Blog 6:  Tech Training

 

There are lots of warts on this frog when it comes to technology at my school. But I don’t think we’re unique when it comes to the ways in which technology is provided, supported, or implemented. In every facility that I’ve worked, we’ve had issues, challenges, and triumphs.

 

Presently, I work in a school that just completed a 3 year school improvement grant (SIG). The grant provided the school with additional funds to purchase equipment that other schools in the district (presumably) do not have. Also, everyone in the district was given laptops at the beginning of this year (at least 5 years behind other districts where teachers have had the use of laptops for a good long while now).

 

The way in which both the SIG technology (laptop and ipad carts) and the laptops were ‘rolled out’ to the staff, highlights some of the issues with technology in education today: we get the goods, but then what?

Some of the most important aspects of using technology involve training, implementation, and support. In our school, they created Coaching Clinics, held during our planning periods on many Thursdays. During these clinics, we received training on the use of the ipads, Promethean boards, websites, and software programs. The training was mostly introductory in nature, with other teachers and coaches suggesting and demonstrating the use of technology in instruction. And while it was very helpful, most of the staff has not yet implemented many of the suggestions.

The reasons? Time and comfort.  For many staff members, the idea of registering clickers for the Promethean board, creating the flipcharts for instruction and testing, and then learning how to collect and use the resulting data, is just “too much”. Additionally, jumping through the cumbersome hoops (developed by administration, and managed by the media specialists) is a big turn-off.  For instance, in order to reserve the carts and the computer labs, the teachers have to use a site called Sign-Up Genius. And there are numerous rules about how many times a week they’re allowed to have the technology, the timeframe in which they must have the sign-up submitted, overseeing check-out and signature procedures, and now – serious accountability factors.  

As technology usage increases, incidents of vandalism and theft have naturally started occurring. In order to combat this, and to try to maintain the technology for future use, administration has put some measures in place. The teachers must assign each piece to the students, have students sign for check-out and check-in, and must report damage immediately. Also, the teachers must remove and replace each item on the cart personally; no students are allowed to plug or unplug the devices into the charger cables or place them into the slots (that don’t fit because the cases are too large – but that’s another story). This means that considerable time is required for the procurement of the carts and labs, for check-out/in procedures, and for inspection of each component before turning the carts back in or leaving the computer labs. And while the teacher is tied up with all of this, students are free to make mischief, as we all know they do when the teacher is occupied, and they themselves are not directly engaged in a task.

Furthermore, if any device goes missing, or is damaged, if the teacher cannot trace who did what, they are being held accountable, and must pay for the item to be replaced. No teacher can be expected to see everything happening at once; students trade out devices, get up and move around, and change settings all the time.

As for the teacher issued laptops, there were no security procedures given or suggested. I personally purchased a cable lock for mine, and suggested to our department chairs, that they use funds to buy cables for everyone. So far, I am the only one with a cable as far as I can see. And teachers leave the laptops out on their desks all the time, whether they’re in the room or not. And even though we all signed for them at the beginning of the year, no warnings or suggestions for security have been issued, and consequently, it’s an accident waiting to happen.

When the only insurance policy for replacing broken or stolen items is either having the student or the teacher pay for it, the expected result is a chilling effect on the staff’s desire to use the technology. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about something that places you in very real and increasingly likely financial peril.

As for using the technology for instruction, much more training and support are needed, and the media specialist is in the perfect position to advocate for this. Some of the ways that the media specialists could help our staff become more comfortable with using technology in instruction, would be to implement some of the coaching techniques outlined in the ISTE Coaching Whitepaper, available as a free downloadable pdf at: https://www.iste.org/resources/product?ID=2157.

One of the things that the whitepaper recommends is providing support in a one-on-one capacity, to help guide teachers through some processes. Our media specialists are very good at doing that. If you call and ask them a question, it is not unheard of for one of them to run upstairs to the room and walk you through the procedure on the spot.

Another technique suggested in the whitepaper, is providing checklists and other materials for teachers to follow. Our media specialists do this regularly. In addition to helping us be able to independently execute procedures or use software, it also frees them from having to repeatedly instruct each and every staff member.  Of course, there are always teachers who need the direct contact, just as there are students who need to be hand walked through steps in the classroom. But at least this cuts down the frequency.

