Creative Commons news

CC BY 4.0 required on U.S. Department of Labor $150M grant http://feedly.com/e/ajyxg5wd

Weekly Report and Reflection Blog Post #10

Retrieved from: University of Fraser
 (http://blogs.ufv.ca/cmns)

          This week I had the opportunity to learn about copyright and creative commons. Copyright is a set of laws put together to protect creators of text, videos, images and artistic work from being copied and/or reproduced without the creator's permission. With the increase in technology, it is becoming even more difficult to manage illegal use of material by the general public. It can be so easy to copy and paste information without seeking permission.           
          Creative Commons seeks to do just the opposite of Copyright. It is a set of legal documents drawn up for people who would like to share their work. It is free and users of creative commons can state whether they would like their work to be shared or not and whether it can be altered in any way or not. In their website, Creative Commons states that they "help you share your knowledge and creativity with the world" they develop and support "... legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing and innovation."

Retrieved from:theoldguys.blogspot.com

          It's based that no work is new work and from the very beginning, people use other peoples work to build upon and improve to be enjoyed by future generations. An example of how it works is Flickr where work of people are available to be shared. I believe that this is a fabulous idea in that digital citizens can create work based on other work while at the same time be responsible and not run the risk of using work illegally.
          In my evolution as digital immigrant I am happy to be exposed to all these digital tools that are available out there. This week for example, I explored and was somewhat fascinated with Animoto which is a very fun simple way of creating slideshows that can be used in a number of settings. In this case I attempted to use the free version to create a short presentation on Copyright.
I must say that I intend to explore further uses for this within my PLE. I hope to engage my audience which ranges from my children to classmates to my work peers. I believe that it's a fun way to capture their attention.
          Animoto and Flickr will be great tools in my PLE as I can use them to gather and share information both on a social and an educational level. I have learned to pay attention to properly citing work of others and that there are other ways of obtaining material that is free and available for use without legal implications. In my journey thus far I have gained knowledge that will allow me to be more resourceful, collaborative, digitally responsible, digitally secure and aware of what is required to successfully participate in an ever increasing digital world!

            Below is embedded my first attempt at a video presentation that I created using Animoto. Check it out and feel free to comment on what you think. I hope that you have as much fun viewing it as I had putting it together.

Copyright. Badal,E. (cc)2014.


Image 1, retrieved from:
http://www.wikispaces.psu.edu (Copyright in Cyberspace).

Image 2, retrieved from:
http://www.myfreestreaming (movies.com)

Image 3, retrieved from:
http://www.lumaxart.com

Image 4, retrieved from:
http://www.jenniferdeshler.com (sharing our stories)

Image 5, retrieved from:
http://www.njea.org (Digital Citizenship: responsible technology use in the classroom)


Additional reading from Feedly:  http://feedly.com/e/ajyxg5wd 

Genie.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Technology Use Scenario 9

Scenario 9:

Jaime has persuaded her parents to let her talk to her friends in an online chat room. Many of the people in the chat room are Jamie's friends, but there are some people she does not know. For several days, she has notices one if these individuals talking to some of her friends. Now, this person is starting to ask Jamie about herself and what she looks like. Jamie becomes uncomfortable and logs off the chat room. Later that evening, she talks to her parents and mentions the person in the chat room and how it made her feel.

Badal,E. (cc)2014.

Initially Jamie has started off on the right track by seeking her parents' permission before engaging in online chatting. There can be very serious implications to children chatting online.  An article written by the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation - Publications ( A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety) states that "There are individuals who attempt to sexually exploit children through the use of on-line services and the Internet. Some of these individuals gradually seduce their targets through the use of attention, affection, kindness, and even gifts".  In this case she was displaying appropriate use of technology by  first requesting permission, secondly recognising a potential threat and thirdly reporting it to her parents in a timely manner expressing her discomfort.  Jamie should be applauded for being very responsible.

Genie.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Voice Threads

I’ve had the opportunity this week to explore the use of Voice Threads in my ADED 1P32 class. This allows collaborators to connect on specific topics of interest. Your contribution can be made by registering to the forum and comment using Voice recording, Video recording or text input. This can be used with great success by a community of learners who wish to share information or engage in dialog with peers on any topic of interest.

This can be beneficial to both professionals in the field or students who wish to make use of the wealth of ideas available to them from people with varied levels of education and different life experiences. 
Check out the link below!

http://voicethread.com/

Genie.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Weekly Report & Reflection blog post # 8

        I've been on the user end of wiki's thus far; mainly learning from Wikipedia. I've never contributed to the wikis but I do appreciate the insight gained from the wealth of knowledge out there. In the case of Wiki's, the knowledge that is being imparted to the end user comes from a diverse authorship as opposed to one body. This allows for a broader view of topics through different lenses.

            After exploring wikis in this session, I now see the use of them beyond an online reference tool; I have seen the personal advantage of it now and may even use it in the future. I have however quickly become a fan of Google Chrome and all of its Apps. I have backed up many of my schoolwork documents in the cloud . I love the fact that all my apps and features are integrated into one platform and can be accessed across devices as long as you have internet connectivity.

            Last week I had the pleasure of working with two classmates from different courses using Google Docs. Interestingly enough one was a younger student, who was seemingly tech savvy and the other was an older adult with limited computer skills. Both were unfamiliar with Google docs but had no problems navigating the "docs" app!

         Alongside the embracing of new technologies, I recognise that there comes Digital Rights and Responsibilities. They are the "privileges and freedom extended to all digital technology users, and the behavioral expectations that come with them" (Ribble & Bailey, 2007).  Using technology responsibly involves an understanding of many issues. We want to be safe and act responsibly when using technology, therefore we must understand the rules for technology and act morally, ethically and legally to have positive online experiences. 

