Copyright & Mulitmedia

Renee Hobbs, a communication professor at Temple University said it best when she said, "In an increasingly copyrighted world, Fair use makes it possible to develop critical thinking and communication skills that are essential for participation in 21st century life."  But what is Fair Use?  There are 4 factors to consider when looking at Fair Use -

     1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial or nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
     2. The nature of the copyrighted work
     3. The amount of substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
     4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

A famous myth about Fair Use is that Fair Use is too unclear and complicated for users; its better left to lawyers and administrators.  This myth is rampant throughout many school systems because teachers aren't fully aware of how Fair Use work.  Fair Use has such a broad spectrum on its use that teachers should educate themselves and their students.  Does that mean that all work can be used freely, of course not, but the limitations set by Fair Use allows educators to use copyrighted work when the situation falls into the right guideline.  A rule of thumb that can be followed is that if copyright material is used outside a marketplace (for money), such as in a classroom, would receive special consideration under the Fair Use doctrine.  

At my school, the media center has a section on their webpage that students can refer to when they have copyright questions.  Our media specialist has listed an easy guide to use when students or teachers have questions about Copyright and/or Fair Use.  Copyright will always be at the forefront of schools and work created by students.  Educators need to be aware of how to best equip their students with knowledge about copyright and fair use.



Ugarte, Melissa (Producer). "Fair Use for Media Literacy Education." Video retrieved from www.centerforsocialmedia.org/medialiteracy 

U.S. Copyright Office. Fair Use. June 2012. Retrieved from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

Hobbs, Renee, Jaszi, Peter, & Aufderheide, Particia. "Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Eduaction."  Retrieved from http://mediaeducationlab.com/sites/mediaeducationlab.com/files/CodeofBestPracticesinFairUse_0.pdf

Roll camera!…Slate!....and action!

                                         

Schools across America have been trying to incorporate technology into the curriculum. What better way to spice up the morning announcements using cameras, computers, green screens, slide shows, and music?

Benefits

School TV News programs have been popping up in schools for many years. Many advocates of school news programs have expressed a growth in the school community, student involvement, increased critical thinking, and growth of leadership among students. Students are meeting a variety of Common Core Standards, such as, writing, reading, listening, and speaking standards.

Sample Shows

Orenco Elementary in Hillsboro, Oregon, has created over 250 broadcasts for their school’s live, student-produced television production, known as Orca Live. Currently posted on their school’s website are their four latest seasons. Upon viewing the September session from Season 8 (2011 – 2012), I noticed the following:

           

• ·      The video was published until School Tube
• ·      The beginning of the news school they introduced the new teachers
• ·      Welcomed substitute teachers that were in the building
• ·      Listed all the birthdays
• ·      Provided various facts about different schools around the world
• ·      Highlighted the custodian
• ·      Focused on the Number 8 (since it was season 8)
• ·      Drew names of students to pass out reward
• ·      Used a variety of props during the session

This session lasted an average of eleven minutes.

I then watched the September session from Season 11 (2014 – 2015) to look for updates. I noticed the following:

• ·      Again listed birthday and weather
• ·      All about the number eleven
• ·      Spotlight on new teachers – provided facts, interview questions
• ·      2 students as anchors with additional students throughout the news
• ·      Use of a green screen
• ·      Props but through the use of technology

This session lasted an average of thirteen minutes.

I watched another session to determine when the school had switched to the use of a green screen. It appeared to be around Season 10. During this time I saw that the school was hosting their final show of the season and they had all 12 students representing. When I first watched the two news shows I couldn’t believe how long they lasted! I thought that 10 – 13 minutes each day was a long news show. I then realized that they only did one about twice a month.

Be sure to check out Orenco’s school website to watch their news cast shows and see if you can get any additional tips for your own news show!

http://schools.hsd.k12.or.us/orenco/Home/tabid/2559/Default.aspx

Staffing

As noted in Orenco’s staffing production, they average about 12 students on the production team. At my work, fifth grade students are recommended to the media specialist based upon behavior and grades. The media specialist then conducts several try-outs to determine who will make it to the team.

Students that are a part of the staff learn so many valuable skills; communication skills, research skills, script writing, and most importantly responsibility. Students have to make sure they are on time for each recording, plan their research, meet deadlines, and assist others.

Other news broadcasts may include:

• ·      Pledge
• ·      School rules
• ·      Lunch choices
• ·      Critical Verb of the week
• ·      College/University of the week (even in Elementary schools)
• ·      Trivia
• ·      Any other up and coming news

As one can assess hosting a news show requires background knowledge on various technology, equipment, script writing, and directing. News shows can be a lot of work and take up a lot of time, but the benefits to hosting a news production out weigh the cons.

