Lately, we’ve been hearing more and more about digital copyrights and fair use in the news and online – particularly with the whole SOPA/PIPA uproar that recently swept the web.

Also, we on the Edublogs support team have been getting more and more complaints and official requests to remove copyrighted content that users have placed on blogs.

The legal jargon with respect to digital copyrights can be confusing – especially since different countries have their own laws and regulations.

With this post, we hope to dispel a few myths and pull together a complete list of resources for teachers and students to use when blogging and working with content online.

Rule #1: You Can’t Use Everything You Find On the Web

This may seem obvious, but judging by the notices we have received, many teachers (and especially students) are under the impression that if it is on the web, then it is up for grabs.

If you and your students keep rule #1 in mind, then everything else should be fine.

Rule #2: There Are Resources You CAN Use

One of the myths out there is that you can’t use any image, video, or content from another website on your blog.

That simply isn’t true, and we’ll cover our favorite sources of “fair use” and “public domain” sources at the end of this post.

It is troubling that while copyright is important to protect the hard work of others, it can also stifle creativity and hamper educational goals. Though SOPA is effectively dead at the moment, there is a legitimate need for newer laws that are built around the open and free-sharing nature of the web.

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This is a guest post written by Janet Moeller-Abercrombie.

Janet teaches at an international school in Asia. She is the author of Expat Educator and a contributing author of 1 to 1 Schools. You can follow her at @jabbacrombie.

A parent once remarked, “You do so many great things at school. I wish I could be a fly on the wall and watch my child in action.”

One of the easiest ways to give parents a glimpse of school is to give students a camera, access to Picasaweb, and a blog.

Give students a camera.

Each week, one or two students are given the classroom job of photographer. The photographer gets to carry a camera throughout the school day, snapping shots he or she finds interesting.

Why not take pictures myself? I like to see life from a student’s point of view. Parents like to see that too. What do students find interesting? humorous? entertaining? Student personalities shine on the playground, in the cafeteria, and in the library – places I don’t often supervise.

Also, my school is located in a large urban area. Students don’t have much playground space. A camera allows them to spend their free time in artistic ways. Here is a video to help students begin to take thoughtful shots:

Students who want to know more about photography can look for additional advice at the EasyPhotography or Kodak sites.

The one rule for student photographers: photography cannot interrupt teacher instruction or other students’ work time. It’s a good idea to let specialist teachers know the rule so that they can enforce it as necessary.

Pairs of students choose the final photos.

Have a pair of students look through the week’s shots and choose the 10-12 best. When pairs decide, they should discuss what makes one shot better than another. How is it framed? Is the camera focused on the subject? Authentic communication around shared experiences is great for second language learners.

Photos are uploaded into Picasaweb.

Picasaweb is free if you don’t use too much storage space. Low storage is the main reason I have students select their 10-12 best photos each week.

In the video below, I show how to upload and how to add captions. For privacy reasons, I don’t allow students to include names with a caption.

Change Picasa Viewing Permission

I once made the mistake of not changing viewing permissions. The slideshow looked beautiful from my computer. The next day, students told me the pictures weren’t visible. Oops. Click on the link to learn how to Change Picasa Viewing Permissions.

Choose slideshow mode and embed the code.

This part is the trickiest (at first). Students get the hang of it rather quickly.

The Final Slideshow…

An example can be found here.

The next week…

My student photographers teach two new student photographers. I’m a big fan of students teaching students. With a little explanation and access to the video tutorials above, students are able to upload slideshows to the class blog with limited teacher intervention.

Once students get into the routine of posting photo slideshows, you are left with posts that all students and parents want to view. Parents who travel or who live far away especially appreciate this glimpse into their child’s school life.

How else might you use Picasa slideshows in your blog?

Last week, we got a question at Edublogs from Larry Ferlazzo asking if he was able to add SpeakPipe to his blog. We had never heard of the new service – but it turns out, as Larry shares here, he certainly could!

SpeakPipe is still in beta, which is a way for the company behind the service to allow for it to be used, but they are open about the fact that their might be a few bugs or missing features.

What this does is place a nifty “Send Voicemail” button on the side of your blog where visitors can make a recording which is then emailed to you. You can access the mp3 recording from their website, or you can even download the file to keep.

In less than five minutes, I was able to create a free SpeakPipe account, add the widget to my blog, and make my first recording! I’ll show you how below.

Why Would I Use This?

The more I thought about this, the more uses for SpeakPipe on a blog came to mind:

• Reading fluency assessments
• Language learners speaking practice
• Projects and presentations of all kinds
• Band or choir chair tests and auditions
• Providing feedback to students on their own blogs

Surely there are more – leave your ideas in the comments below!

Adding SpeakPipe to a Blog

1. Go to SpeakPipe.com and create an new account

2. Go to ‘Settings’ in the top right after logging into your new account

3. Scroll to the bottom of the ‘Settings’ page and copy all of the code in the Widget embed code box - using Control + C or right clicking on the code and selecting ‘Copy’

4.Go the dashboard of your blog and click on Appearance > Widgets

5. Drag a new blank Text widget into any of your sidebars – it does not matter where you put it

6. Paste the code from SpeakPipe into your blank Text widget

7. Leave the title of the widget blank and click on Save

Final Thoughts

As of now, this service is completely free, but there is no guarantee that will remain the case once they exit beta.

