Copyright and Fair Use

Copyright and Fair Use Myth: If I’m not making money off it, it’s fair use. (And if I am making money off it, it’s not) As a teacher for 11 years, I always believed this concerning copyright and fair use. Even though this applies to all materials, I believe the biggest problem for fair use concerns materials we as educators get from the internet. What harm can really be done by copying and pasting a picture you find on the internet and quickly posting it on your power point? Do you really need permission? Using the “noncommercial” argument can work some of the time, for example sharing work in a small or closed group, however this is not fair use in every situation therefore it is better to be safe and research what constitutes as fair use. In my school, we do have a fair use and copyright poster in the media center from the United States Copyright Office, but do our teachers even know it exists. When it comes to copyright, teachers are either uneducated in it or they believe practicing fair use is just too much trouble. I have been guilty of them both. We have many resources such as ancillaries that can be reproduce, so I guess teachers just assume same goes for information on the internet. What we do not realize is we have not paid for rights to that material. As media specialists, we need to become experts on fair use and educate our staff through professional developments and trainings, even handing out policy cheat sheets. Awareness can take away all the myths surrounding fair use and copyright.

School Television News -Cindy Ford

Does your school have a television news program?  If so, are you, the media specialist, responsible for this program?   I was curious, so I sent a message to all the media specialists in my district.  

What I found was that majority of elementary schools broadcast a short live news show each morning.  The media specialist is most often the "coach" and has an application process for students that want to be on the team. Some have several teams that rotate in and out throughout the year.  Shows consist of live feeds such as the weather, the pledge and morning announcements, but also incorporate some prerecorded segments as well.  From the comments, most elementary media specialists enjoy working with the students to produce the news.  However, they do say that it takes quite a bit of time.  For instance, one media specialist said that she only has the news show once per week, but her time commitment to prerecord some segments and do the live show is two to four hours per week, similar to those that produce a daily show.

  

In contrast, the  middle school responses were varied.  In very few schools, the librarian was in charge of a daily live television broadcast.  Several schools told me that another teacher, sometimes the technology 'connections' teacher  sponsors the news team.  Some middle schools had no daily or weekly television news, but these school media specialists worked with students to read the morning announcements over the school intercom.  

Overwhelmingly, high schools,  have a Broadcasting class that is responsible for all aspects of the news though usually the closed-circuit equipment is housed in the media center, so the media specialist has to set up the channels. I work in a high school recently talked with our broadcast teacher about how the class is structured.  She has a rotation for her students to cover sporting events  after school.  Since the news has six mandatory segments, she gives groups assigned segments for the week.  Segments include sports, club news, fine arts, "Hawk of the Week", "Coming Up", and "Hawkeye" (a very creative storyline for the week). Students are responsible for scripting, recording, editing, and producing a prerecorded news show that is aired once per week during homeroom time. This is always prerecorded.    For a while the equipment in our broadcast classroom did not work, so the class would download the broadcast and send up a DVD for us to run on the closed-circuit system.

One thing that was pretty consistent in all schools is that most media specialists are responsible for maintaining some type of scrolling announcements that play on school televisions.  At my school, teachers send us a PowerPoint slide and run dates.  Every day,  my library aids put together a slideshow that runs throughout the day on Channel 4 (we have televisions in all the hallways).  Morning announcements are read over the intercom by SGA officers. 

I take my hat off to those media specialist that sponsor the news, especially those that have a daily show!  It is a time commitment, but a great way to interact with the student body.  

 

Social Media: Blog 4

My initial thoughts, currently being a teacher, about social networking in schools is absolutely not. There is no use for them. Or is there? When I think social media, I immediately think of the two most popular sites, Facebook and Twitter. These are sites students use daily and are attracted too. Could there be a way to incorporate them into the learning process. The AASL did surveys which revealed that schools are starting to embrace social media into the school curriculum mainly to create more of a collaborative and community learning. It is believed social media can make students more active and accountable for their learning. There are several ways to incorporate social media into education and it could start with the media center. Several OPAC’s are starting to combine social networking with their automation system allowing students, teachers, and staff to give text ratings to books and submit text, audio, or video reviews. Could this encourage more student use of the application and use from home? I believe the idea is good and we actually have Destiny Quest at my school. I feel it is not advertised enough however. There is the question of safety and security while using these sites from school. This would require teachers and parents to become responsible at teaching the students how to safely use the internet and social media sites. That brings up the whole internet filtering debate. I believe many would benefit from social media use in school, but some would abuse it as well. I read somewhere in an article that we should not punish the majority for what the minority does on the internet while at school. While there are several education social media sites out there, including Flickr and Library thing, I feel the students would not see them as attractive for they are most familiar with the most popular mentioned earlier. Would they think Flickr and Library Thing are fun or just another school assignment? That is why I feel if you are going to use social media for what you want it to accomplish, it may have to be the ones they use daily. My school does not allow access to Facebook or Twitter while in school, however does have pages on both for things such as athletics and the school’s home web page. Therefore students and parents can be socially interactive with my school, but from home. I am currently requiring students to complete assignments, do readings, and make comment posts on my school blog. The students are familiar with it and can easily access it form smart phones, etc… However, they look at it as another school assignment, not something that is social media attractive. Maybe I need to take baby steps to using Twitter or Facebook.

Media Center  Web Pages

Have you ever been to a web page to find information and the links don't work? Or, the information you are looking for is not found and you need further information but you can't, for the life of you, find any contact information on the web page!

In general, there are certain aspects of a web page that make users want to explore the content and return to the site.  As Media Specialists, we should recognize that a well-designed, informative, and current web page can speak volumes about the programs we have to offer.  After all, we need to advocate and 'sell' our programs to all of our stakeholders. 

In reviewing some great (and not so great) web pages for this assignment, I found some features that I think every library site should incorporate.   First and foremost, the design should be appealing and easy-to-read (font choice, colors, arrangement of items...not too busy). Next, list basic information such as hours of operation, names of staff and contact information.  A link to the OPAC system is essential. And, if your library offers online databases, links to these resources should be here as well, so that users have a 'one stop shop' for all their needs.  

By including a mission statement and a link to the school's mission statement and strategic plan on the page, media specialists can take this opportunity to show how the library program enhances the overall objective of the school and helps to increase student achievement.

Other items that I found very helpful on some of the websites:

•  an Acceptable Use Policy
•  a library annual report
•  information about the media specialist ("about me")
•  links to outside resources for students and community
•  links for teacher resources
•  links to documents
•  links to copyright information
•  television channel lineup (if school offers this)
•  an online form for suggested library materials
• links to pathfinders 
• links for citation guidelines   

Some libraries even use an online calendar for scheduling classes. If this is the case, a link or tab for teacher access the calendar is helpful.  
  
So, my advice for building a website is to look at many other web pages and make notes of the things you like and don't like. Talk with your administrative staff to see if there are any requirements or policies about what should be on teacher/school pages. For consistency, some schools require that all teachers use the same platform or design.  For instance, my school uses Blackboard for class information (so that all teacher pages are similar) and requires teachers to update information weekly. 

And, just a reminder, please make sure all your links work and you include a way for your stakeholders to contact you for further information, or just to tell you that your program is wonderful!