EME2040 Blog Journal 3: Copyright, Fair Use, and the grey area between the two.

 Copyright and Fair Use were popular topics on the internet a couple of years ago. Of course, this is back when I cared about what happened on the internet. The general question then was over what constituted Fair Use. For example; if someone does a reaction to your movie trailer on Youtube, then does that constitute fair use?  I imagine this question still continues to be subject of many legal battles today, because Copyright laws are very complicated. What is Copyright though? Copyright is establishment of ownership over something that is originally created; it is a protection for creators, that give them the exclusive rights to profit off of their creation. Seems simple enough; if you create a product with your mind, then you have the right to own it. Then how does Fair Use come into play? Fair Use is a protection from Copyright holders, where if something is used in a manner that does not generate profit or is used for educational purposes then you do not have to pay the Copyright holder to use it. Under Fair Use a 2nd Grade teacher does not have to pay Disney to use an image of Dory in their powerpoint presentation on marine biology. Fair Use also protects this hypothetical 2nd Grade Teacher from Disney sending an armada of lawyers to bankrupt her and ruin her life. However, the grey area between Copyright and Fair Use is large one. Anything on the internet could by Copyright protected, and our use of it may not be covered under Fair Use. As teachers we need to be careful about what we do take from the internet, and make sure we always give proper credit. We don't want to be involved in any legal battles, so we need to respect the intellectual property of others and remain careful.

The internet presents us with a number of educational advantages, giving us effecient, engaging, and exciting ways to engage with students. Its not all good though, the internet comes with a few negative side effects. One of these issues is Cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is an issue that has only started recieving attention within the last ten years. It can be relentless, and it is hard to escape from. Just like regular bullying, there is no real solution to Cyberbullying. No matter what we do and how we teach there will always be cruel students; that is just how things are and always will be. The thought that it could be stopped if we taught empathy and embraced one another with love is nice, but it is in no way grounded in reality. These students will probably get away with it too, and some of them may be reading this now. Having made it past Highschool they will never have to face the reprecussion for their actions. I was not bullied in Highschool, so I do not have any personal experience from which to draw up ideas from solutions. All I can think is that, as educators we need to take Cyberbullying seriously. This works on two levels. If a student is being Cyberbullied, then we need to treat the situation in exactly the same way that we would good old fashioned bullying. If a student is Cyberbullying, then the should be punished just like a regular bully would.  Another issue the internet presents s Academic Dishonesty, but this one has an easier solution. Make students take tests with pencil and paper, then plagurism check their online submitted work. Applications that monitor students as they take test are not only invasions of privacy, but also expose student's data. Its unsafe, its stupid, if you are giving a test online some kids are going to try and use Google. If you want to avoid this, then don't give tests online. If you are going to give a test or quiz online, then base it on the content of your own lectures that way the content cannot be Googled or allow your students to use online resources, but make the test more difficult and specific to compensate for this. A short answer question is still testing what the student knows, even if they are engaging with online resources. There are ways of working with the resources provided by the internet, but to try and work against them is helpless.

The newsletter was interesting. At first I absolutely hated it because I had no idea what to do. I did not like having an imaginary class, with imaginary students, with an imaginary event coming up. I'm not particularly creative. However, by the end of the project I was enjoying it. I was using Microsoft Word to make something that was not a research paper, and I have a better understanding of the application as a result. I liked making something colorful for a change, and I enjoyed coming up with an imaginery class. I'm rarely ever proud of my creative projects, but this one is passable in my mind. :)