Week 2: Free Rant (on Copyright)

After watching many videos and reading many articles pertaining to copyright, I have come up with one mixed emotions on the process and adherence to copyright law.

While the internet has been a great resource in research, communication, and even transferring files, it has also brought about much confusion, disbelief, and insecurities concerning originality and who actually owns what.

From my perspective, I see us all in a game where we are not all playing by the same rules when it comes to internet usage and copyright.  In the United States, we essentially own anything that we have said when it has been said or transmitted when in plain view.  As Full Sail instructor Joe Bustillos reminds us, email is similar to sending a post card--while we think we are sending it from one person to another, it in fact is being sent via plain text and can be read by anyone with the right software or know-how.

With this said, anything that I say in an email technically (from copyright perspective) belongs to me.  Now, this does not seem to sit well as if these ideas are not really my own, then I would be guilty of plagiarism.  My big hangup is that I don't feel conversations and such should enforced under copyright law.  If I had published this email string in a book, then I may have a different point of view.

Secondly, we seem to live in a country that upholds the copyright law (mostly) but run into issues where not all countries reciprocate and our copyright protection is deemed useless.  In the video Good Copy, Bad Copy, countries such as Sweden allow piracy and copyright infringers to freely share and distribute copyrighted material.  Likewise, countries such as Nigeria do have copyright laws but they seem to pick and choose as to whether they will enforce it.  If it hurts their economy, they many enforce it, if not, it will likely be overlooked.

When we are playing on this global field where copyrighted material is easily accessible, there needs to be some consistency as to which rules will enforced.

...to be continued.

Week 2: Comment #2 - Jamie Steele

Jamie Steel recently shared how "Giving an A" has related to an incident with one of his high school teachers.  Jamie wrote:

After reading the chapters in “Art of Possibility” this past weekend, I was moved by the third chapter, “Giving an A” and the message it sent to it’s readers. This philosophy falls in line with the effort-based mindset theory that Carol Dweck has been researching over the past ten years. This particular chapter struck a chord deep within me due to my own profession and why I chose to enter into it.

As a school counselor I am charged with ensuring that the social/emotional needs of students are being met so that they can live out their full potential in the classroom arena. The letter that Katrine wrote to Ben brought forth a well of emotion and his explanation on “how seldom we pay attention to, or even look for, the passionate and the extraordinary in children—how seldom we give children an A” (pg. 46).

When I entered the ninth grade I had a teacher named Mr. Leitz. He would drink three Diet Cokes a day, put his feet up on his desk when he lectured, and wrote on the chalkboard in a way that was impossible to decipher. He also taught me the most important lesson in life in terms of my own identity. We were to write an analysis paper on “The Lord of the Flies” for our first assignment. As usual, I procrastinated until the night before and turned in a mediocre effort. Without even looking up from his desk, Mr. Leitz handed the paper back to me and said, “Do it again.” I asked why and he replied with, “I’ve given you an A on this paper and now you need to earn it.” I was irate about having to do the entire paper again but look back on that moment with gratitude and thankfulness. He saw the extraordinary in me even when I could not see it in myself. Reading this chapter made my mind jump back to ninth grade AP Literature and Mr. Leitz.

I often share this story as one of the reasons for becoming a school counselor and having the philosophy that I have. I was so inspired by this chapter that I shared the entire text with my wife who stared at me with a look of confusion and humor. This idea that we remove the barriers of failure and anxiety from kids and allow them to create free from restrictions is spectacular and hopefully adopted by our educational system, in certain cases, in the future. I will wrap up this post with one of my favorite quotes by e.e. cummings.

Once We Believe

In Ourselves

We Can Risk

Curiosity

Wonder

Spontaneous Delight

Or Any Experience

That Reveals The

Human Spirit.

I responded to Jamie's experience:

I think that most of us have at least one teacher in our life who has helped us become the person we are and were an influence for entering the education realm.

Your story with Mr. Leitz was encouraging and hopefully allows you to share this experience in your counseling role.  I think many times we get caught up on performing mediocre work because many teachers accept mediocre work as being good.

Your high school experience sounds similar to mine in that I would often procrastinate and still get good grades.  When I look back, much of the work probably was mediocre.  Why did I get good grades?  Was it because I was a respectful student or did I just perform better than someone else?  While these question will likely never be answered, I do know that I can perform much better and my procrastination still exists but my skills have been sharpened where I can judge how much time I need to do certain tasks now.

Without doubt, today, I give myself an A now with better assurance and confidence.  While I am not graded as I was in high school, I am "graded" by getting a contract renewal every year and pay raises.  Additionally, over time, inner peace and self gratitude has guided me to perform better at whatever I do.

Week 2: Comment #1 - David Hotler

I had just finished up a post on how I gave a scenario about earning a 4.0 while earning a B in Physical Education when I ran across classmate David Hotler's post.  He posted:

In The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander the reader is confronted with an interesting spin on self help for life adjustment. The main story line of the book is actually broken into stories that help support the through line and theme. After reading the introduction and first four practices I have been impressed with the authors’ abilities in sharing moving, eye witness stories about life and the obstacles of human nature. The book is meant to be a guide for practice and each story supports the need for or outcomes of each practice. 

