Thing #23

The Creative Commons tutorial exposed us to the subject of copyright and fair use of copyrighted materials. As a teacher candidate it is very important to understand what it means to use copyrighted material and give credit to the proper person or entity that owns it. With Creative Commons subscribers can have the confidence to know that the material used via this particular website is lawful to share with others. In the classroom, the educator can freely use another’s ideas because the owners put their particular work on the website and granted that use through Creative Commons. In addition, users of the material can remake much of someone else’s ideas as long as credit is given to the original owner. This is particularly beneficial when students complete projects and conduct research where the proper use of copyrighted material.

The concept of the “Learning 2.0 – 23 Things” is a variation of Stephen Abram’s article, “43 Things I (or you) may want to do this year”. The use of our particular learning activity is granted through the use of the Creative Commons website. When doing current research for my classes, I often find myself asking whether a particular piece of work, article, or other idea has already been copyrighted, and who really the true author is. In the future, I can see where the use of sites such as Creative Commons will assist me as I complete my own education, create projects and develop lesson plans for my future students to complete.