copyright – iLearn Technology

My Online Neighborhood: Internet Safety

March 23, 2011March 23, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2206 views

What it is: I learned about this gem of a video today from my friend @techfacil. My Online Neighborhood is a video created by Common Sense Media. The video is a great way to introduce kindergarten through third grade students to online safety. I like how this video compares the online world with the real world. This helps students understand the rules in a way that goes deeper than just following the rules because we say so. The video approaches Internet safety in a fun way through the eyes of a student, as you will see above, it is very well done!

How to integrate My Online Neighborhood into the classroom: My Online Neighborhood is a nice entry point for teaching Internet safety. Use the video to spur classroom discussions about online safety. The video also makes a nice lead in to the Internet safety lessons from Common Sense Media on Digital Life (sending email, online communities, rings of responsibility), Privacy (follow the digital trail), Connected Culture (screen out the mean, show respect online, power of words, group think, writing good emails), and Respecting Creative Work (whose is it, anyway?). These units and lessons are detailed, fun, and get right to the heart of the matter of raising digitally responsible citizens. The lesson plans are leveled by grade and can be used for kindergarten through fifth grade.

Tips: There are some fantastic parent tips and resources on the Common Sense Media website, be sure to share them with your families so that online safety is modeled and reinforced at home.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using My Online Neighborhood in your classroom!

Copyright Exposed: Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright

August 18, 2010Kelly Tenkely59 Comments9955 views

What it is: Copyright can be tricky for students (and adults) to understand. Copyright Exposed: Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright does a good job of just that, taking the mystery out of copyright. Here your students will watch a short video/comic that explains copyright. Next, students can explore how copyright came to be by looking at the milestone files on record. Reading the Fine Print helps students answer questions such as: “Do I have to register a copyright to secure protection?”; “If it’s on the Internet can I use it?”; and “Is it okay to use up to 5% of someone else’s work?”. Finally, students can learn what steps they need to take to secure a copyright for their work.

How to integrate Copyright Exposed: Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright into your curriculum: Copyright law is important to teach our students of all ages. As soon as we ask students to create original work, we should be teaching them about copyright. I always found copyright difficult to teach, students had a hard time understanding what was fair use and when they were violating copyright. It didn’t help that many of the adults in their lives weren’t model good copyright habits. When students create their own original work, and you can walk them through the copyright process, it starts to resonate with them more. Students may think nothing of “borrowing” something off of the Internet for their own use without permission but when they think about someone else claiming the work they created, they start to feel differently about it. Copyright Exposed is an excellent presentation/site to go through as a class. It helps answer those “sticky” situations of fair use, owning a copyright, and using content from the Internet. The site is written in easy-to-understand language so students will have no trouble following along. Students can navigate this site independently, but I prefer using it with a projector where the whole class can work through copyright together and discuss what they are learning with others.

Tips: I wrote about Cyberbee in 2008, it is another great site for teaching about Copyright!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Copyright Exposed: Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright in your classroom!

Faux Paw and the Dangerous Download

October 12, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment5157 views

What it is: I love iKeep Safe and have blogged about it in the past as an excellent introduction and support for Internet Safety. I learned today about a new Faux Paw book and video called “Faux Paw and the Dangerous Download”. In Faux Paw the Techno Cat’s new adventure, she learns that downloading is a great way to get information, but only when it is done the right way. Faux Paw uses a risky new file sharing program to download a song and learns a lesson the hard way. The video is extremely relevant to the online world that our kids live in and teaches a valuable lesson about illegal file sharing. You can download the pdf version of the book or watch the video (created specifically for iPods but can be viewed with a Quick Time player as well).

How to integrate Faux Paw and the Dangerous Download into the classroom: This is a well made video, book, and story to share with elementary students. The cartoon is easy to understand and will help younger students grasp the difficult concept of illegal downloading and the problems it can cause. Often students can’t discern between safe and non-safe websites and why getting something for “free” isn’t always a good idea. Use this video as part of your Internet safety unit, as an introduction to copyright, or as part of your character education program.

Tips: The Faux Paw series is worth owning. You can purchase books and DVDs for your library. Students will love being able to check out these books to read again and again.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Faux Paw and the Dangerous Download in your classroom.

Welcome to the Web

June 24, 2009June 30, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4762 views

What it is: Welcome to the Web is an interactive website that teaches students all about the Internet through challenges and activities. There are seven sections of activities and learning on Welcome to the Web. The first section teaches students how to use the site. Section 2 teaches students about the basic concepts involved in the Internet, it also gives some valuable practice navigating and visiting websites. Section 3 is all about staying safe online by following SMART rules, student understanding is tested using interactive activities and fun quizzes. Section 4 helps students learn more about their web browser and its features. In section 5 students will learn how to search effectively and safely in search engines. Section 6 helps students understand copyright. The last section invites students to compete in a challenge that requires them to use all of the skills they learned to catch the creator of a computer virus. When the challenge has been completed, students can print out a certificate of completion. Each section of this site comes with accompanying worksheets to be used with the site. These don’t have to be used in order to use the site effectively. Throughout the site, students can ‘hover’ the mouse over an underlined word and a definition will pop up.

How to integrate Welcome to the Web into the classroom: Welcome to the Web is an excellent road map to the Internet. Every computer lab should use Welcome to the Web to help students understand the Internet and use it effectively. The way the site is broken down into sections is extremelly helpful for a computer lab setting where students may not be able to get through the entire site in one day. Start each class for 7 periods with Welcome to the Web. If you don’t have a computer lab, students can learn about the web as a class using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Encourage all students to participate on the journey. Make a big deal of completing all of the sections on this site. I like to make my students an Internet Driver’s licenses when they have shown their understanding of Internet safety rules. This would be a great site to tie into other computer lessons!

Tips: Welcome to the Web is part of Mark Warner’s excellent site Teaching Ideas.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Welcome to the Web in your classroom.

Cyberbee Copyright Application

October 31, 2008Kelly Tenkely3 Comments3581 views

What it is: Cyberbee Copyright is an online flash application to teach students about copyright laws. Copyright laws can be difficult to teach and difficult for students to understand. Cyberbee makes it simple. The flash site features students raising their hands, each asking a different question about copyright issues. When students “call” on the cyber student, they get the answer to the question. The site uses language that is easy for students to understand.

How to integrate Cyberbee Copyright Application into the classroom: This is a great site to introduce your students to before any research project. The interactive nature of the site makes it perfect for an interactive whiteboard and whole class participation. The Cyberbee Copyright Application is a site to bookmark on your classroom, library, and computer lab computers. Students can refer to the site often to refresh themselves on copyright laws.

Tips: Take a look at the other offerings of Cyberbee for research projects. You will find web evaluation resources, citing electronic sources, a quick site tool, and more!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Cyberbee Copyright Application in your classroom.