Fair Use Mythbusters!

One of my favorite shows to watch is Myth Busters. I feel like we should have a Myth Busters dedicated to Media Centers -- with a portion of the segment going towards copyright/fair use myths.

The myth that even I have used as an excuse in the past is this:

"If I'm not making any money off of it, it's fair use! (And if I'm making money off it, it's not!)"

The reason I think that this myth prevails is because educators most likely do not mean to steal others ideas. Copying another teacher's ideas is the highest form of flattery that we tend to pay each other. The problem occurs when you copy another one's idea to use in your own classroom with a specific amount of students one day. The lesson goes so swell that you decide to share it with your grade-level. Your grade-level teachers take the idea and use it in their classroom. Your grade-level ends up with such success that you are required to share at the next faculty meeting what you have done. Pretty soon, you are being asked to present at District and State wide conferences.

Somewhere between your classroom and the presentations at conferences with hundreds of teachers, the fair use law has been broken!

The hard thing about fair use is that it is NOT objective. It is a very SUBJECTIVE matter that depends more on a teachers intent and reach with the item being used. I cannot sit and tell you a certain amount of words or parts of a work would be considered under the Fair Use law. However, if the reach of the work found goes beyond the immediate scope of your teaching, then you are breaking the Fair Use law. Whether you financially benefit from it or not.

On second thought, this Myth Busters episode would be pretty boring because there are no explosions involved. However, making sure we understand the myths around Fair Use can make everyone a better user of copyrighted materials.

 School News!!

Every school has some sort of announcement system.  In many schools it is the school library media specialist who is given the task of producing the morning news and announcements.  Possible variations include:

• intercom announcements
• daily email or newsletter
• close-circuit television show 

With each of these options archival and retrieval choices come into play. Each of these formats can be viewed at a later time by parents, teachers and student. This creates an opportunity to bring traffic to our media center web page, which in turn, can educate our stakeholders on our resources and collaborative activies. The news can be posted on the school or media center youtube.com

account.  Another option, is to use Schooltube.com which is recommended by AASL.

• The Seattle Public School District has its own cable channel and airs the news at scheduled times as well as a live feed.  Seattle Public Schools Media Operations Center
• Tenafly High School has an amazing library media webpage where users can access the webcast through online streaming.   http://www.librarymedia.net/

The content will usually have some standard features such as the pledge of allegiance, lunch menu, or student birthdays. Interest can be added by including special guests , quotes, math problem 'competitions', character education, joke of the week, and student skits. etc.
As the school media specialist we can use this additional role to advertise and advocate the media center.

• new books added to the collection or can be checked out
• an interesting website or research tool
• highlight class activities that incorporate media literacy 
• author interviews and book talks 
• award prizes for most books read

Managing and being in charge of producing the school and student news also gives us the opportunity to collaborate with teachers in writing of news stories and scripts.  Finding Story Ideas

• Keep your eyes and ears open; listen to what your friends are talking about.
• Watch or read your daily school morning announcements.
• Read everything you can get your hands on; get story ideas from other newspapers, magazines, or any online news or television source.
• Think of a youth angle to a current local or national news story.
• Research a subject that interests you and ask yourself, what you would like to know more about.
• Talk to people, your friends, teachers, principals, community members, and parents to find out what is important to them.
• Check out videos online, such as SchoolTube.com, to see what other students are producing. (Goble, 2013)

Points to consider-- copyright for any images or music that is used within the webcast or newscast.

 

 Morning News Builds School Community 
This article gives great ideas for school news program content.

Lights! Camera! Action! Student news coming your way.

This article demonstrates how a school news show can be student brain powered. "It was about critical thinking skills, decision making, empowerment, ownership, community, and, of course, vision." (Bencivenga, 2006)

For the  media specialist that want to upgrade the production quality School Video News 
is a free online publication that covers all aspects of televised news production for K-12.


Another aspect to producing televised news is the use of the experience as a technology teaching tool if not a full blown production class.

Lights! Camera! Action! Technology Integration Through Television Production
Detailed article with steps documenting pre-poduction process through post-production. Websites included for weather, current events and world news.

Citations:

Image. (2005).Gwynneth Anne Bronwynn Jones.
Image. (2103). Beatrice Daily Sun. 

Bencivenga, Anthony. (2006, August 30). Lights! Camera! Action! Student News Coming Your Way. Edutopia. Retrieved February 16, 2015 from  http://www.edutopia.org/lights-camera-student-news-coming-your-way

Goble, Don. ( 2012, Jan. 13) "Finding Stories Ideas and Successfully Preparing for your Student Television Show." Digital Media Resources. Retrieved Feb. 17, 2015 online from http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2012/01/23/finding-story-ideas-and-successfully-preparing-for-your-student-television-show/

Social Media in Schools: Can we all be friends?

Social Networking sites and schools: Can we just be friends?

          

I love Edmodo!!

A screenshot of my Edmodo page

A screenshot of my YouTube page (Royal Knight Science)

Schools can be friends with social media. Here are four reasons why:

Reason #1 - It is now a connected and social world. 

The top 5 social media sites combined have nearly 2 BILLION users! Social media and smartphone growth are both expected to grow at strong double-digit rates for the next several years (remember the lines for the newest Iphone? I was there) Colleges and universities are not immune. The boom of online universities are proof to the growth of popularity of an online presence. While there are certainly lots of ways to waste time with social media ( I am thinking about you, Pinterest), nobody is arguing that social media cannot be used to engage students in interesting new ways and provide varied learning opportunities.

Reason #2 - The privacy concerns and safety of social media do not outweigh the benefits. 

I read this interesting fact about the United States Library of Congress: the Library of Congress has archived every tweet from Twitter. That is 200 billion tweets and counting! What you say and write on social media does live forever. Privacy and safety concerns are going to be there regardless of whether or not social media is taught or used in schools. If social media is used and taught in schools, school media specialists could instruct students on how to maintain privacy and be safe online. Cyber bullies are no match for an informed populace.

Reason #3 - Social media is a not a waste of time. 

When computers first came out, people thought that they would be a waste of time. Who would have  imagined all of the awesome programs that would be written and creative ways they could be used to enhance our lives. Sure you can waste time on a computer and find more than your share of inappropriate websites unsuitable for viewing by school age children, but it is hard to argue that computers are not a valuable teaching tool and most schools have computer training for students as part of their core curriculum. Clayton County provides laptops to all of its teachers and has placed at least two desktop computers in every classroom grades K-12.  

Imagine the possibilities social media brings to the classroom. Assignments can be shared via links, entire classrooms can be part of the same Edmodo group, and study groups are a Google+ Hangout away. Instagram could be used to document a class field trip and an active Twitter feed will allow students and parents to connect with the classroom in an engaging way. Students and teachers could connect with others across the world using Skype, bringing a new meaning to pen pals. The same way computers are not used to play video games in classrooms, using social networking sites in classrooms will not be a waste of time if it is overseen constructively.

Reason #4 – Teaching students how to use social networking sites effectively is preparing students for the future. 

Schools are places where they are taught the skills and knowledge to be compete globally and succeed in an interconnected world. Students need to be comfortable using technology and schools can provide access to technology that students may not have access to at home. 

The world is a social place. Technology has allowed information to travel the span of the world in mere seconds.  Adolescents enjoy the social nature of many sites such as Twitter, Snapchat, and OooVoo to name a few. Adolescents enjoy a tech saturated life: many have access to the internet at home, either through traditional means, such as computers or laptops, or through cell phones. Why shouldn’t students enjoy access to social networking sites at school? In my county, social networking sites are firewalled and blocked although the county occasionally allows the use of YouTube in the classroom. In 2014, Edmodo (a Facebook like site connecting students, teachers, and other stakeholders) became the big push in Clayton County Schools. I have embraced the seeming loosening of the technology ropes with glee. I use Edmodo to connect with my students, send out alerts, and grade assignments. My Edmodo page is the digital face of my classroom. I have tried to use Twitter in my classroom but most students do not want to follow a teacher and I often forgot to update my feed. My overprotective nature does not allow me to use Instagram; I do not want my student’s faces on the internet. But I do see the uses of a class or school Instagram page. Technology is not going anywhere and it is important that schools and teachers grow and develop with the times. Stagnation limits intellectual growth and development and denying the use of social media limits the production of global citizens.  

