CEDO 555 - Post 2: Creative Commons

The question posed was, “How can you implement Creative Commons in the classroom or work situation?”

Before we discuss implementing the use of Creative Commons in the classroom with students, I think we need to step back and begin with some primer material in Media Literacy for teachers first as well as a Media literacy unit in some course or class for students.

Some good places to start are:

• Media Smarts frm Canada http://mediasmarts.ca/ See Intellectual Property
• Center for Social Media http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/ who have published The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education along with some other educational material regarding fair use. Creative Commons also has a page regarding this document.
• Dulcinea Media information regarding Copyrightleft, public domain and fair use as well as the whole finding Dulcinea site in general for great Internet use information and search.
• US Government Fair Use Law
• Educator’s Guide to Copyright, Fair Use ....

The use of Creative Commons will come as a result of first being informed of the issues of intellectual property, plagiarism, copyright, copyleft, fair use, public domain, citing sources and giving credit to works and the like. Activities focused on searching and finding media of all types that are acceptable to use in one form or another are necessary also.

At the same time, students will have to learn and to appreciate the value of their own work.This is a prerequisite to valuing the works of others and respecting any copyrights or attributions. Only then will students feel compelled to adhere to restrictions and guidelines set forth in copyright, fair use and attribution issues.

Of course, teachers must set examples for all of this for it to be effective. the use of Creative Commons media and attributions is just one part of a much larger topic to be addressed.

In using Creative Commons for finding images there is a distinctive skill that must also be taught and learned. When thinking of the image you want, often you have a picture in your mind and that's what you want because it will be perfect for what it is you are doing. However, easier thought than found. Quite often, the image you might be thinking of can be found at a royalty free stock photo site where you pay a fee or subscription. If you are looking for something free on the other hand, you need to be more creative and wise in your search.

First, give up the idea that you must find an image that matches the picture in your mind. (I know, sometimes you really need that Civil War battle scene because that's what you really need. Best of luck finding one you can use. Otherwise...) Think outside the box image. Think about what the feeling, emotion or main message is that you want to get across with the image. Try those words for searching. Try synonyms or two word summaries of those feelings and emotions. Or, think of another image that relates the same feelings or emotions. Example: I was trying to find an image to relate to the word "collaboration". Nothing came up really. "Cooperation"? Nada! How about an image of two people at two different computers? Too dorky and cliché. So I instead thought of "3-legged race", an activity that implied collaboration and cooperation. I found just what I was looking for.

CEDO 555 - Week 1: Under Construction

I can see that it's time to get down and dirty. 

Now our real work begins as we put together our portfolio and have to justify ourselves.

Looking now at what we have to do for this portfolio I've a few thoughts about the MEIT program itself. I don't think we have been adequately prepared to complete our portfolio as best as we could.

I think in the very first course, Succeeding in Online Learning, we should have had a better overview of what we will be doing throughout the program. We should have covered Standards as well as a summary of our portfolios and how the Standards are going to fit into it.

I think in the next couple of courses, we should have spent a little time choosing which Standards we would like to focus on throughout the rest of the program.

If we had known ahead of time that we needed to work on projects that addressed certain standards, we could have planned accordingly as we were doing our projects and work. This would have affected a lot of things. In our portfolio we choose a standard, we have a vision and mission and in essence, will be documenting what we want to become. Having foreknowledge of all of this, I perhaps would have chosen to do some things differently. I would have focused more.

As it stands now, I for one, may struggle a little bit putting together Artifacts for my standards. This may be true to some extent for Artifacts for each course. I perhaps would have geared more projects and work towards what my chosen standard was as well so as to document my expertise within that standard.

ARTIFACTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION