Blog #3: Copyright, Technology Implementation, and Newsletter!

✰    This week, we talked about the use of copyright and fair use. Copyright is when by under the law, an individual has the right to perform, reproduce, distribute, and display publicly on their presented work (whether it be a video, a song, movie, etc.). Fair use is when you use someone else's work and remaking a small bit from it for non-commercial use and to make new meaning of it. It is important to understand these concepts since as a teacher, you need to be able to give credit when it is due to others. We will be making lesson plans that others may use, and when we publish it out into the open, we have to be aware to make it our own and encourage our students to credit this material that they learn and look up material as well.

✰     There are also technology implementation issues that teachers will face among their students. One of these issues is academic dishonesty, and it affects students both offline and online academic platforms.  Sometimes, students may copy and paste another person's words and ideas and claim them as their own into an assignment. There are severe consequences for committing plagiarism, and teachers stress the importance of avoiding academic dishonesty. A solution for this dilemma is that teachers should emphasize the importance of citing and crediting the author whenever students source their work. This way, students can learn how to properly cite sources and credit the author when using their work in a paper or assignment. Another issue is Student privacy, and this typically happens a lot with online learning. Some teachers use Honorlock for assignments to make a solution that justifies avoiding academic dishonesty; however, to some students, it is an invasion of privacy because it analyzes them and into their lives on camera. This makes students feel uncomfortable when taking quizzes or tests at home, and therefore, perform worse because of the pressure put on them. It is a complicated subject, especially since Honorlock was implemented during the pandemic for remote learning. An ideal solution to this is to make a timed quiz that can track when you switch tabs instead of physically watching a student do their work. Teachers should trust their students in academic integrity, but also keep them somewhat accountable. They can use their notes that they took in class, but not use online websites to find the answer to the question on that test. 

✰    When creating the newsletter this week, I learned how to create columns as well as formatting my newsletter to make it ✨✨aesthetically pleasing✨✨ but I feel like I could have done better with making it more colorful and making it stand out. I made a cool banner on Canva, and I really like the template I used for it. I was having trouble figuring out how to make boxes within each other to make them similar to designs and examples I saw online. I feel that the skills I learned from this assignment will help me format and place things in my documents and assignments effectively. I will be excited to use the column function to format my text differently. Here is my newsletter down below! :)