Copyright Basics for Teachers

Copyright Basics for Teachers. Produced by Royce Kimmons. YouTube. May 11, 2016. Accessed March 26, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9H6Ksp36q0.

I chose this video because it provides very valuable information about the ethical use of digital media in the educational setting. So many teachers believe that they can use anything “for educational purposes” and they are highly mistaken. It is so important that our teachers understand the terms copyright, fair use, public domain and creative commons and that they model the proper way to use digital media for their students. 

I was happy to find this video that was made specifically for teachers, because so many of the copyright videos for educational purposes are geared towards students. It is very informative, but easy to understand and learn from. I think that this would be a great video to show during teacher in-service at the beginning of a new school year and maybe again before teachers assign semester projects to their classes. 

Grant Opportunities for High School Libraries

Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program

The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (LB21) supports professional development, graduate education, and continuing education to help libraries and archives develop a diverse workforce of librarians to better meet the changing learning and information needs of the American public. 

Grant Amount (for up to 3 years):

·       Planning Grants: up to $50,000

·       National Forum Grants: up to $100,000

·       Research Grants: up to $500,000

·       Project Grants: $50,000–$1,000,000

Eligibility: Elementary and secondary school libraries that make publicly available library services (as well as 6 other types of organizations)

Deadline: February 1, 2017

Find out more: https://www.imls.gov/grants/available/laura-bush-21st-century-librarian-program

This grant would all allow me to create a professional development program for educators that focuses on two things. First, it would focus on teaching educators how to have ethical behavior while utilizing 21st century learning resources and materials. Secondly, it would provide techniques that educators can use to teach high school students how to have ethical behavior when using online and digital resources.

Activating Community Opportunities Using Museums/Libraries as Assets – A National Leadership Grants Special Initiative

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is interested in supporting projects that address significant challenges and opportunities facing the library, archive, and museum (LAM) fields and that have the potential to advance theory and practice.

Grant Amount: $150,000 for up to 2 years

Eligibility: Library Entity, Museum Entity, Community Entity, or Institution of Higher Education and other entities that advance the museum and library fields may apply.

Deadline: April 3, 2017

Find Out More: https://www.imls.gov/grants/available/activating-community-opportunities-using-museums-libraries-assets-national

This grant would all allow me to create a professional development program for educators that focuses on two things. First, it would focus on teaching educators how to have ethical behavior while utilizing 21st century learning resources and materials. Secondly, it would provide techniques that educators can use to teach high school students how to have ethical behavior when using online and digital resources.

Inspired Special Event Grant by AASL

This grant opportunity supports a special event so that an existing public middle or high school library can create new or enhance its extracurricular activities in order to increase student academic achievement at their school. The goal is to provide direct assistance funding to middle or high school libraries for special short-term projects or events that would create new or enhance educational activities in order to engage students with and in the library and to promote reading, books, literacy and authors. 

Grant Amount: $2,000

Eligibility: Publicly funded middle or high school, grades 5-12, that have an existing campus library with a certified school librarian on campus

Deadline: February 1, 2017

Find Out More: http://www.ala.org/aasl/awards/inspire/event

This grant would allow me to create a special event for students that focuses on having ethical behavior while using digital materials and resources. My first thought is to host a film festival. Students would be taught how to create a video using music and photographs legally and ethically and then they would be given the opportunity to submit their video for chances to win a scholarship or large prize. The entire school would be invited to the film festival.

Research Article Analysis

Citation 

Lau, Wilfred W.F., and Allan H.K. Yuen. "Internet Ethics of Adolescents: Understanding Demographic Differences." Computers & Education 72 (2014): 378-85. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2013.12.006.  

Summary  

This study looked at adolescents/digital natives and their likelihood to participate in unethical digital behaviors such as unauthorized acts, internet stickiness*, and plagiarism (Lau and Allan 2014, pp. 378). According to the authors, adolescents lack the experience and knowledge to make ethical decisions, and now, with information at their fingertips, digital natives have an even harder time making ethical digital decisions (Lau and Allan 2014, pp. 378).  

The overarching research question for this study was: Are there any differences in between gender and SES in unethical digital behaviors among digital natives? 

The authors of this study used the four component model of moral behavior, developed by Narvaez and Rest to analyze the unethical behaviors of adolescents (Lau and Allan 2014, pp. 380). This model suggests that our key psychological components must be developed for a person to be morally mature and correct. The four key components are moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation, and moral character. Once these components are developed, a person is able to recognize issues when they occur, make accurate judgments, take appropriate action and have the character to maintain morality throughout their life. Students were given an online survey to complete in order to participate in this study. 

The research population consisted of 8th grade students from Hong Kong during the 2011/2012 school year. The data of 825 students from 36 schools was analyzed. This population was 48% male and 52% female and the average age of the students was 13. 85% of the students had four or more years of experience using computers and the internet (Lau and Allan 2014, pp. 380).  

According to this study, male students participate in more unethical behavior than female students, and students from low SES families also tend to behave more unethically than students from high SES families. 

According to the authors, educators must play a role in teaching students how to have ethical behavior online (Lau and Allan 2014, pp. 383). They encourage educators to have their students participate in hypothetical situations to help develop moral and ethical behavior.  

There were several limitations in this research project including the need to look at the four components as a developmental process, considering cyberbullying as one of the unethical behaviors, considering social and cultural variables in the research, using qualitative measures instead of just quantitative, developing a longitudinal study to understand the cause of unethical behavior (Lau and Allan 2014, pp. 384). 

Conclusions 

After reading this research, I understand more than ever the need for educators to be proactive in helping students develop moral and ethical behavior when dealing with digital media. Many times, adolescents do not have the experience or mental maturity and development to make ethical decisions on their own. It is our job to guide them to learn best practices for using digital media. This research confirms my project of creating a professional development program for educators in order to teach them how to guide students to use the internet and digital resources properly.


*Example of Internet Stickiness: feeling unease when there is no internet online access for a certain period.