         Using technology responsibly involves an understanding of many issues. We want to be safe and act responsibly when using technology, therefore we must understand the rules for technology and act morally, ethically and legally to have safe experiences online.  Below, I have indentified, what I deem to be three of the more important aspects of Digital Responsibility:

        Plagiarism - Students should be taught how to use material they find online appropriately. Many of us are not well informed about copyright, it's meaning nor consequences. We must cite material and acknowledge the work of anyone besides ourselves.

        Cyber bullying - Threatening others through technology is an inappropriate use of technology. Within recent times, cyber bullying has been on the increase. In many cases suicide as been traced back to this type of bullying leaving the often unaware/uninformed attacker to face serious criminal charges.

Privacy/Security - As responsible, proactive digital citizens, we should recognize the potential risk that information sharing poses to all of us. "...as responsible citizens, we must protect our information from outside forces that might cause disruption or harm.” (Ribble, 2014). Identity thieves, hackers and viruses are only  a few of the many online threats that should encourage to practice digital safety.

         In order to become digital citizens we must understand the rights and responsibilities as participants in the digital world. Safe, informed and appropriate practices online will enable us to engage in positively with technology.

Genie.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Digital Responsibility image: Badal,E. (cc)2014.

Wiki image retrieved from: http://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/class-wiki/

Weekly Report & Reflection blog post # 7

This week I was challenged to complete a collaborative group project that had to be done completely online. In retrospect, It was quite unique, posing it's own set of challenges, distinct from any face to face collaborative project that I've ever worked on before. 

Finding a partner: I tried unsuccessfully on Twitter and Sakai to make the link with a few other classmates to complete this project. Finally I was contacted via Twitter by a classmate JW asking if we could work together. I agreed and explain that I was a strictly online/off-campus student so online was the only possible way. 

Maintaining contact: JW and I messaged each other on twitter and shared phone numbers and email addresses to add as alternative methods of communication. 

Decisions: We both quickly decided what topic we would like to do for the project and agreed that we would take the weekend to read the assignment requirements and begin collecting information on topic. That following week, we again made contact via Twitter and Text. We shared our individual research with each other via email, evernote and twitter. 

Bringing it together: We both did sample presentations and shared it with each other via GMail Google Docs. This was an awesome tool that allowed us to create, share, and edit the same document without having it being sent back and forth as an attachment and then each person editing. This saved valuable time. 
A todaysmeet account was set up where we again confirmed details of the final product. From there we pulled slides from both  and incorporated it into one coherent document. We were able to work together in getting the project completed way ahead of schedule and both submitted it two days prior to the due date.

Challenges: Personally I felt very worried as to how my partner would perceive me. Without knowing my personality, work ethics, life schedule, background or abilities, I was at the mercy of a stranger's imagination! Would my distribution and allocation of time be received well? I tried to be as diligent as possible on this assignment without expressing my struggle to manage time with three sons under the age of nine years all with different extra curricular  activities (basketball, soccer and taekwando), different school times, a wife who is working full time and studying and me working full time and doing two courses simultaneously! 
Do I explain and run the risk of sounding like I was making excuses or do I suck it up and give it my all ..... I sucked it up!

In the end the experience was a great one and I must say that my partner was quite good. We did not encounter any roadblocks. We worked around our schedules and got the job done. Using solely online tools we were able to come up with a great project given the specified assignment parameters.
The tools that we used for gathering, sharing and presentation will definitely remain as part of my personal and professional toolkit in enhancing my PLE!

Genie.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi


Image retrieved from: http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning/collaborative-tools-learning

Special Report: Digital Security

Interesting read:

Special Report: Digital Security - WLOS News13 - Top Stories

In becoming a responsible digital citizen

How to Avoid Spreading Myths and Misinformation Online.
http://feedly.com/e/C1J0BKJ6

Weekly Report & Reflection blog post #6

The power to remember everything? ... It must be divine!

When it comes to smarts, elephants are right up there with dolphins, apes and humans, says WCS cognitive scientist Diana Reiss and colleagues at Emory University in Atlanta. They reported in 2006 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA that elephants, like the other mammals in that exclusive circle, are the only animals known to recognize their reflections in a mirror. In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha represents the power of the Supreme Beign that takes away obstacles and and gurantees victory in himan accomplishments.

Ever since I was a child, I heard the saying that "an elephant never forgets". It would seem only logical then that I chose the app that used an elephant in its branding to assist me in remembering and keeping track of everything that I had to do!

My first note was a record of my reflection while watching my son at his Tae Kwon Do classes. I did so on my phone recalling when he was younger and the dreams I had for him and how far we had come as parents. This simple recorded document turned out to be my first personal reflection journal for non-educational purposes. I now continue to record my feelings and thoughts several times a week on evernote often staring them on one device and finishing them on another. Its mobility suites my busy lifestyle!

As a tool to enhance my personal learning, evernote has already proven to be invaluable. I have recorded my thoughts on research topics, bookmarked some articles and pasted some relevant texts to my notes on my project. In class, I now have a few text books, my cellphone and my laptop. Evernote made it possible to store all my notes, pdf's, voice notes, pictures and everything related to my course work. There was some responsibility too (as being a new digital citizen) on my behalf, so I made it a point to inform my professor about evernote and the fact that I may now take notes on my cellphone too! She understood, as prior to now I never used my phone during classtime.

Evernote has quickly become my very own cloud-based database. I use it together with my feedly and google alerts to store relevant content for personal and educational purposes. I definitely would recommend evernote to my peers at work and at school as its usefulness is almost limitless and it is so simple to use.

Genie.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Image retrieved from: http://wallpaperswide9.blogspot.ca/2012/12/lord-ganesh.html