COPYRIGHT IN THE CLASSROOM

"Nothing is copyright in schools, because we use resources 'for educational purposes'". Agree? I did. For many years, however, I'm beginning to feel that it just doesn't cut it anymore.

I feel that using images or video created by someone, somewhere, whether we can see them or not, without reference or acknowledgement, is as wrong as it is to reproduced written content used in assignments and projects. On a PD to New Zealand during 2010, a pre-conference workshop run by Tessa Gray alerted me to the point of copyright. Essentially:

• Just because we do it, doesn't make it right;
• Just because it's done by others, doesn't make it right;
• Just because the author won't know about it, doesn't make it right;
• Just because the chances of 'getting caught' are low, doesn't make it right; and,
• Just because we are part of an educational institution, doesn't make it right.

What will happen when students leave the 'educational setting' and don't reference their use, reuse or derivatives of works? There are real and heavy consequences for misuse of copyright. We, as teachers, need to educate our cyber citizens what society's expectations are on the referencing and use of digital material. When else are they going to learn it?

While this has been the second year of me teaching in a 1:1 laptop classroom, it is the first year I have made a push for, in particular, image referencing in Keynotes and Pages documents. My students have embraced it (thankfully!) and now pick each other up on unreferenced resources. Heck, they even pick up me now! Playing music with creative tasks using iMovie and GarageBand is a definite 'no-no' as well.

It is amazing how quickly students pick this up. Discussion concerning Creative Commons licensing has not only made things more clear in my head, but also created an expectation of acceptable use of digital resources. An element of referencing included on assessment rubrics (even a 'Yes/No' section) has also given students the opportunity to gauge their own use in line with Digital Citizenship standards.

For more information, visit http://creativecommons.org/about
I also have created a display/cards that can be used based on the several license options. The above address also contains help sheets that are displayed in the classroom.

ICT IN AUSSIE RULES

I have used video images from various sources to teach good skills in Aussie Rules football. My year 5/6 team visit a website (linked from a bit.ly shortener) during the week where a video and/or images are uploaded with discussion of what to look for, what didn't work well or sometimes a quiz about what the player would do to stop that particular movement of the ball etc. I opened up the comments section and the reports are interesting to read. I wonder how I could have explained the strategies we want to put into our game plan without this use of video (that can be viewed as many times as the player needs). Would I explain it through words? Maybe draw on a whiteboard? Give the player a handout sheet with diagrams and explanations? Static drills? I'm not sure. Does having videos mean I can do extra things with the team? Maybe, maybe not, but it certainly allows me to illustrate the points more clearly than I ever could with words. I love having a team website!

Twitter in the Classroom

"Thou shalt not use Twitter in the classroom".

Since when was this a rule of teaching? OK, so primary school age students are too young to have their own account, but does that mean the students can't use under the direction of the teacher/s? Maybe so, but an interesting one to ponder nonetheless.

Imagine students communicating with the world (in actual fact it would essentially be parents who follow) in real time some exciting findings in their learning and some of the work that they produce. Great!

We have teachers collaborating, we have parents engaging with this social media and we have education forums/hash-tags which work swimmingly, but I believe that students can involve themselves as part of their class routine. The big key here is 'under direction' of the teacher. Obviously promoting this to the students with no discussion and monitoring would be a recipe for disaster, and possibly illegal or at least against Twitter's terms and conditions of use. In fact it may promote students to investigate it independently by themselves at home. You would hope students would have been given the skills and strategies to ensure they stayed safe using this communication medium.

I'm not sure where I sit with this, but consideration should be given to this useful communication tool.
Mr N