I like that the purpose is to identify in my life the examples shared and then practice ways to see the world differently. I have always been a believer in the notion that the world around me is created by my thoughts and desires. The reality I live in is simply my perception of the world and I have built into me a set of filters that allow me to see things based on my tendencies. I think the first part of the book is hinting at the idea that these filters are many times uncontrollable and learned from family, friends, and the many communities in which we belong. 

The ideas presented by the authors about giving an A are most interesting to me. I work in an environment where students are unmotivated by the success of good grades in school. Parents are less interested in celebrating academic achievements and students in turn take things less serious. This environment presents many challenges that I think this book can help to address. To this point I have been using grades as the only factor of success in my courses. In the reading the authors share ideas about grades by telling a story of a pedagogical technique for motivating students to work hard to earn a grade. The idea is that students write a letter to the instructor as if they had just received an A at the completion of the course. The students are to outline everything they did during the time of the course to earn that A. The instructor then uses that criteria to challenge the students by saying they will earn that grade if they complete their own list. I am moved by this because the student takes control of their education and is motivated by the ability to learn what they want. 

Here is my response to David's post:

I  totally understand your situation.  Before I came to work at my current school, I was in a similar school  environment.  I was teaching business education courses in the coal region of Pennsylvania.  While I enjoyed the teaching aspect and the administration involvement, the parents were the toughest to handle.

Many of the parents were generational coal mining families and while education was somewhat important, the follow through was not.  The families knew that the only way to break the cycle of what many were accustomed (get high school diploma or GED then off to the local mine, pizza shop, bar, etc to work) was to get out of "the valley".

Getting out of "the valley" took more than just showing up to school and this seemed to be a problem for most of them.  Parental follow through and involvement lacked and many of the students reached for C's and D's instead of A's and B's because that was acceptable to them and their parents.

So I do understand that your scenario, where grades are not a motivator, could have no affect on the concept that Zander's presents.  Fortunately, I left that position 12 years ago and am now faced almost with the opposite.  Our school has a very active parents association and the parents are invited (encouraged) to campus to visit with teachers.  All divisions have a "Parents Day" each semester to keep the lines of communication open for the teachers and parents.

Week 2 Reading: Art of Possibility Chapters 1 – 4

Wow!

I have received my bachelor's degree in business education from a pretty respective "teacher" college 18 years ago.  I have worked with many teachers from many other colleges and universities who seemed to struggle with some aspect of teaching.  I have always felt confident that my undergraduate teacher training made me a successful teacher.  I still hold my undergraduate college on a pedestal in terms of its ability to train teachers, but...

Wow!

I wish I had read (or had been forced to read) the Art of Possibility when I was earning my teaching degree.  Better yet, this book could be a great resource for new teacher mentoring programs (which I may recommend to our administration).

The chapter pertaining to Giving an A was a very intriguing chapter.  I was particularly enlightened that by changing the point of view, we can all earn A's.  There are plenty of things in today's education that can deter a student from reaching academic perfection but that should not hold us back from trying our best and giving ourselves an A.  Although we may not have earned a 100% or even a 90% on our school report card, that does not mean that we did not perform our very best.

I have been blessed to work in a true "college prep" school for the past 12 years.  Being a nerd here is actually pretty cool and earning top academic grades is very competitive.  Our Academic Team has won the season long academic tournament for our surrounding counties since its inception and our Math Team has consistently placed in the top two (nationally) for the past six years on the Math Facts Competition while taking top honors this year with a field of 12 countries being represented.  Around here, geek is chic!

The downside of having a bunch of brainiacs running around campus is that we have a large population that only get a 4.0.  Yep, I said it... ONLYa 4.0.  With that said, there many combination of why can kid ONLY gets a 4.0.   Likely this student did not take any Advanced Placement (AP) which does factor into a weighted grade when determining grade point averages (in our case, AP courses are valued at an additional .4) or they may have taken all AP courses but got a B in Physical Education (no stereotyping intended).

Now, getting a B in PE sounds like a heck of a way to see your GPA drop to a 4.0 especially because we know that PE can be a subjective grade at best.  These types of scenarios can cause much heartache because the academics are so competitive and everyone is shooting for the stars in terms of college acceptances in the Ivy League schools and other top notch colleges and universities.

Giving your self an A?  I believe this is a great concept for many students.  Getting a 4.0 with a B in Phys Ed?  I'd give myself an A on that one too!

Week 1: Wimba Review

Being overwhelmed a bit at first glance of this month's dashboard, I was somewhat comforted in the reiteration of what was happening over the next four weeks. What may seem like a ton of work on the surface, the assignments that are due in the coming weeks are actually works that we have been building along the EMDT journey.

I commend Full Sail on the approach that was taken for the AR project and Literature Review. Baby-stepping through the program surely helped alleviate any 11-month jitters about the AR Project as well as the Literature Review paper.

