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)
Artifact:
Copyright Presentation
Reflection:
This artifact is a copyright presentation focused specifically on Fair Use of images. The presentation was design and developed to support newly adopted responsible use guidelines for technology in Forsyth County Schools. Instead of explaining general Fair Use guidelines for all types of digital resources, images were chosen as a specific learning target for this presentation. The presentation was created in Power Point with voice-over recordings and uploaded to the school’s server. The link was shared with the staff via the school’s weekly newsletter and made accessible in the itsLearning online course for future references.
Students and teachers used images on a daily basis for building course content, developing presentations, and/or working on projects. Unfortunately, it became a norm for users to download images form Google search and use them freely in own work. Teachers focused their attention on the content of student work, and they dismissed the fact that images might be used without following the guidelines of Fair Use. Often, teachers did not model an appropriate use of images to students when creating flipcharts, presentations, and digital content within online courses. Observations and conversations with teachers made it evident that most teachers simply copied images from Google search into their work, without giving it another thought. The famous phrase of “it was for educational use” became a poor excuse for using any digital content freely, and teachers modeled such behaviors to students.
This presentation was the first step in developing a learning community in which members knew and demonstrated safe, healthy, legal, and ethical use of digital resources. Teachers were excited to learn about Creative Commons, and new strategies of showing students how to search for images, understand authors’ permissions, and develop a habit of ethical behaviors when using digital resources. This presentation supported the school’s digital citizenship curriculum and reinforced the responsible use guidelines in the district. The impact of this work could be observed in student work. As the year progressed, more and more student work included citations for images and Fair Use principles were respected. Teachers began questioning digital resources used by students and requiring basic citations.
To improve this work, it would be necessary to consistently educate students and teachers about safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital resources. More presentations and short workshops should be offered to teachers to engage them in learning about digital citizenship and resources available on the Internet. The media specialist and instructional technology specialist should become leaders in developing similar presentations and making them accessible to teachers, students, and parents and facilitating learning among all stakeholders. Educating, monitoring, and establishing expectations for appropriate behaviors in the digital world would be a next step in building up this work.
This artifact is a copyright presentation focused specifically on Fair Use of images. The presentation was design and developed to support newly adopted responsible use guidelines for technology in Forsyth County Schools. Instead of explaining general Fair Use guidelines for all types of digital resources, images were chosen as a specific learning target for this presentation. The presentation was created in Power Point with voice-over recordings and uploaded to the school’s server. The link was shared with the staff via the school’s weekly newsletter and made accessible in the itsLearning online course for future references.
Students and teachers used images on a daily basis for building course content, developing presentations, and/or working on projects. Unfortunately, it became a norm for users to download images form Google search and use them freely in own work. Teachers focused their attention on the content of student work, and they dismissed the fact that images might be used without following the guidelines of Fair Use. Often, teachers did not model an appropriate use of images to students when creating flipcharts, presentations, and digital content within online courses. Observations and conversations with teachers made it evident that most teachers simply copied images from Google search into their work, without giving it another thought. The famous phrase of “it was for educational use” became a poor excuse for using any digital content freely, and teachers modeled such behaviors to students.
This presentation was the first step in developing a learning community in which members knew and demonstrated safe, healthy, legal, and ethical use of digital resources. Teachers were excited to learn about Creative Commons, and new strategies of showing students how to search for images, understand authors’ permissions, and develop a habit of ethical behaviors when using digital resources. This presentation supported the school’s digital citizenship curriculum and reinforced the responsible use guidelines in the district. The impact of this work could be observed in student work. As the year progressed, more and more student work included citations for images and Fair Use principles were respected. Teachers began questioning digital resources used by students and requiring basic citations.
To improve this work, it would be necessary to consistently educate students and teachers about safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital resources. More presentations and short workshops should be offered to teachers to engage them in learning about digital citizenship and resources available on the Internet. The media specialist and instructional technology specialist should become leaders in developing similar presentations and making them accessible to teachers, students, and parents and facilitating learning among all stakeholders. Educating, monitoring, and establishing expectations for appropriate behaviors in the digital world would be a next step in building up this work.