Week 3 - February 9th, 2012

     Copyright infringement in the classroom is something that is done on a frequent basis.  While it typically goes unnoticed, I feel like teachers should consider the moral and ethical concerns regarding the use of copyrighted material in their classrooms to modify or share with their students, especially since teachers are inherently seen in some communities as important role models who promote qualities of upstanding citizenship for their students.  In the face of a new digital era, it is also important for students to learn and understand the legalities they face when working with copyrighted materials so that they can understand what they can and can't share, change, use as their own, or utilize in order to turn a profit.


Since materials that fall under the Creative Commons license terms are safe to share with students as well as for students to share (provided that the licensing terms are not violated in the process), I'd like that they knew the terms included with the 6 variations of Creative Commons licensing.  I'd also like it if they stuck with those terms.  In the classroom, I'd probably teach the laws, rules, and ethics of copyrights in a way similar to that which we had learned in class last night.  The activity made for a simple and amusing way for all of us to understand the different rules of Creative Commons licensing; I found it to be a smart way for students to make sense of what's up for grabs.