Copyright Issues

Blog Activity: Copyright

When you think of Copyright what are the first things that come to mind. One person says, siting your works, another says being sued, and the other says the acknowledgements that are in the beginning of any reading material that states who and where the particular piece was created. A lot of scrutiny arises when the topic of copyrighting comes into play, as a student we have to utilize others before us pieces in order to understand that of which we are studying.

Before reading the given article on the Copyright Concerns, I asked a couple of people their thoughts and I also held a discussion with my peers to see if they where as abreast in the topic as I had assumed to be. The answers of importance are those that are listed above: siting your works, paying tribute to the contributors, and then the who what when and how pages of a reading. What was astonishing to me was that no one thought of his or her own works as being a copyright issue.  Reason being was because if it is something that they created for a particular assignment or even beats on a computer is not being used to accommodate financial obligations then it is merely just an idea. The difference is that they feel that people walk around everyday with common ideas and thoughts, but those who have the time and finances to push the idea tend to be the ones who get things copyrighted to avoid any person coming along with the same idea. I see the point that is being made, however I raised a question, in a classroom who is most affected by copyright issues? Each person paused and thought before answering, and until this day I have not gotten a solid answer.

After our open discussion I raised the following key issues for copyright.

1. If using another persons works to satisfy financial obligations – I say this is the most important because some people fail to realize that three or more words being stated exactly the same as another persons can caused them to be sued.
2. In a classroom copying textbooks is an issue – even if it is just one copy it is and issue because the copyright entitles the creator to all copies being processed.
3. Last but not lease, my favorite, bootlegging – this is a very strenuous issue because it is something that plenty of people partake in with no remorse. Whether it is CD’s or DVD’s it is an issue.

We talked about these plus additional issues, but the three listed where what we felt as to be the hot and heavy areas because people feel indifferent about them. The indifference is regarding finances, availability, and accommodation. Not everyone agrees wit h the issues but they all must respect and pay tribute. Everyone needs to be aware of the issues because these are acts that can cost you your life savings.   

At the end of the day, you who are not careful and respectful to another persons time and efforts then you can be sued!

Open Source Videos

Throughout the videos the one thing that came to mind is how are we assessing the students work and how are the free websites being created without being sued by the original providers. I enjoy the fact of knowing that there are free options available to the public, but how free is free. Just like how they say we have a freedom of speech, but if we say the wrong thing then we are being penalized for our words.

In the video for the open house school if Utah, I feel that it has pros and cons for availability in the state of which it is used, if this was to be used over a wider range of school districts would it be as successful. I am interested to know the growth of the comprehension levels of the students because when we are in the classroom we have a wider range to judge the levels of the students understanding. But if everything is done online the students have the upper hand to use the tools provided (books, internet sources) to establish a virtual understanding that will get the job done for grade purposes. I think that the teacher who has the mix classes with 2 days online and 3 days face-to-face allows for flexibility and also it doesn't confine the students and they are able to access there own understanding with the outreach of the professor/teacher being present.

All in all the free sources come with a price to pay and the open High School of Utah also has a price to pay for providing all courses via computers. In my personal experience I feel that as a young educator I feel that having a open class with the free range of computer usage has several faulty flaws. Ranging from understanding and being heard throughout the course, I also feel that proving your understanding takes additional measures because you don't have the face-to-face interaction. I think in the end what my major concern is being more concerned with assuring that the students are gaining all the information that is being provided to them. I would love to see the score reports and the average success rate of the students that are allowed to partake in the open school and also I would like to see the criteria for being involved in the school.  

Welcome!!!!!!!

I want to first WELCOME each and every one of you to my Blog Spot. This is my first time creating a Blog, however I blog on a regular for school and recreational purposes. I am excited to be apart of this new form of communication that I want to say alot but I can't form the words. I look forward to some exciting conversations with all of my bloggers. If there is anything that you would like to know please don't hesitate to post a question on the blog so that I can answer it.

The purpose of this blog is to establish meaning communication with other educators, teahcers, like myself. In the world of teaching there is never to much information. So with that being said then there will be a lot of educational information amongst this blog so that future and current teachers will have a means of sharing information amongst the network.

So there you have it... NOW let's EDUCATE!!!!