We love the many ways teachers in the district are guiding student-centered conversations about building positive digital footprints, protecting online privacy, and confronting cyberbullying. A shout out to Common Sense Media, iKeepSafe, and Netsmartz for the wealth of free resources and lessons you provide to schools on these key digital citizenship topics.
EGUSD’s 4 digital citizenship themes – BY NC SA
There is a fourth digital citizenship topic that many teachers are increasingly recognizing the need to address: intellectual property. By 5th grade, most students have been warned about the consequences of plagiarism, a conversation that is typically repeated throughout their middle and high school days. While plagiarism is certainly an important topic, in a digital age, copyright, fair use, and Creative Commons also need to be included in the conversations. Given how easy it has become to download, copy, remix, and upload online content, students need to have an understanding of both their intellectual property rights and responsibilities.
Digital ID Project’s 4 digital citizenship foci – BY NC SA
As a co-directors of the district’s Digital Citizenship initiative and co-curators of the Digital ID project, we are always seeking teacher-friendly/student-friendly resources on intellectual property. We also facilitate district-wide and national workshops ( e.g., CUE and ISTE) to help teachers understand that copyright is different from plagiarism and that fair use and Creative Commons are also options for our students.
Based on questions from workshop participants, two years ago we created Can I Use That? A Guide for Teaching about Creative Commons. We always review the guide prior to a workshop to check if we need to update any information or add new resources. This year, in preparation for the March CUE Conference, we’re adding a #HyperDocs* lesson that invites students to delve into copyright, flex their fair use muscles, and license their own creations via Creative Commons. So here it is: Can I Use That? Exploring Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons.
If you have questions about the lesson or suggestions for updates to the Guide, please respond with a comment below.
*#HperDocs is a term invented by @LHighfill. Lisa Highfill was our featured keynote speaker for our EGUSD January 28 Digital Kids, Digital Classrooms Saturday Seminar.
