When I spotted this K12 Online Conference, I thought it tied right into this week's class. The presenter is Rodd Lucier from Komoka, Ontario, Canada.
Mr. Lucier explains how we live in a culture where "cheating" is widespread. Mobile devices are banned from classrooms for this reason. Even online gaming has cheats because the games can be too hard to play without them. I actually can related to the last point. I play World of Warcraft and, while I definitely do not "hack" the game, I do frequently look up how to complete quests. In fact, just yesterday, I realized I am not even trying to complete the quest on my own first, I am going right to www.thottbot.com to look it up. And I do this even for quests I have already completed on another character.
He also made the point that educators often add graphics and music that does not belong to them to student materials, and that we have to start being an example for the students in this area.
Mr. Lucier then explained what Creative Commons is, why it is important, and how to license your works so they are usable by others. He also mentioned the fact that when President Obama took office, the official White House website started licensing with Creative Commons. In fact, Creative Commons had to create a new license type for government works.
He also mentioned ccMixter, a site where music is available for reuse, and talked about several other sites where you can find legally licensed materials. He also discussed the fact it might be possible for students to license their own works. The trick is to know the laws for your country.
You have to realize that when you license your work with Creative Commons, someone might use your material in a way you might not approve of, but if you grated the license you have no recourse. Mr. Lucier told the story of a photo posted by the photographer of a student that Virgin Mobil took, flipped, cropped, added text, and then used in a promotional manner. The owner of the photo had no recourse.
This was a very enjoyable conference. It built on the material we discussed in this week's class and went into a lot of detail about why it is so important to use legally available materials in the classroom, and how to do so.
That is an interesting point. I hadn't considered that someone might alter or use something that I licensed through creative commons in a way I don't approve. I guess this is a risk that people run when they introduce some think new. When Einstein theorized about the atomic energy, he never thought it would lead to nuclear weapons. Many creations have unintended consequences. Not all are bad though. I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg never envisioned Facebook being used as a tool for rallying political support for the ouster of Egypt's de facto dictator, Hosni Mubarak. The ease of access to content and ideas made possible through the internet is a double-edged sword.
ReplyDeleteI feel that cheating has been an issue in the classroom for as long as classrooms existed. The only difference now is that it is easier than ever to get away with it. I feel that students are used to cheating in a way. Just like you said Judy, students will often look up cheats or codes or walkthroughs for games. While this does not seem like cheating because it is normal in the gaming world (so much so that wolkthroughs are sold even at BestBuy). Seeing this type of material reinforces the behavior that taking the short cut is ok. I have used walkthroughs in games but I try really hard not to but it is too easy to find one and cheat. This is something that we need to be aware of in the classroom and make it so that it is not easy for students to cheat or take those shortcuts. One example of a shortcut that students use is in the form of written essays, it is extremely easy to go on to the internet and find an essay about a subject that is already written and just copy the essay. That is not teaching the student anything besides how to search for things on the internet. Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteCassi