I shall admit it…I break copyright quite often and should be ashamed. I am ashamed, but it has yet to stop me. I do try to teach my students about plagiarism and copyright, but then I do not always follow my own lectures. I post PowerPoints to my website that are not always my words, but sometimes the textbook’s words and images. I also use pictures from Google searches that I am sure are not Creative Commons allowed. Now that I know about other ways to ensure that I am a law abiding citizen (not a pun on the movie…I do not kill people or plan on it!), I should practice what I preach and be a good little teacher.
I found Creative Commons fascinating! I have never noticed the CC logo before and I have still not seen it know that I know what it is, but that does not mean I will not see it. I am just not a very observant person!!! If I ever did see it, I probably just thought…well nothing of it. It is the non-observant part in me! I believe that Creative Commons just showed student work a new interesting route. CC can allow students to use images and content that might not be ordinarily available to them. Last year, I did a story creation with the science standards. I had the students draw their own photos so as not to risk using any plagiarized images since we used LINK to create them. Now, I can send the students on a search for CC so they can incorporate Creative Commons images instead of painfully drawing them (I am painfully trying to decipher them!). However, CC also has some downsides that concern me. There are different levels to Creative Commons and it is hard to keep them straight. I know that it will take time, but now that I know about CC I do not want to mess up! I did notice that sometimes that I was searching under Creative Commons, it would revert back to a normal search and it took me awhile to notice! I want to make sure that I respect the original work and its creator, so I do not want to do anything that is not allowed. I also do not want my students to do something they should not. Creative Commons requires a lot of vigilance that will take practice looking for…I know that I am not very observant and neither are my students. We will need to practice, practice, practice! Hopefully now that I am aware of Creative Commons, I will stop breaking the law by ignoring copyright…well maybe not hopefully, but definitely!!!
I know I will be in the same jail cell with you if they ever come a-searchin' for violators of copyright laws on the Internet. I used to think "OOH! Perfect picture" or text or whatever and just copy and paste and think nothing of it! The different levels of Creative Commons are confusing... It seems the "Attribution CC BY" option when searching allows for the most use. I would probably just stick to that one if possible... but I bet all of the coolest images are in the other ones! haha.
ReplyDeleteAdd one more to your cell. I know I never post anything on-line but I do share with other teachrs in my school. I have created powerpoints for science and social studies. I used what ever picture I can find on the internet. Did I know about creative commons. No. Now I do. I am going to try creating my own images before I get in trouble. I have a great camera but I need to go image hunting around the world. Does anyone have a million dollars for travel fees.
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