Our media specialists also try and visit us during collaborative planning to impart information. In fact, at the Technology Meeting that I attended this week, one of the media specialists asked us what further technology professional development opportunities we thought teachers would like, so that they could arrange it during departmental planning periods. We recommended more in-depth training on how to incorporate the Promethean board clickers into instruction, and asked that they arrange for some hands-on sessions with the county instructional technologist. They were more than willing and happy to do so.

In every technology professional development session that our media specialists have scheduled, they model the steps of the process they’re teaching. Watching them step through a software feature is very helpful, especially when they relate it to something we actually do, need, or want to accomplish.

One of the gaps in our professional development however, is an encouragement to use social media for instruction. Since that is one of the sore spots in the classroom, with students attempting to access their facebooks accounts, and snap chatting each other every 5 seconds, the adults are reluctant to address the banes of our existence. And I can’t blame them.

On the one hand, yes, we could make use of twitter and facebook, and other social networks. But on the other hand, allowing students to access social accounts is pretty much interpreted as the go-ahead to indulge in a free-for-all.  We’ve seen this tendency with the BYOT. Even though the handbook clearly states that technology is only allowed when the teacher says it can be brought out and used for instruction, the students hear what they want to hear: it’s allowed, period. I have had many a student suck their teeth at me and eye-roll themselves into a near-unconscious state when I tell them to put up the cellphone. “BYOT!” is the snarky answer I usually get. And explaining that BYOT is only for instruction, and only at the teacher’s discretion (and this teacher’s not discretting), just starts up the old circular argumentation that teenagers love so much.

So how would I do things if I had free reign, and all things were legal and possible? Well, the first thing I would do, would be to install a cellphone scrambler. Sure, you can have the cellphone, but it won’t work once you enter the educational domain. So if a teacher deemed that using a personal device was allowed and necessary, they could deactivate the scrambler for that period of time only.

Next, I would have the computers set up on a tightly controlled LAN, monitored with software (like LAN School). There would be no way for students to stray outside of the programs and sites needed for instruction during the time when instruction was being given. Come time for exploration, research, and project work, the teachers would have the capability of releasing the strictures while closely monitoring through LAN School. That would be a start. Any yes, I know that unless the FCC rules are not changed, this would never be possible…

So what would I do if I were media specialist in the world we actually live in? Train, train, train. If I provided liberal training sessions for the staff, where they could come during planning to learn useful programs and procedures, I believe that they would take advantage of it. Instead of the big group everyone-has-to-go sessions, I would structure them more informally and encourage smaller groups come more often to learn things in smaller bites that they could then turn right around and use immediately. Chunk the instruction.

And I would try and prevent the kind of mindset that says “use the technology, but if anything goes wrong, we’re going to hold you personally and financially responsible.” This is something that has to be built-in when technology is procured – a battle fought at the county level, way before the technology is purchased and installed at the building level. You need the damage and replacement warranties and software updates negotiated before the purchase occurs.

Better to have fewer pieces that are protected, than to have more items that will be available only at the outset. If you’re going to build a system and get everyone to buy-in and use it on a regular basis, they need string-free and stressless confidence in its longevity. The last thing a teacher needs is to be more worried about the device in the student’s hand, than the knowledge it can imbue.

So for me, the technology issue revolves around proper planning before purchase, liberal and on-going training for staff, and support of the technology and the staff, after the roll-out. If any of these phases is lacking or missing, then the venture will not be an ultimate success.

 

Blog 5: Copyright & Multimedia

Copyright and Fair Use

At the school I work, at the beginning of the year, the copyright laws are discussed briefly to remind teachers about the laws.  As a teacher over the past 13 years I do not remember very much about what was said about copyright and fair use.  This makes me think that as the media specialist, I need to do a better job of making teachers more aware.  One thing I have learned is that copyright and fair use is definitely not cut and dry.  The following quote helped me understand fair use a little better.  Anthony Falzone says, “If you think about copyright as a series of restrictions, fair use is a set of exceptions.  It protects your right to use copyrighted material in certain ways and it’s not a trivial little technicality—it’s a fundamental part of the copyright bargain.  We don’t give copyright owners unlimited control over their content—we preserve a whole variety of uses and things that people get to do with copyrighted content without permission.  And fair use is really, above all else, a set of factors and considerations that help us figure out which things we carve out of the copyright monopoly, and which things we let people do without permission.”

