Educational Blogs

http://plmc.edublogs.org/

The Pashley School Library blog is a great way for students, staff and the wider school community to keep up to date with what is happening in the school. It is a primary school and I feel the choice of font and design scheme is reflective of a younger audience. The bolg also serves the school well as an informal 'newsletter' allowing teachers to praise posted work publically ie. the Mini Movies.

http://pbditchburnlibrary.blogspot.com

This particular blog is important to me as it was the school I went to and would have LOVED the librarian blog while I was in years 7-12. Although it is a rather basic blog it is a great way for Ms. Ropchan to communicate with the students about the existing and new resources avaliable in the library without relying on them to visit the library. I would find this useful for K-6 as well.

My slide

Can students use music in their videos?

Musical works, literacy works (including lyrics) and sound recordings are all protected by the Copyright Act 1968. Generally, if someone wants to use or copy information that is copyrighted, they will need permission unless a special exception applies. Many schools have a joint licence agreement, allowing students to make certain video and audio recordings of music. 

It may be legal to use material without permission where a) copyright has expired, and b), for research or study purposes. For example, students may be able to use music in a film that is going to be submitted for assessment at school or university. This is so long as the material is not shown outside the classroom or distributing it further.

References:

http://www.copyright.org.au/g038.pdf

Fair Research??

As stated by the Australian Copyright council you can copy material from the internet for research provided your use is 'fair'. The following are key circumstances to identify 'fair' use:

- 10% of the number of pages OR

- one chapter if the work is divided into chapters.

Research is defined as by the Maquarie dictionary and thus quoted by the ACC:

- “diligent and systematic enquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover facts or 

principles..."

It is important to note that an individual does not need to be enrolled in a course of study, they can be researching something out their own self interest.

http://www.copyright.org.au/pdf/acc/infosheets_pdf/g053.pdf/download

Bloggy Bloggerson Week 4 readings

One of the things that I find most interesting about blogging within the classroom is that it really challenges students to be clear and concise in their postings. As Pericles (2008) indicates the experiences in her classroom allow for the students to receive feedback about information that they've shared and where there is misunderstandings about their postings students are required to think critically about what they're posting online. Bringing technology into the classroom and aiming to apply it across all KLA's will be challenging for teachers but also very effective as it takes students learning within the classroom and makes it relevant to their outside experiences.

I really liked that this particular class was engaging in blog correspondence with students from around the world. This will allow students to incorporate a broader global perspective. Learning about other cultures from a text book is not nearly as effective and authentic as learning about it from young people living in that culture and sharing ideas.

After reading Barone and Wright (2008) there were a few key things I took away. Firstly, I was inspired by Todd's enthusiasm and dedication to embedding technology into the school and further still, effective one-to-one laptop use into his classroom. It is so important to bring new literacies into the classroom as not all students will have access at home (Leu et al., 2005, cited in Barone & Wright, 2008).

I did question Wright's choice to allow students to stay in at recess time to use the internet for non-instructional activities as I am a firm believer in fresh air and exercise! Be careful about allowing this in your classroom....I won't be in mine. 

Lastly I found the results of the schools CRT results interesting and encouraging for any teachers or educators out there that are skeptical about this much ICT use within the classroom. Although the results didn't show how digital and media literacies may have improved literacy knowledge it definitely demonstrated that they did not do poorly because of the high level of new literacies in their classrooms (Barone & Wright, 2008). 

Pericles, K. (2008). Happily blogging @ Belmore South. SCAN, 27(2), 4-6http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/schoollibraries/

Barone, D., & Wright, T. E. (2008). Literacy instruction with digital and media technologies. The Reading Teacher, 62(4), 292-302

Penguin fun!

Club Penguin is a really fun way for kids to learn appropriate internet behaviour (before you can play you have to agree with the rules ie. No bad language) and not to provide personal information. It's a fun, safe site where kids can create their own penguin to waddle around with online to interact with other penguins. A site I wish I'd known about when I was assisting in grade 2 and taught a whole unit on penguins!!

www.clubpenguin.com

Silly Squid

WOW! What a wonderful example to promote the effective teaching of new literacies! Because there is so much information readily available on the internet we, as educators, need to ensure that students are critical about any and all content that they are exposed to and seek out authentic information.