Unfortunately, the month of May is a busy time in our school (equally as busy as August) due to many after-school commitments; however, the EMDT program has strengthened my endurance for staying up late. Having the assignments due on Sunday is especially helpful.

I still worry that the shear number of blog entries are not missed or overlooked. I am still looking for a "master checklist" to keep me organized and sane. If anyone finds one, please drop me a comment.Action Research Project

Week 1: Comment #2 - CK Binkley

Fellow Full Sail student, CK Binkley, has mixed views to copyright law:

I teach a three-class mini unit on copyright, censorship, and the law. I am also, or I was a professional photographer. I can approach copyright from both sides. On the one side, I want to protect my investment. If I spend thousands of dollars to take a series of pictures, I certainly don’t want to give them away and I certainly don’t want someone else taking credit for their creation. If I write and produce music, then I want to gain fame or wealth for their creation. But as an educator, the value of using or showing copyrighted material in the classroom can be a vital addition to my teaching. But budgets being what they are, I cannot pay to use many of these materials. So I break the very laws I teach in order to give my students a more meaningful education. The fair use clause is one of the gray areas of the copyright act. I find myself bending the law to fit my own uses. But I guess I’m not the only one that does this. In the ars technica article, it seems that industry data on financial losses due to copyright infringement could itself be copyrighted under creative fiction. Copyright laws are necessary. They are difficult to enforce. They can also serve as a deterrent in the creation of derivative pieces. It is important for my students to know and understand the law. After that, they must decide what they will do.

We must be thankful for the concept of Fair Use. Without it, we could not use anything that is copyrighted. It is one thing to make money on someone else’s idea, but we should be allowed to share their ideas. The law also kept it a little ambiguous so that each case can be decided on its own merits. I think this keeps copyright holders from suing every time a portion of their material is used. I agree that Fair use has helped prevent private censorship from interfering with freedom of speech.

Another concept that my students can use is creative commons. I think this has become necessary because of the change in the way we use the Internet. People want to share the things they create. They use Face Book, You Tube, and blogs to distribute what they make. Sometimes we use items that are copy righted in these creations. Creative commons allows us to use certain works under specific circumstances that “bends” the copyright laws.

My reply:

You present some very difficult choices. First off, CK, I think you are correct that the ambiguity of Fair Use does prevent the interference of our First Ammendment right to free speech. But, I think this same ambiguity gives us a false sense of safety when we want to bend these copyright laws in our favor.

In our head, we want to do what we want to do and we often justify it by claiming everything "should" fit under Fair Use because we intend to use it in education. While we may not have any intention of making a living from the product or even claiming that it is our own, it comes down to simple permission.

Personally, if I post something on the internet and someone contacts me for permission to reprint or use, I would feel honored or privileged if done in a tasteful manner. I would not feel so enamored if I were to run across an article that had looked very much like my own but was credited by a teacher who simply used my research and discoveries to formulate their own paper.

While Fair Use is a great concept, it is not perfect and is not always used fairly.

Week 1: Copyright Issues

Copyright or Copy wrong?

This week's readings and videos have been enlightening in the sense that I have heard nearly every one of the myths that surround copyright law. My role as director of technology for our international boarding school is always challenging when I am trying to explain various tasks that I am responsible for maintaining.

A decade ago, I was introduced to the world of peer to peer applications (P2P). At that time, our network was connected to the internet via a T1 connection and we all thought we were sitting high on our thrones as dialup was the primary source for connecting to the internet at that time. With blazing speeds of 1.5Mb downloads, we were able to surf the web AND send email with attachments at the same time. Downloading was fast and music was free! (or so we thought)

As our network started to expand and the introduction of a 1:1 laptop program was introduced in 2003, I quickly saw how our blazing 1.5Mb downloads seemed to be a thing of the past and a new concern was arising--P2P was rampant and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was looking for the culprits.

Napster seemed to be the first to go under the chopping block while others started to appear and thumb their noses at the RIAA. Morpheus and Limewire quickly filled the void for ex-Napster users and it seemed like the attitude among the Generation X crowd was that nothing was going to stop this movement. The use of P2P applications seemed to be a social norm and people were not overly concerned about getting caught even though they knew that it was being deemed illegal.

At our school, it was particularly hard to convince our students that downloading music was illegal. While I had a hidden agenda of regaining our limited bandwidth, I tried to educate our students about the ethical and moral obligation to honor the copyright of this music they were downloading. Since many of our students are international, this task was undaunting and for the most part unsuccessful.

Like the founders of The Pirate Bay, we have students who live in countries where the copyright laws are very lax or are not enforced. I had one student tell me that I was wrong about P2P and downloading because his mother is a lawyer and has either conveyed a loose interpretation of copyright law or practices in a country where copyright was not a legal issue.

In any case, I feel I have armed myself with enough ammunition and understanding that I hope I convince today's youth that without copyright protection, they may never get to be that famed celebrity or businessman that they hope to be. Copyright protects those who have earned their way to the top and protects them from the next person who is trying to steal their ideas or work.