Social WHAT???? Social Media in the School LMC

Social networking being used within the school setting is becoming more and more popular as we further indulge into this technology filled world.  While some schools are jumping on the social media wagon, others are still against it and continue to block most of the popular social media tools out there.  My personal feelings towards social media use in the classroom are still up in the air.  I am not all for it nor am I against it.  I am a very visual learner and so I think that if I went to workshop and received some training on what exactly using social media in the classroom or media center looks like, then I could better formulate a more direct answer.  I have used blogging in my classroom and it didn’t go as well as I would have liked.  Just as Dr. Cooper tells us not to respond to people’s post by just saying “I agree with your” or “I think that is a great idea!”, that is exactly what my students were doing and so I didn’t think they were really getting a genuine learning experience, so I stopped requiring blogs in the classroom.  However, I am on the leadership team at my school and get a chance to mingle and talk with others from other departments pretty regularly.  One of the English teachers explained to me that she used Twitter as a final project after they read Antigone.  She said that she posted a question on Twitter and the students had to answer the question as if they were one of the characters from the book.  I thought that was a really neat way of incorporating social media and so did the kids!  My students who were in class at the time came to me and shared with how much they enjoyed the assignment and how funny it was to read the responses from the other students.  Now Twitter along most of the other popular social media sites are blocked at my school; however nowadays most all students have smart phones in the high school level and so the students had to complete the assignment at home on their smartphones or personal computers.  This particular English teacher teaches IB and AP students which make up maybe 10-15% of our school population.  While it was successful in her classroom, I am not sure how successful it would be in a general education classroom given that we are a Title 1 school and there were so many of our students eligible for free and reduced lunch that they gave free lunch to the entire school.  It is more likely for general education students to not have Internet access at home and so I am unsure of how successful it would be since the site is blocked at school as well.

Having said that, I definitely do think that there is a “role” for social media in the school setting.  I think that for social media use to be effective in the classroom or media center, you must fist do your research to see which ones would be the best fit for what it is that you are trying to convey to the students or staff.  For example, Creekview High School’s LMC webpages from the previous assignment made an excellent use of Flickr!  It showed students in action participating in the creative writing club, celebrating a teacher on her last day, displaying student poetry, as well as displaying different displays in the media center.  I thought that this was a very effective use of this type of social media tool.

  

As I stated earlier in the post, our school blocks all social media including YouTube.  They also block many other sites that stream audio or video because it seems like our network can’t handle these types of websites without crashing.  While I do think social media networks could be the new hot trend to engage students in learning something they would normally be interested in, I am drawing a blank when I try to think of ways they could be used in the school setting.  After thinking long and hard and coming up short, I decided to do some research on how schools are effectively implementing the use of social media in the classroom.  When I researched, I found Twitter to be one of the top tools used in the classroom.  Some of the ways it was being used in the classroom included tweeting live fieldtrips, tracking has tags for a closer look at trends, role playing, chatting with industry professionals, engaging parents and many more things (Check out this website for more ideas http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom).  I also found a great site that displayed how schools are using social media with faculty/staff and students (http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/10/21/ten-ways-schools-are-using-social-media-effectively/).  On this website, it says that schools are using social media for professional development, community outreach, parent communication, and distant learning to name a few.  It also mentioned that schools are using Schoology to create their own private social networks, which is what I use in my classroom.  Completing this assignment has opened my eyes to incorporating social media into my classroom and has given me some ideas as to how to go about doing it to promote learning.  Checkout this video that I found on YouTube as well below that explains how students use social media in the classroom and the benefit of it!!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOXPBYx5AOU 

Super websites are within your reach!

TOP 10 MUST DO

for media center websites 

10. Encourage patron/parent traffic by targeting the specific audience.
Have a "Just for students","Just for parents", and "Just for teachers" section on your website. Have relevant information for each constituency that you are targeting and encourage them to use your site by placing valuable information that is targeted towards them.


9. Update Often.
There is nothing worse than getting to a website to see that the information on the site is really outdated. (It takes about 5 seconds to see if that is the case!) Make sure that you are updating on a regular basis. Classroom teachers are required to update their site weekly at our school. This would be a good schedule for the SLMS to follow as well.

8. Use pictures and videos.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, video must be worth a million words. Include things like virtual tours of the Media Center, pictures of events the media center has recently hosted, pictures of students "caught" reading or using the Media Center in a positive way. One can also include pictures of student work on display and even book recommendation videos from teachers or other students.
 
7. Make it accessible/usable for all students.
If one is in an elementary school, make sure that kindergarten non-readers as well as 5th grade students can all understand and navigate the site. Also keep in mind that some students with visual or hearing impairments may need to use your site. Be aware of the needs of ALL students in the school and one can ensure that the Media Center site will be a favorite among all students. 

6. Have your contact information and general library information easy to find.
They love you. They need you. They have to be able to find you. If students or teachers are at home and need to ask you a question, how can they contact you? If they can easily see your email address by having the link on the front page of the Media Center site, it will ensure that the questions they wonder about can get answered -- even if they forget about it by morning.

