All Rights Reserved

Welcome back, this week has a focus in Copyright policies.

What does copyright mean?

Wikimedia Commons. (2010) [Online Image]. Retrieved on September 22, 2016 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ME_109_Thief.png

Well, I thought I knew, and I guess I knew the basics- but the guidelines extend so much further than I ever imagined.

• You can hand out only a short excerpt to students in a handout
• "Short" means up to 10% of a copyrighted work only
• You can use statues, regulations and court decisions BUT not if you life in Manitoba, Nunavut or Quebec

Copyright guidelines are riddled with these contingencies, but the basics of it are still not hard to follow and moreover, are important to follow.  Though all throughout our school careers the always dreaded and tedious task of creating a works cited page was I think every students worst nightmare, these pages have crucial roles in academic work.  Works cited pages are there to maintain the integrity and ownership of the writers original thinking/work.  

Teaching this concept to younger students could pose some challenges as they would have a harder time in seeing its importance.  "Well if they put it online for everyone to see then they obviously don't mind, its what they want." But think about a time when you told someone a good joke (one you made up on your own) and then later you hear that person retelling YOUR joke and everyone laughs, but they take the credit- sucks doesn't it?!

Friends- Chandler and Ross Fight About the Joke. [YouTube Video]. (2004). Retrieved September

               21, 2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVq94nRrj5s

Since copyright guidelines can be easily confusing and maybe a little tricky to manouever explaining every stipulation to them is probably going to be too much, as well as irrelevant.  But it is still important to teach students about plagiarism and protecting their own work as well, or else you'll end up like Ross and Chandler.  While teaching students about the importance of copyright guidlines I would also find it important to teach students HOW to copy right their work through creative commons- something I didn't know before this week.

When you publish anything online whether it be a picture, a piece of writing, a video etc. you automatically have an all rights reserved copyright to that piece of work.  This copyright restricts anyone from using this work.  But what about when you make music and you wnt people to download it or do a study and want people to use the findings what then?  I think its important to teach students how to share their creativity with the world.

MacEntee, S. (2011). All Rights Reserved [Online Image]. Retrieved September 22, 2016

                      Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2d3FhbK

Welcome Blog

Welcome to my blog on teaching through digital technology!

When I finally figured out my schedule at Brock and began to sort out the EDBEF01D07FW's from the EDBE803D07FW's, these course codes began to have meaning- Teaching in the Ontario Context and Cognition and the Exceptional Learner.  Before entering each class, I of course had my own preconceptions of each, Teaching Digital Learners in a Digital Age I thought was going to be an easy course.

I was wrong because technology beyond the confinements of my Iphone is not easy!

I am not saying I do not enjoy the class, I enjoy it greatly, however I have never felt this out of my element!  I think even more so because its just widely believed that us millennials are all tech savvy, however I think I am proving them all wrong right about now.  This course is a challenge, but what I am quickly noticing about the use of technological teaching is that the options are endless.

Children can learn almost anything they desire through the use of technology.  There are a vast amount of resources out there to aid any type of learner and quench any curiosity.

We began to learn about genius hour today.  Genius hour I was introduced to about a year ago and tried it with a classroom of grade 4/5's.  Having this been the first time I had ever heard of genius hour, I was a little perplexed by it and its open endedness.  At the end of it however, the results were amazing, students who throughout the year had struggled to hand in any work at all were entirely enthralled by it.  After work completion, instead of drawing students were lining up for an Ipad to work on their genius hour and students whose reading and writing levels were well below their grade were even able to participate due to technological advancements on Ipads and computers now.  Thinking back, I couldn't imagine doing genius hour without the accessibility of technology.  With only the teacher, myself (the volunteer) and one EA, the students who couldn't read at a DRA level above 2 would have sat at their desk feeling defeated rather than motivated to research more. 

I read a quote from another reading on Invitational Teaching which stated, 

“Invitational Theory seeks to explain phenomena and provide a means of intentionally summoning people to realize their relatively boundless potential in all areas of worthwhile human endeavor. Its purpose is to address the entire global nature of human existence and opportunity, and to make life a more exciting, satisfying and enriching experience" (Purkey & Novak, 2015).

I just love this. Genius hour helps teachers unlock students' boundless potential by engaging them in what THEY love, instead of teaching them strictly based on the confinements of bullet points in a book administered by the province you reside in.

In math class we discovered that we're in school for over 3000 days in our lives- some more, why not make school exciting and something to love rather than loath through techniques just like genius hour.