Powers,+Roberta

__**Module 1:**__

After reading the module and viewing the videos, I think that my school district's AUP is fairly outdated. It was originally made in 2000 and last revised in 2005 by or District Technology Committee. I don't think that it properly address the current advances in technology and cyber usage. Our AUP is rather reactive rather than proactive and although the language is easily understood, I don't think that it clearly states what the consequences should be for a violation of usage. While the AUP requires both parent and student signatures, the provisions are not gone over directly with either the parents or the students before they sign it. I don't think our AUP does a sufficient job of addressing the issues of e-safety, plagarism, or cyberbullying.

I was especially interested in the 1st video that discussed the current issues of personal devices and how in our current age of technology, we need to have some specific guidelines about their in the school environment. What are the standards of behavior in these situations? How should my school address them? I think my AUP needs to specifically address the ethics, expectations and efficient use of technology. We also need to look at how we are educating both parents and students effectively about the contents of the AUP. I think that AUP's are essential in today's current world because students are becoming increasingly able to access all kinds of things on the Internet, some of which are definitely not appropriate. While we cannot monitor their activities at home, we can provide them with education about appropriate usage for children of their age. I also think my school could do a better job of educating the parents about what the appropriate usage is for their child and how to monitor their activities.

After reading the templates of other schools AUP/RUP's this is a list of things I think my school district needs to address:
 * Use of personal devices ( 1st video), specifically how to record usage
 * Be more specific about what the expectations of behavior are
 * Use example from Birch Hill: i liked how this template specifically addressed e-safety issues regarding internet access, e-mail, published content, social networking and managing emerging technologies. I also like that contain provisions about communications with parents (e-mail and texting!) and their plan to address e-safety complaints.
 * Oak Ridge Elementary: "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all" to address the issue of cyberbullying
 * Wayne County: good language about responsible use and liability for laptop usage and for netiquette
 * Like the social media permission form and the terms of responsible blogging

Education World had specific guidelines about what should be in an AUP:
 * 1) a preamble- the needs, goals of the AUP and the school's overall "code of conduct and how that applies to student online activity"
 * 2) a definition section- what the key words are in the AUP, such as internet, network to assure parent/student comprehension
 * 3) a policy statement - what computer services are specifically covered with the AUP and student use of computers
 * 4) an acceptable uses section
 * 5) an unacceptable uses section--for example what sites are off limit and what kinds of behavior are restricted.
 * 6) a violations/sanctions section

I really don't think our AUP is well understood by parents, students and teachers. I think that it should be reviewed in detail with our students ( perhaps in our first Monday morning meeting) and with parents at Back to School night. I don't think we should just send home the AUP with the registration packets. I don't think that parents or students should sign it without educating them first about what the provisions of the AUP are.


 * __Module 2:__**

Most of the information about copyright law I was familiar with in terms of plagarism. I am also aware of the law as her pertains to reproducing materials for classroom. I knew that it was a violation of the law to reuse someone's else's work without their permission. I did learn through the module the specific things that constitute a violation, specifically that it would deprive the author of income. I teach my students how to write informational text and in doing so, instruct them that using someone's words as there own is a violation of copyright law. I haven't done as much with this with Internet information, but more with printed material. I do see the need to instruct them how to process the information available to them on the Internet. I would like to give them some more information about the Fair Use Provision, specifically how it relates to student usage of copyrighted materials. I also want them to realize that just because is posted on the Internet does not mean that the material is in the public domain. As a matter of fact, I learned through this module that as of 6/1/89, everything that is created by an original owner is copyrighted, whether or not a notice of copyright was filed. I don't think that I model the correct use of copyrighted materials other than the issue of plagarism and the printed word. I would like to give more direct instruction on how that pertains to graphics, multimedia, music web postings, links and the social media. I think as a matter of fact I have probably violated copyright laws by sharing links with other people. I would like to follow some advice that I got in the module...'if you're not sure, ask permission!" I think that are probably daily violations of the copyright law at my school. Specifically in copying things for student use in regards to consumable materials. I see teachers doing that every day, but I think they don't think its a violation when its only for student use in the classroom. Since publishers make a profit from consumables, they are in violation of the law. Another observation I have noticed relates to videos. I know that they are okay to use for direct instructional purposes, what I didn't know was that they can be used for entertainment purposes within the classroom setting. Many of my collegues will put on a video during rainy day recess to keep the kids calm, we can't do that! I plan on telling them this at our next staff meeting.