To determine if your proposed work is fair use the following things must be considered:

Purpose: The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature, or is for nonprofit education purposes.

Nature: The nature of the copyrighted work.

Amount: The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.

Effect: The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work.

(Retrieved from http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/copyrightinfo/fairuse.html)

Myth:  Educators can rely on “Rules of Thumb” for fair use guidance.

There are no “Rules of Thumb”.  Matter of fact there is a lot of gray area here.  As stated in the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education, “Fair use is situational, and context is critical.”  Each case is different and there is not a specific amount of text, music, or video you can use every time.  For instance, someone using a quote of 250 words from a 300 word poem might be less fair than a quote of 250 words from a several thousand word article.  There are other factors that also come into play, so there is not a set amount that can be used for it to be called “fair use”.

Myth:  Employing fair use is too much trouble; I don’t want to fill out any forms. 

Actually it is really easy and there are no forms to fill out.  If you are claiming “fair use” you just use the copyrighted material once you have used your professional  judgement. 

Here is a check list that may be helpful  when deciding if a proposed use is considered fair use.

http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/files/2009/10/fairusechecklist.pdf

References:

 Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy  Education. (2015).  Retrieved from

          http://www.cmsimpact.org/fair-use/related-materials/codes/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-

          literacy-education

 Inro video: Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education.  (2012).  Retrieved                    from

             http://mediaeducationlab.com/intro-video-code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-                          education

 Understanding Copyright and Fair Use and Other Educational Uses.  (2015).  Retrieved from

            http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/copyrightinfo/fairuse.html

Blog 5: Copyright and Multimedia-McCarn

 
Who Responsibility is it??
Interpreting, and to some extent enforcing, copyright policies has long been regarded as a responsibility by the school’s library media specialist. Intellectual property, before schools adopted computers and connected to the Internet, was found primarily in print and audiovisual formats – both largely controlled by the school’s librarian. The librarian is among the few educators whose professional training includes information about copyright and has traditionally been viewed as the local expert on intellectual property issues. The librarian, rightly or wrongly, has been forced into the position of copyright enforcement simply to protect the school from the unintentional crimes committed in the guise of “what’s good for the kids.” Since most potential infringements passed through the library, the media specialist was the point person in the intellectual property wars.

However, with intellectual property increasingly available in digital formats, the role of the library media specialist as the “copyright cop” is untenable. All educators who deal with technology need to understand the legal and illegal uses of intellectual property if a school hopes to both keep free of copyright lawsuits and provide ethical models for students to emulate.

 
 Covering the Gray Areas

Following copyright laws in schools comes down to a few radically simple ideas. The first is a concept that may not have been considered in many schools: copyright is federal law. Schools are quite serious about many federal laws and regulations. The Americans with Disabilities Act, for example, is well respected and enforced. In our civics classes we regularly tell students that when one doesn’t agree with the law, one works to change it rather than just ignoring it. However, we appear not to practice what we preach.

The second idea is that obeying copyright is an ethical necessity. While following the current copyright act may not be the most popular course of action with teachers, the fact that students are observing us and modeling their behavior on ours is the single most important reason to obey the law. Students are savvy, and they hear about copyright on the news and read about it in the popular press. Downloading copyrighted music has made many students aware of copyright issues. If they see teachers who blithely copy materials (or even teach students to do the same) without a discussion of copyright implications, the students are given implicit permission to do the same.

The final idea is that copyright compliance is the right thing to do. Ethical use is a difficult concept to teach in many schools, simply because of the religious connotations that are attached. But in this context, we are considering the theft of someone’s work and property. What some educators don’t realize at a conscious level is that writers make their living creating educational materials, and if they don’t sell them, the authors get no royalties/payment. The key point to remember is that many of those authors are educators themselves. Students create marketable works in stories, poetry, and artwork. Teachers are creators as well. Taking from one is the same as taking from another. The golden rule aspect of ethics cannot be overlooked.

We often wink at students and say “Do as I say, not as I do.” But in an economy increasingly fueled by goods that are purely intellectual in form, such statements when made about copyright will harm our students whose livelihood will one day depend on its protections.