My first thought was that this would be infinitely more useful if it worked when visiting a blog from a mobile device or tablet – but unfortunately that doesn’t (yet) seem to be the case.

You can see the Voicemail button in action on Larry’s class blog here – though I’m sure he would not appreciate you testing it out and sending him a message.

You probably have already heard about the big announcements from Apple today and how they plan on changing the world of education as we know it.

While you won’t find a bigger fan of technology in education than me, as I read through all of the different news articles and blog posts about this announcement, something just didn’t sit right.

Here’s why…

Rant #1 – You Don’t Own Your Content

Most of the concerns I have with the announcements made today revolve around the iBooks Author app.

This fun-looking application is marketed as a way for educators to make their own engaging “textbooks” or course supplements that students can read. It is designed so that it is easy to add content, images, and videos.

As you can see in the screenshot below from iTunes, the content you create is designed to be made available on the iBookstore. You are encouraged to sell your book – but it can only be sold through the iBookstore – effectively meaning Apple would own your content.

That being said, you can also create a PDF version to give away as you see fit – though PDFs wouldn’t be as interactive and you wouldn’t be able to then import your book into any other platforms.

Note: When I originally published this post, I missed the part about creating a PDF version and ranted about how you wouldn’t be the true owner of your content as you can’t take it with you. As pointed out in the comments below, this is a good step in the right direction.

Rant #2 – You Can Do Better

There are plenty of other tools out there other than iBooks Author that will let you create content to share with students.

For example, blogs make it easy for teachers to upload images, videos, discussion starters, and other information for their students.

And with blogs, you can export your posts to other blogging platforms, create an e-book that can be read on tablets of all kinds, and much more.

Put a mobile-friendly theme on your blog and much of the benefits of having content in an iBook form can be achieved, keeping it all open and easy for every student to access from any tablet, mobile phone, or computer.

Rant #3 – Not A Game-Changer

Most disappointing of all, the announcements today by Apple do not result in any major way of changing the way we approach education. This isn’t really Apple’s fault, as nobody has yet to crack this one and do it well.

In Apple's "walled garden", the digital textbooks and teacher-created content is all only available in iTunes, which limits wide-spread access.

You still have “curriculum” being created in advance and given to teachers and students exactly like textbooks always have been. Now, those textbooks are just lighter, cheaper, and more fun to read (all of which are great things!).

Students are still thought of as “content consumers” in this scenario as opposed to active participants. The new iBook reader allows for easy highlighting and note-taking, which is useful, but there isn’t a way to discuss texts or collaborate with others. It is in these more interactive tasks that students construct their own knowledge and learn best – not through passively reading and playing with images.

What we still need to figure out is a way to manage the individual needs of students – a system that makes it possible to provide a truly differentiated curriculum that is accessible whenever needed. Combine this with an assessment process that continuously keeps teachers, students, and parents informed about strengths and weaknesses. This way, they can work together to make strategic choices about which learning experiences to work through next. If only all of this were easy to build!

No question we are in an exciting time in education as we learn what will work best for students. We’ve yet to understand what will be the true power of a device (an iDevice or otherwise) in the hands of every student at all times. But that day is coming.

And while this post is a bit harsh on Apple, definite props to them for taking the discussion to the next level!

What do you think?

This post was a rather quick mind-dump after absorbing all of the news and taking a look at the new toys. I would love to hear your opinions and even be proven wrong!

Note: This post was written by Sue Wyatt, who lives in Tasmania, Australia, and is the fearless leader of the Student Blogging Challenges.

In 2011, I went on a fantastic holiday (vacation) in Canada and U.S.A. for 11 weeks. I drove about 10.000 miles in an automatic car on the wrong side of the road without using a GPS or mobile phone. I visited about 25 different classes arranged by 12 teachers in my PLN.

I didn’t write a blog about my experiences though.

“What!”, you say, “Yet you are writing here about blogging?”

Mr. Davo Devil eating dessert!

Instead of me writing the blog, I had my travelling companion, Mr Davo Devil (#mrdavodevil) write about his adventures. Now, Mr Davo Devil is a soft toy from Tasmania. Naturally, by the name, you can tell he is a Tasmanian Devil.

He wanted students and teachers from around the world to participate in his travels, so after each post he would ask questions or have students create avatars etc. He also had a section where students could ask questions or try to answer those left by other students. A map of his journey was also included.

Since returning home (Mr Davo Devil hid in a classroom in Los Angeles), I have also created a blog for another soft toy called DUsquirrel. DU stands for down under and he will be touring Australia and New Zealand over 2012. His hashtag will be #dusquirrel.

If you are a teacher in Canada/USA and would like to have Davo visit you during 2012/2013, please fill in his booking sheet and we will try to get him to you on time. You may keep him for about a fortnight (two weeks) but he must be at his next stop by their date.

If you are a teacher in Australia/New Zealand and would like DUsquirrel to visit, please check the months he will be in your state and make a booking on his sheet.

I have also started searching the net to find other toys travelling their state, country or world. Check these out:

Tommy the travelling Teddy
Ed the bear
Eddie everywhere
Salt and Peppa
Magnie the whale
Rohi the kea

Do you know of any other travelling toys we could add to this list?