These days I think that people violate copyright laws without even realizing it. Since there is so much information at our fingertips, we don't think twice about using it. Most people assume that if something is posted on the web, it is in the public domain. That's not true! I think what we have to remember is that if the material is something original, then we cannot use it without permission. I would like to post the Fair Use Provisions that exclude violations of the copyright law in our computer lab. These are codified in Section 107 of the Copyright Act, > for criticism I also got this from the reading material as well: Those guidelines allow educators, under most circumstances, to copy
 * ## the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
 * 1) the nature of the copyrighted work.
 * 2) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
 * 3) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
 * comment
 * newsreporting
 * teaching
 * scholarship
 * research
 * The exclusions, according to the module, directly relate to purpose, nature, amount and effect. I did not know that the general rule of thumb is that up to 10% of the material can be used without obtaining permission. I was able to cut and paste this without violating any copyright laws because of the Fair Use provisions!
 * a single chapter from a book
 * an excerpt from a work that combines language and illustrations, such as a children's book, not exceeding two pages or 10 percent of the work, whichever is less
 * a poem of 250 words or less or up to 250 words of a longer poem
 * an article, short story, or essay of 2,500 words or less, or excerpts of up to 1,000 words or 10 percent of a longer work, whichever is less; or
 * a single chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.

I think these guidelines will help immensely in the classroom for my personal usage as well in instructing my students about what fair use is. From the module, I would also like to help my students understand that they are able to only use material from the internet in a limited matter.


 * These days, almost all things are copyrighted the moment they are written, and no copyright notice is required.
 * Copyright is still violated whether you charged money or not, only damages are affected by that.
 * Postings to the net are not granted to the public domain, and don't grant you any permission to do further copying except **perhaps** the sort of copying the poster might have expected in the ordinary flow of the net.
 * Fair use is a complex doctrine meant to allow certain valuable social purposes. Ask yourself why you are republishing what you are posting and why you couldn't have just rewritten it in your own words.
 * Copyright is not lost because you don't defend it; that's a concept from trademark law. The ownership of names is also from trademark law, so don't say somebody has a name copyrighted.
 * Fan fiction and other work derived from copyrighted works is a copyright violation.
 * Copyright law is mostly civil law where the special rights of criminal defendants you hear so much about don't apply. Watch out, however, as new laws are moving copyright violation into the criminal realm.
 * Don't rationalize that you are helping the copyright holder; often it's not that hard to ask permission.
 * Posting E-mail is technically a violation, but revealing facts from E-mail you got isn't, and for almost all typical E-mail, nobody could wring any damages from you for posting it. The law doesn't do much to protect works with no commercial value.

I think that it is important to have copyrighted laws to protect the original creator of any work. I am pleased to discover that once something is originally created and posted on the Internet that it immediately has a copyright and therefore entitled to receive any income derived from their work. That is the most important reason to have copyright laws. People need to be compensated for their work!

Other than the video for entertainment clause, I also found it surprising that it is a violation to download more than 5 images from a single artist.