Another good thing to have on your website is your general schedule so that those who may need you can see what you have going on in one day. I loved how this website put the schedule of the Media Center on the right side of the screen. You could see what was planned day-by-day and it put everything in one place. Check out this link to see what I am talking about: (http://horacemannimc.blogspot.com/)


5. Include the OPAC, databases, and other district-funded or other useful links.
By having the links to the OPAC, purchased databases, district-funded, or other links in an easy to access format, it will have students, teachers, and parents coming back to your website again and again.To me, there is nothing worse than having hyperlinks pasted on a website to click on. For some reason, it is much more fun to click on a "button" or a picture.

This site shows how the buttons are much more "clean" looking and make the website look more organized then a bunch of hyperlinks. (http://www.noblesvilleschools.org/Page/1464)

4. Incorporate Web 2.0
 One of the questions that Dr. Cooper posed on the Blog 2 assignment link was whether we should scrap websites all together, or move them more towards a blog/wiki type of site. HOWEVER -- I don't think it should be an either/or thing. I think it needs to be a both/and thing. The most successful website incorporate Web 2.0 into their site.
I have seen other websites (non-SLMC) incorporate Twitter feeds and Instagram feeds onto their page. I think this is the way that the Media Center could easily incorporate Web 2.0. I also think that easily adding a blog or wiki onto one of the pages on the website could be an easy way for Web 2.0 and your site to merge.

3. Have resources easy to access and locate and ADVERTISE your site.
I cannot STAND searching on a site for something specific and not being able to find it. Make sure that your students, parents, and teachers can easily access and locate the information that they need for their state.
Have tabs at the top of your page that easily explain what that page contains. Make sure that your pages only contain the things that the main heading states. From there, make sure that your pages are updated and organized so that patrons are not overwhelmed or easily frustrated. If they have a positive experience with your site, they will most likely be back.
Post your site everywhere you can -- use QR codes outside the media center so parents and teachers can access your site from their smartphones --even if you are closed for the day. Make sure that people know you have a site that you want them to use!

 2. Use the free resources out there to build your site.
With so many free website builders out there, there is no reason to pay for someone to build your site! Sites such as Weebly and Wix provide free templates with easy to use elements. Most sites take about an hour to initially build. Once you go live, you can always add more pages or elements to make it specific to your population and what their specific needs are.

1. Use your site as an extension of teacher's lessons.
Have teachers use your site to help drive their instruction. Include links to resources that support student learning and raise student achievement. Find ways that your site can support teachers instructions, like including WebQuests or Pathfinders on your site.

The following site gave a really great way for that to happen. Scroll to where it states, "Grade-Level Resources" and then look below for specific grade-levels. Once you click on the grade-level you need, it brings you to the resources specific to that grade-level. Students or teachers can easily click on the resources they need to find what they need.
(http://www.noblesvilleschools.org/domain/491)




So there you have it folks! By using even a handful of these elements, your website will be well on its way to being a step above the average site out there. Good luck in your creations!

Media Center Websites

A media center website can be a gateway of information to all students whether they ever enter into the library during their school career or not.  Technology is in the fingertips of every student so why not give them the best access to information through the media center website?  I have taught web design for the past 9 years and I have tell you first hand that students need something that is easily accessible and catches the eye!!  The millennial generation is one that needs instant gratification and instant answers – so providing a website that meets these needs will keep students actively engaged into what a media center offers.

Some do’s and don’ts for good web page design can be tricky.  Everyone wants their site to be pretty and unique but sometimes that can be a problem.  Flashy websites may not always be the best.  Keeping it simple and to the point will allow users to find information in a timely manner.  Pictures that draw the eye or that have true meaning to the point of the website will allow users remain on your page.  Pictures can be useful or harmful depending on how you use them.  A media specialist needs to really sit and consider what a website should offer, what flashy items may be relevant to the site and what is out there that other media centers are offering.

After looking at the examples offered and then perusing through some of the random links on the Wiki it is interesting to see what is offered on Media Center websites.  There are a few things that I think every media center website should offer its students – information about circulation materials, research information, technology resources for students and teachers, and upcoming events.  Majority of the sites I looked through had 90% of those things.

I must give kudos to my school’s media center website (Loganville High School).  Mrs. Crowe, our MS, does a great job of taking resources she learns about and publishing them on the website.  She uses Weebly to create the site and is the current editor of the site.  Having free reign over a website can be important when creating your site.  She is not bound by country restrictions or guidelines from a corporate webmaster.  I have talked with her about keeping the site updated and she has mentioned that it is one task that she tries to be diligent with when updating.  Students find out a lot of information by searching the internet and she knows that if they can see when books are released, news updates or technology tips on their smart devices she will slowly reach more and more students.