Protecting Us All
  1.    Make sure easily understood information is available about copyright and fair use issues, and that getting it in teachers’ hands is an ongoing effort.
While acknowledging that copyright is a complex and evolving subject, schools still need to teach and provide information about proper intellectual property use as a part of ongoing staff development efforts. Schools can and should provide short, readily understood guides regarding copyright of all materials, but especially those in digital formats. The Groton (CT) Public Schools have an online copyright manual (http://www.groton.k12.ct.us/mts/pt2a.htm) and the University of Texas System has developed an online “Copyright Crash Course ” (http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/cprtindx.htm) that schools may wish to model. (The Crash Course is geared toward university users, but the school exemptions still hold true for PK-12.) Basic copyright notices should be placed on circulating software, videos, Internet terminals, as well as photocopiers. Some notices have required wording that will protect the school from lawsuits if particular types of infringements take place. Technology and library newsletters to staff should address intellectual property issues.

2.    Develop an understanding that remuneration for intellectual property benefits the user as well as the creator.
Copyright laws benefit individuals in two ways. First, teachers and students themselves may be creators of intellectual property for which they would like control and the potential for remuneration. (Teachers need to remember that schools may own the rights to teacher-developed materials.) Second, those who create intellectual property (software for example) are more likely to support and continue to develop that property if there is a financial reward in doing so. These concepts should be understood by all school staff members as well as students.

3.    Conduct software audits of your schools and monitor photocopying.
The Mankato School District uses Apple Remote Desktop to scan all (2000+) district computers for executable programs every two years. The technology staff then compares the programs found with the licenses on file. When a program is found on a computer for which the district does not have a license, the technology office sends a letter to the user of that computer, carbon-copied to building principal, asking the user to provide proof of purchase of the program for our files, purchase the program and then send a copy of the license to the office, or remove the program from the computer. Were the district to be audited, these actions will help show due diligence in enforcing copyright. The Software and Information Industry Association identifies additional software programs that can perform similar audits (http://www.siia.com/piracy/audit.asp).

Personnel in district print shops or who may run building photocopiers need to have a firm understanding of copyright laws. If a teacher requests copies of an item that may be copyrighted, it should be returned to the building principal for his/her signature approving the printing job. Photocopying consumable materials is a common infringement, and should be monitored closely.

4.    Work to maintain budgets that allow teachers to legally purchase needed educational materials.
A budget for software, a process for selection and adoption of software, and the purchase of building or district licenses when feasible all decease the likelihood of illegal software use. If teachers use videos for reward purposes, the district should purchase public performance licenses. Royalty free music and clip art with few use restrictions should be available to teachers and students. Extracurricular activities, not having the same fair use protections of direct teaching in the classroom, need extra guidance and supervision in their use of copyrighted materials such as videos for lock-ins, music for dances, and images/music for fundraisers like cd-rom yearbooks.

5.    Designate a person on staff to become the copyright expert.
Schools need a “go-to” person when copyright questions arise. These people should have the budget to receive training in copyright issues as they pertain to schools and access to resources such as Simpson’s Copyright for Schools to help them answer questions. These folks also need the backing of the administration if an unpopular answer is provided to a copyright question. The district needs a copyright coordinator who will monitor licenses, conduct periodic audits, and act as the registered copyright “agent” identified in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s online service provider protections. Such a position can protect the district from infringement suits resulting from copyrighted material posted (knowingly or unknowingly) on school web pages. The IT department may want someone on the staff to be a certified software manager (http://www.siia.com/piracy/seminars.asp) to verify compliance with licensing requirements and tracking.

6.    Create a deep understanding that we are models of ethical and legal behavior in our students.
One does not need to work with young people very long before realizing that they learn more from one’s behavior than from one’s words. If we wish to develop moral, law-abiding citizens, we as educators must act ethically and legally ourselves. Copyright should be a part of the information literacy and technology skills curriculum. The topic should be dealt with seriously, and with respect. Using a “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” curriculum that says “just use discretion and you won’t be caught” conveys the message that infringement is perfectly fine. It says that the end justifies the means. If you were to voice those sentiments to the School Board to approve as goals of a program, they wouldn’t fly; yet they may be current practice. Perhaps a technology skills curriculum audit is in order, along with the software audit.