For my final project, I would like to incorporate some of the ideas from Renee Hobbs as well the information on cyberbee.com, creativecommons.com and noodletools.com. I would also like to have my students create some posters about Fair Use that can be displayed in the classroom as well as the computer lab,


 * __Module 3:__**

. After completing the reading for this module, I actually don't think I do a very good job at all of teaching my students ho w to be good digital citizens. I do see the direct connection between how we teach students to be good citizens, with character. We have character building program at our school called "Character Counts", where we focus on one pillar a month (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship). I can envision using this model to teach my students about the Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship. The information in the article, "Developing Thoughtful Cybercitizens" by Michael and Ilene Benson had some great analogies between building students with good character and building good digital citizens. I want my students to be making safe and responsible choices when they use the internet, just like I expect to make good behavior choices inside the classroom. I really think that it is appropriate to scaffold the expectations of digital citizenship beginning in Kindergarten. The website k12digitalcitizenship had some great ideas on how to teach this in a practical manner. I would also like to incorporate child pledge of digital citizenship that I saw on the digitalcitizenship website.

I think in my classroom, the best way to integrate the expectations of digital citizenship is through writing and social studies curriculum. When modeling for the students how to do research on the internet, I can help them to navigate the enormous amount of information on the internet. We can discuss what the elements of digital citizenship are. I have also been doing some work on edmodo and I think that is a great avenue to help my students communicate properly on the internet. I really liked the quiz on cybercitizenship and I think that is a good opener to discuss and model digital citizenship. I am the Student Council teacher advisor for my school and am thinking how they might possibly get involved with teaching the younger students, perhaps making posters and going into classrooms themselves to model behavior.

I think that elements of digital citizenship as well as netiquette need to be incorporated into the AUP/RUP for my district. I really think the information from the cybersmartcurriculum.org website are fantastic lessons for teaching both students and parents about digital citizenship and netiquette. Again, I really seeing the need to include this with my presentation to parents at the beginning of the school year.

I actually had an incident of cyberbullying with my students a couple of years ago with text messaging. My school does not allow students to use cell phones on campus, but the incident occurred after school hours. My student was feeling depressed, fearful, and afraid to come to school. When she told what was happening, I went to the principal and the parents were notified about what was happening. The bullying stopped immediately. This situation was discussed at the next staff meeting and we agreed to treat cyberbullying in the same way we deal with bullying on campus, we have a zero tolerance policy. We have something called a "Take-Notice" and a "Serious Notice" that is completed by the principal and signed by the parents. A "Serious Notice" can result in the student being suspended. The parents are aware of the schoolwide policy. An act of bullying can result in a "Serious Notice" and a student could be suspended depending on the severity of the incident. Again, a valid AUP/RUP that contains digital citizenship, netiquette and cyberbullying provisions is essential in today's constantly changing technology world.

I really feel that I can integrate the netiquette rules from the albion.com website. They are very student friendly and my students would be able to connect easily to the presentation of the rules. The "Miss Manners" video also caught my eye as a resource for instructing my students. My top resources from this module for integrating/teaching my students about digital citizenship, netiquette and cyberbullying are:
 * cybersmartcurriculum.org
 * albion.com
 * cybercitizenship.org
 * cybercrime.gov (has AUP for cybercitizenship)
 * k12digitalcitzenship.wikispaces.com

I also thought the following from the Cybervillage site would be extremely helpful for both students and parents about being safe on the Internet: What Can Children Do To Protect Themselves?

The American Library Association's Five Basic Rules for Internet Safety for children are:


 * Never give your name, address, phone number, or school name to anyone you meet online.


 * Never go into a new online area that will cost extra without asking your parents' permission.


 * Never give out a credit card number online.


 * Never arrange to meet in person with someone you have met online unless you discuss it with your parents and an adult goes with you to a very public place.


 * Always tell your parents or other adult you trust if you see something online that is scary or that you do not understand.

It Just Takes Some Common Sense

Here are some commonsense rules to make your trip through the Cybervillage safer and more pleasant:


 * Set up the computer with the monitor facing into the room so that you can see it.


 * Put the computer in a "family" or high-traffic area.


 * Every Internet browser has a "history" file that shows what sites have been visited and the time of access. Set this file to keep the history for several days and check it periodically. If the file has been erased, ask why (a good family rule: only Mom or Dad is allowed to erase the history file; violations will result in loss of computer privileges).

i Do Not React--Respond
 * Learn how to use the Internet yourself.


