Week 1 Discussion – Response to Patricia Ort

Pat wrote: 
I think teachers really get squeezed when it comes to copyright because many don’t know where to look for copyright free material that is also cost free. The Internet is a really big place, and resources that seem obvious to some are not all that easy to find for others. FSO has really helped me with that this year. As other students have shared resources, I have finally begun to find places to get music that my students can use and which don’t cost me anything. I still need to broaden that list of resources, though.

The drive to integrate technology into the classroom puts teachers and students in situations where they may need music or images they can’t make themselves. Digital natives resist the idea that they can’t share the things they find on in the Internet freely, and in any way they like. I have spent all year reinforcing the idea that you can’t use someone else’s work without their permission. We are doing better, but often kids have a specific image or piece of music in mind when they think up a project. When they find out they can’t use those things, they have a hard time coming up with alternatives. Actually, sometimes so do I. I needed medieval music for my class movie. I did purchase some music from iStock Photo, but it was a very limited selection. And no. I can’t make that in Garage Band.

I use online videos a lot, embedding them in my school web pages or blog. I could never create all of that myself. The rules about copyright can be a little slippery, too. Colleges, for example, can do some things that K-12 can’t, and vice-versa. And the rules change. I have required my students to use copyright free sources and to document their sources. However, it is still hard to be sure every item is safe and to check every student’s sources.


Hi Pat, 
As always, an interesting and thought-provoking post from you on the copyright and other issues you face as a teacher who is actually trying to be creative in your endeavors to teach in your challenging environment. I can see where students might get frustrated with having to come up with alternatives to their ideas of things they want to use that they ‘can’t’ without permissions, etc. I know what you mean about Garage Band. Although, you can create some nice loops by using your own keyboards, get your ‘musically inclined’ son to make some for you that would fit the genre of music you seem so drawn to, the medieval stuff. It’s funny, I hear quite a bit of that type of music each night as I quest my way through Warcraft with my partner, and I think of you and how you would probably enjoy it. I know you use video a lot, and that is a great way to reach today’s kids as they are so inundated with media on the web. As far as what the different institutions and grade levels can do, you practically need a degree in order to be able to keep up with the different laws, rules and regulations, not to mention all the hoops you have to jump through, both virtually and in ‘real life.’

Week 1 Blog Post – Presentation vs Paper

I thought a lot about this before posting my blog entry.  We have the option to do a paper or a presentation for our Action Research projects.  I would like to do both, but for the assignment and final, I really have decided that I will do a presentation. I think my main reason for doing this is that my project is really fun and colorful, and really deserves to be seen as a whole or ‘big picture’ in my opinion.  I like the idea of a paper for scholarly reasons and for participation in a journal at some point, but, my heart of hearts is in design and the colorful nature and wildlife photos and videos I produced for my e-book “The Adventures of Little Boat.”  The children who participated in my AR project cycles loved the book, and I have some really great video footage of different kids discussing the e-book, which I think also deserves to be seen and enjoyed for what it is.  I just loved the interaction of the kids together when they viewed my e-book, it was like one big “Little Boat” party for them.  This was really such a fun project that I want it shared with everyone who will watch my presentation.  There, in a nutshell is why I think a presentation will best suit my particular contributions to Action Research through my project!

Week 1 Reading: Copyright Issues

Photo "Takamine Dangerous" by Zoe Marlowe

Copyright, as many people in my Media Assets Creation (MAC) course which just started this Monday, May 2, have posted and commented, is really a super 'hot topic' isn't it?  I didn't realize that the length or duration of copyright is 'lifetime plus around 70 years.'  Our instructor mentions this in one of the videos we watched for this week's discussion topic of copyright.  

I have a little experience in my own copyright issues.  I have personally filed around 10 form PA Copyright forms at the Library of Congress for several musical compositions I created in the 1980s.  At the time I was not aware that I could have just recorded my tunes and then sent in the tape or whatever digital media.  I went to the trouble of having a transcriber write charts for my songs, as my ability to write down notes and musical notation is weak, and then I sent copies of those charts or 'lead sheets' in to the Library of Congress.  I still have the original form PA's that were sent back to me approved for copyright by the L of C.  

Later on I published a poetry anthology and had to do something similar,  although it was a slightly different form than the original music form PA I used in the 1980s.  So, it is an interesting area to study and think about all the 'copyrights and copy wrongs' while we are in this course creating our media assets for our Action Research Projects.

Sources:
Wimba, May 3, 2011 with Joe Bustillos
Personal experience with copyright

What's Been Happening Since Last Post

Hi Everyone!

I have been really letting this blog 'go' since the beginning of the year, but in my next course I am going to be blogging again, so this is a good reason to start ahead of time.  Since March, 2011, I have completed my  AR Cycle 2 data and analysis, which came out GREAT...in fact, it was miraculous and positive to me!! Yay!  Also, in Dr. Dan Siegel's class I received the prestigious Course Director's Award, which is always a wonderful thrill.  Dan's class was amazing, and it has left me with a permanent, all time fave activity, which is playing World of Warcraft nightly!  That's right, since the beginning of the Game Strategies and Motivation course (GSM), I have been playing 'Warcraft' steadily, and have attained Level 56 on my Fire Mage avatar.  My partner and I play nightly and we LOVE it!  Oh, and incidentally, my WOW partner and I also participated in Karl Peterson's AR project, where we went and did 'dungeon runs' with him and others in a group to basically work on team building and communications skills.  World of Warcraft really gives you a workout in more ways that one!

Happy New Year!

Here is wishing you all a wonderful and prosperous 2011...Six more months of the Master's Degree program at FSO! Woohoo!

My New SoftwareTutorial Site

I decided to create my own iWeb Site dedicated to tutorials for different components of the Adobe CS5 Software for MAC. So far I have a tutorial for Photoshop CS5 posted, and two for Flash CS5. I plan to add several more throughout the Christmas Break holiday from school. I created this site partially to help anyone who needs extra assistance figuring out Flash and other CS5 programs, and also to help my team, plus help me to remember some of these operations as we go through this program! Below you will find the link to my new site, Software Tutorial Station, and also a quick screen shot of the front page of it. Enjoy!

Software Tutorial Station

Fun Flash Course - Here's My Splash Page!

Well, this is coming to the end of week 2 of my Digital Media Applications course, and I'm enjoying working with Flash again. I had to create a 'static' splash page for the first assignment, which was fun, but I really wanted to animate it so I created a second version where I have animated my characters and the text. Fun!

Zoe's Splash Page

Click on the link and you can see my cute animation for my e-book splash page for The Adventures of Little Boat!