Resources:
http://www.teachertube.com/video/copyright-for-educators-multimedia-episode-5-35504

School News, Whitney Hollifield

I am not a practicing media specialist, but I do work in a high school where I teach a technology class.  Our school has an excellent video broadcasting class, but we do not have any video distribution across our school of any kind.  In the business/vocational department, we show CNN Student News daily.  It is a ten-minute news broadcast highlighting current world events.  Every room in our school has an ActivBoard, so it can be streamed that way through the Internet by going to Cnnstudentnews.com.  My students enjoy it, but as for local or “in-house” news, we have none.   Our VB class creates a slideshow of announcements that stream across the TVs in the cafeteria at lunch.  I think school news would be an awesome alternative to announcements over the intercom, but we aren’t there yet.  We certainly have the technology resources, but I imagine it takes a lot of time behind the scenes, so it hasn’t quite come together yet.  I am interested to hear if other schools have school news.  Is this something the media specialist works directly with, or do you also have a broadcasting class?  How much time and effort is put into this?

I had never used the Georgia PublicBroadcasting resources (www.gpb.org/education), but given the amount of technology used in our school and especially my classroom, it would be very easy to implement, so I checked it out and found some of it interesting and useful.  There are several educational series/shows that are aligned to specific curriculums and specific age groups.  Students love any time they get to watch something. I highly recommend checking out the site if you have the capabilities of Internet streaming in your classroom.  The “webisodes” are short, sweet, and educational, and would make for a great warm up, conversation starter, etc. 

School News (blog 4) - Meghen Bassel (Group 3, Student 1)

   School News Programs

When searching for school distribution services I discovered there are a large number of companies targeting this feature in schools.  The ability to share information via video often seems to fall on the media specialist in schools.  Therefore, it is important to be aware of current capability and options.  Since most media specialists are not experts in this area, it will be important to consult the technology department in the district.  They can provide the information needed and guide decisions for best outcome. 

Good websites that offer video distribution services:

http://www.z-band.com/markets/education/
http://www.central-inc.com/index.php/products-and-services/video-distribution-systems
http://www.ket.org/education/schoolcoordinator.htm  
http://vbrick.com/products#

According to Joshua Bolkan of The Journal, “Schools are using digital video production in their efforts to foster 21st century skills in their students. Administrators are finding that these programs can also reach out to disconnected students and strengthen school community, with kids as young as 5 years old contributing.” (2011)  These news programs do more than simply share school news.  Administrators report that student digital news programs can help meet state targets in various areas.  In many areas, news programs exist to replace assemblies and protect precious instructional time.  

Anh Ngyuen-Johnson noted that she felt her program was especially beneficial when students were separated into groups that focused on the different areas of the video production.  Students could choose the area they had the most connection to which caused their participation to rise.  Some schools try to recruit students who are in the most need of such interaction and positivity for key roles.  

An excellent example of a school news program can be found at:

http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools/forestpark/310.htm

While some schools create their own news programs, other rely on the news provided by outside organizations.  Some popular shows include:

Channel One – created with the goal to “encourage young people to be informed global citizens”
CNN Student News – “a ten-minute, commercial-free, daily news program designed for middle and high school classes”

Georgia offers the Georgia Public Broadcasting program, which allows teachers to show recorded programs to students.  There is a separate video area that has a search option.  Additionally, there is an area within the video section that is purely devoted to education:

Unfortunately, the school I work in is in a transition period technologically.  At the moment, we do not have the capability to use a live cabled video distribution system.  Instead, we rely on movie files (.avi or .wav) to be uploaded to our faculty shared drive for viewing.  This is how our news and pledge of allegiance are spread.  We have a special class that meets once a week that focuses on “news” for the school.  That class creates approximately one news segment per month and is limited to 3^rd – 5^th grade participation.  The art and music teachers at the school conduct the class and the media specialist has little to no involvement.  Students are allowed to choose a special class to be part of (a SEM class) and those students who meet the grade level requirement and have the desire to be in the class are allowed.  Most students get to conduct at least on interview for each news episode.  We hope that the future will bring the ability to broadcast live news shows.

REFERENCE
Joshua, B. (2011, January 1). Schools Build Community with Student News Programs -- THE Journal. Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2011/03/08/Schools-Build-Community-with-Student-News-Programs.aspx?Page=1