April 2008 – Page 3 – Learning Aloud

Washington Post – Education Favorites

I follow technology and columns from the Washington Post. I must admit this is a matter of habit and I cannot really remember why I started. Let’s just call it inertia. Anyway, the Post published a list of favorite education blogs for 2008. If I remember the post, the section writer asked an ed blogger friend for help and together the list is a product of their collaborative effort.

I must admit most suggstions I have not encountered before. I guess there is nothing wrong with expanding my personal RSS list and this may be a place to begin. Checking out the picks of someone outside your normal clique may be a way to avoid the typical spin cycle.

No, I am not on the list. I think the only list I make is my own.

Ask Useful Questions – Collect Meaningful Data

Access to EdWeeks’ Technology Counts issue used to be a big deal for me. The resource served as a source of information on student access to technology and we used the data in our writing activities. I used to even buy the special issue so I could carefully examine the numbers.

I have grown more and more disappointed in the direction this publication has taken and the value of the data provided. More and more the topics seem to concern whether policies are in place. I want to know what kids are doing with technology.

For the past several years, I have read the headings, was exited to learn what was happening, and ultimately ended up disappointed in what I learned. Here is what I mean. Use of Technology. What does that imply to you? Here is what Technology Counts was able to offer on the “Use of Technology” in North Dakota.

This looks like the results of a survey sent to Departments of Public Instruction.

Would you liberalize fair use if you could?

Ed bloggers (here unnamed) have latched on to a School Library Journal article suggesting educators often unnecessarily limit themselves (and their students) with a conservative interpretation of fair use.

Fear and guilt seemed regularly in the way of innovative teaching and creative expression.

While I am not a lawyer (anyone who comments on copyright says this, so I will too), but I have written on the issues of copyright and fair use as these issues relate to student created multimedia in our books for future educators. I am likely one of those people who takes a conservative position based on my reading of the law and the participatory activities I feel are of greatest educational value.

The “take a more liberal few of fair use” seems to focus on promoting the value of transformation as unique expression.

What I would like to see are classroom examples arguing for the need for “mix-up, mash-up” projects. I want such examples so I can ask myself and others whether such projects would really be the best choice for engaging students. Why not focus on projects that require students to create their own content from scratch – take your own pictures, write your own prose? Why not share resources with other classrooms if location is an issue? I am not suggesting that it would be impossible to create a scenario in which repurposing the work of another might be necessary, but I am thinking such situations would be extremely rare and creative opportunities by their nature are basically unlimited.

I think a more significant issue is the confusion articles such as the Library Journal create. Will educators read the article carefully enough to inform their practice? Is the article informative enough to inform practice? Will the impression that others are doing it serve as an excuse? Are Grateful Dead concert posters really cultural history? Will people who advocate mash-ups as good education understand what the previous question meant?

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