesday, October 26th, I will be in Frankfort at the KySTE (Kentucky Society for Technology in Education) training. On Friday, October 29th, I will be in Christian County/Todd County for the monthly Regional TIS (Technology Integration Specialist) meeting. On Wednesday after school, I will be involved with the STLP (Student Technology Leadership Program) at the middle school. We are working on digital art as our focus this month and will be attending the STLP Regional Showcase in Murray where we will display their results. The rest of my week will be filled with working on Infinite Campus issues; the Civil Rights Data Collection, Part II; working on our SchoolLoop Website and helping teachers create their own pages; working on the November edition of my District TRT newsletter; etc. It will certainly be a busy, but fulfilling week!
Since our CCMS STLP is focusing on digital art, I thought this week I would share some sites that enable you to manipulate photos. Sometimes we don't think about using technology in traditional art classes, but this is a way you can integrate technology into an art classroom, even at a young age since most of these sites are easy to use.
http://pixenate.com/ - Pixenate is the photo editor of choice. It is a powerful, flexible photo editing program right from the Web. Simply choose your image to edit and upload it. You can then crop, resize, flip, rotate, normalize and enhance, add light, fixing crooked pics, fixing red eye, whitening, changing saturation and hue, and even doodle on it! There are also many fun effects to choose from. When you’re done, you can save the picture to your own computer or upload it to Flikr (if you have an account). You can also turn the picture into a gift using Pixenate’s partner site, Zazzle.
http://mypictr.com - Are you looking for a way to make a picture for a profile or social network? Upload any picture to this site, then choose the size and selection. Select the Network (i.e. Facebook, Skype, Blogger, etc.) and then select “pictrit”. You can then decide whether to e-mail your picture to yourself or download it to your computer.
http://wetfloormaker.com/ - Here’s another site that you can use to upload and change a picture, but this one is different in that it produces an image that is “reflected”. First browse and upload your picture. Then change the angle, camera height, brightness, reflectivity, sky color and floor color and size. Generate the image as you go to see the changes. Once you are satisfied with your picture, you can save it to your computer.
http://roundpic.com/ - Use this tool to make rounded corners for images. Simply upload your image and click Round it! You can then select which corners to round, the size of the rounded corners, the size of your image and the quality. You can also select a background color or whether or not to make your picture a transparent PNG image. Once your image is done, you can download it to your computer.
http://avs4you.com/ - This site has downloadable software to do all sorts of things to images, videos, audio files, etc. The software is free, but basically only for Windows XP, Windows 7 or Vista operating systems. For each software piece, you can click on Features overview or Overview to read about what the program can do and what the requirements are to download and use it.
Since our CCMS STLP is focusing on digital art, I thought this week I would share some sites that enable you to manipulate photos. Sometimes we don't think about using technology in traditional art classes, but this is a way you can integrate technology into an art classroom, even at a young age since most of these sites are easy to use.
http://pixenate.com/ - Pixenate is the photo editor of choice. It is a powerful, flexible photo editing program right from the Web. Simply choose your image to edit and upload it. You can then crop, resize, flip, rotate, normalize and enhance, add light, fixing crooked pics, fixing red eye, whitening, changing saturation and hue, and even doodle on it! There are also many fun effects to choose from. When you’re done, you can save the picture to your own computer or upload it to Flikr (if you have an account). You can also turn the picture into a gift using Pixenate’s partner site, Zazzle.
http://mypictr.com - Are you looking for a way to make a picture for a profile or social network? Upload any picture to this site, then choose the size and selection. Select the Network (i.e. Facebook, Skype, Blogger, etc.) and then select “pictrit”. You can then decide whether to e-mail your picture to yourself or download it to your computer.
http://wetfloormaker.com/ - Here’s another site that you can use to upload and change a picture, but this one is different in that it produces an image that is “reflected”. First browse and upload your picture. Then change the angle, camera height, brightness, reflectivity, sky color and floor color and size. Generate the image as you go to see the changes. Once you are satisfied with your picture, you can save it to your computer.
http://roundpic.com/ - Use this tool to make rounded corners for images. Simply upload your image and click Round it! You can then select which corners to round, the size of the rounded corners, the size of your image and the quality. You can also select a background color or whether or not to make your picture a transparent PNG image. Once your image is done, you can download it to your computer.
http://avs4you.com/ - This site has downloadable software to do all sorts of things to images, videos, audio files, etc. The software is free, but basically only for Windows XP, Windows 7 or Vista operating systems. For each software piece, you can click on Features overview or Overview to read about what the program can do and what the requirements are to download and use it.
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