 * __Module 4:__**

I think that the best way to teach my students about cyberbullying is through the outline that I made for the assignment for this module. I think that just as we have specific expectations for school behavior, we should have the same for digital behavior as well. There should be consequences for not behaving appropriately on the internet, just like there are in my classroom and at school. I would address the issue of cyberbullying just as I do any other improper behavior choice. The first step as far as someone I suspected of being cyberbullying would be to talk to the student and get the details of the incident. I would then talk to the "bully". I would first expect the 'bully' to take responsibility for his/her actions. I would use the conflict resolution model to try to solve the problem. I would then notify both parents and the 'bully" would have consequences both at school and hopefully at home for their behavior.

I think the presentation that I will give at Back to School Night will inform the parents about the effects and implications of bullies and their victims. I would encourage them to be active parents and monitor their child's internet (as well as texting) usage. I would encourage them to have open dialogue on a daily basis of how and what they are communicating with others. Unfortunately, home use to be the one place where a child felt safe from bullies and this is not necessarily true anymore.

As far as the videos is this module go, I would use the youtube video about smartphones to illustrate to them just how easy it is for other people to find out information about you! I also like the video about facebook usage and the "Delete, Block, and Tell" message.


 * __Module 5:__**

For my age group of students, I think that the abc evaluation from Kathy Schrock's website would be very useful. I also like the website validity evaluation form that is available at lib.berkeley, although I would need to modify it for my students. The CARS (Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, Support) at virtualsalt.com also looks like something that would be useful for 5th graders to help them learn how to check to see if the information that they are looking at on the internet is accurate. Since I teach my students how to do research via my social studies curriculum, I think that is how I will be able to instruct them on how to validate the information they are looking at. Before looking at actual websites, I would have the class look at and evaluate the websites at allaboutexplorers.com and martlinlutherking.org using one on the evaluation forms above. Then we could look at a website together about California and test it for validity. ThIs is also a perfect time to teach my students about plagarism. The video "Plagarism Don't Do It" is a perfect segue to show them how to read information, paraphrase it and put it in their own words. I can have them use the checklist on kidshealth.org to made sure that they are not making someone else's work their own.

I was thrilled to see that Bloom's Taxonomy has been updated to address the digital age! The higher order thinking skills that I think are age appropriate for my students revolve around Remember (bullets, highlighting, bookmarking, searching, googling) and Understanding (advanced and boolean searches, commenting). I think that some of my students are able to to Apply and Analyze as well. I would like to help them Evaluate and Create by utilizing my website on Edmodo. On this website I can evaluate their postings and advise them the proper ways to communicate appropriately. I think that my age group of students is a perfect time to instruct them about how to be an informed and critical users of the Internet.

The videos in this module are a little advanced for my students but I think that I could show them segments of the "Internet Skills: How to Evaluate a Website" with the CAPOW method. I really like the CRAP method as well, but I would need to come up with a different acronym for it!. Of all of the resources, I think that the Kathy Schrock website has the most information that is applicable to my students. I also think that the resources on the virtualsalt website are valuable as well.

**__Module 6:__** I think it all of our responsibilities to educate children on all the aspects of digital citizenship, especially in terms of rights and responsibilities as well as conduct and behavior. As I watched the video, I see this not as an option in the classroom, but a priority. Throughout this course, I have made constant analogies between what our behavioral expectations are and digital citizenship. I agree with the panel that this expectations need to be scaffolded and started at the Kindergarten level. I totally agreed with Ann Coller and her view that we can combat these antisocial behaviors by teaching children how to be GOOD to one another. We all need to do that on a daily basis. With our every changing technology, this has to be an integral part of how we raise children in the 21st century. The conversations educators and parents have with children about moral and ethical behavior must now include the use of the internet as well. These conversations should begin the moment a child picks up any kind of digital device :)