4.2 Safe, Healthy, Legal & Ethical Use
Candidates model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and technologies. (PSC 4.2/ISTE 5b)
ITEC 7445
Copyright Assignment
I put together a professional development session in order to model and facilitate safe and ethical use of digital resources. I focused on the common habits of teachers in using online materials and resources in their lessons without crediting those sources appropriately. In some cases, teachers will use online materials without seeking adequate permissions ro without ensuring safety first. I created a PowerPoint deck which is designed to be used in a face-to-face session with peers. The session engages teachers in decision making about which of the scenarios is best-practices for safe and ethical use of digital material.
First, the lesson raises awareness of the common practices we use and the possible violations we commit when we don’t acknowledge others’ work with proper credit. Because digital resources like online videos, articles, and images are at the ready for use, it would seem that they are for anyone’s taking. I wanted to raise the awareness of copyright violation that can happen as a result of ignorance of policies and procedures for fair use. So, the first part of the lesson facilitates knowledge of fair use policies by asking teachers to compare their current uses against the GCPS fair use policy. Then, teachers are asked to review Creative Commons licensing protocol. Teachers have an opportunity to discuss whether or not their current practices violate fair and ethical use. Once teachers have an idea of what the policies are, they are presented with three actual scenarios that happened in our school. They are all mine, and I am up front with the ways I have been ignorant of and have violated fair use policy. In this way, I let my experience serve as a model for the ways that a teacher can inadvertently compromise her organization by failing to correctly source and reference other materials. Most importantly, the lesson points out that ethical use of digital resources depend on seeking permissions, a practice that nearly none of the teachers I know currently practice.
Next, the lesson asks teachers amend practices to protect student safety and legal complications. Our district does go to lengths to protect student identity, even to the point of being restrictive about 3rd party app usage where student personal and school accounts are vulnerable. Even though teachers are nominally aware of the dangers of identity theft and the importance of protecting privacy for the minors they teach, they were not aware that their practices were putting student safety at risk. The Copyright and Fair Use presentation demonstrates how adjusting practices in use of digital resources can increase protection for our students but not limit to any great degree the selection of resources. I showed teachers how to limit images to fair use ones; they were shocked at how easy it was to filter for those. Also, I helped them to use the district’s LMS tool “Safari Montage,” to embed a video in our eCLASS system and give credit to it properly.
First, I learned in creating the artifact that I had been in breach of policy in many instances. I also learned that our county already had a procedure in place for making online videos secure and responsibly posted. Until the creation of the artifact, I did not know how easy it was to violate fair use conventions, and I also did not know just how easy it is to practice fair use. Next time I deliver this presentation, I’d like to evolve it to an online module. That way, the teachers get practice surfing and selecting using the digital tools they alredy use in the classroom. Had I thought about it at the time, I woul have used our eCLASS system as a practice environment for a more interactive session.
Teachers were so appreciative of the information I gave to them about fair use and digital safety. They did not realize that the violations they committed were really because of ignorance rather than inattention to a rule. So, teachers in the session were generally encouraged to spread the word around their teams, too. One of them even suggested building a bank of images, videos, and articles which had been responsibly sourced and credited for use in their classrooms. In doing so, our department is less exposed to possible complications from illegal repostings of material. More importantly, our students are less exposed to possible breaches of their security.
Copyright Assignment
I put together a professional development session in order to model and facilitate safe and ethical use of digital resources. I focused on the common habits of teachers in using online materials and resources in their lessons without crediting those sources appropriately. In some cases, teachers will use online materials without seeking adequate permissions ro without ensuring safety first. I created a PowerPoint deck which is designed to be used in a face-to-face session with peers. The session engages teachers in decision making about which of the scenarios is best-practices for safe and ethical use of digital material.
First, the lesson raises awareness of the common practices we use and the possible violations we commit when we don’t acknowledge others’ work with proper credit. Because digital resources like online videos, articles, and images are at the ready for use, it would seem that they are for anyone’s taking. I wanted to raise the awareness of copyright violation that can happen as a result of ignorance of policies and procedures for fair use. So, the first part of the lesson facilitates knowledge of fair use policies by asking teachers to compare their current uses against the GCPS fair use policy. Then, teachers are asked to review Creative Commons licensing protocol. Teachers have an opportunity to discuss whether or not their current practices violate fair and ethical use. Once teachers have an idea of what the policies are, they are presented with three actual scenarios that happened in our school. They are all mine, and I am up front with the ways I have been ignorant of and have violated fair use policy. In this way, I let my experience serve as a model for the ways that a teacher can inadvertently compromise her organization by failing to correctly source and reference other materials. Most importantly, the lesson points out that ethical use of digital resources depend on seeking permissions, a practice that nearly none of the teachers I know currently practice.
Next, the lesson asks teachers amend practices to protect student safety and legal complications. Our district does go to lengths to protect student identity, even to the point of being restrictive about 3rd party app usage where student personal and school accounts are vulnerable. Even though teachers are nominally aware of the dangers of identity theft and the importance of protecting privacy for the minors they teach, they were not aware that their practices were putting student safety at risk. The Copyright and Fair Use presentation demonstrates how adjusting practices in use of digital resources can increase protection for our students but not limit to any great degree the selection of resources. I showed teachers how to limit images to fair use ones; they were shocked at how easy it was to filter for those. Also, I helped them to use the district’s LMS tool “Safari Montage,” to embed a video in our eCLASS system and give credit to it properly.
First, I learned in creating the artifact that I had been in breach of policy in many instances. I also learned that our county already had a procedure in place for making online videos secure and responsibly posted. Until the creation of the artifact, I did not know how easy it was to violate fair use conventions, and I also did not know just how easy it is to practice fair use. Next time I deliver this presentation, I’d like to evolve it to an online module. That way, the teachers get practice surfing and selecting using the digital tools they alredy use in the classroom. Had I thought about it at the time, I woul have used our eCLASS system as a practice environment for a more interactive session.
Teachers were so appreciative of the information I gave to them about fair use and digital safety. They did not realize that the violations they committed were really because of ignorance rather than inattention to a rule. So, teachers in the session were generally encouraged to spread the word around their teams, too. One of them even suggested building a bank of images, videos, and articles which had been responsibly sourced and credited for use in their classrooms. In doing so, our department is less exposed to possible complications from illegal repostings of material. More importantly, our students are less exposed to possible breaches of their security.