Create the space for dialogue
It is often difficult to explain what Creative Commons licensing is to students and teachers – this short film does a pretty good job of presenting the facts.
I do think there is a need for more high quality resources to help teach licensing of digital content and especially resources to communicate what it all means to young student. What do you think?
It has probably been around for a while but I have just spotted the Google Image Search within a Google Document. But more significant is that the images are automatically filtered according to a commercial re-use license. Whatever you find there will be acceptable to use.
You can see how the image search box within Google Docs works below and I have highlighted the small note explaining the license.
This is of course just one small part of a process of understanding attribution and content usage for students but could be an important little tool for teachers and pupils. Once an image is selected it shows you the website that the image has come from.
Google explain a little more about this change from the Learn More link you can see in the images, saying:
When using the Google Image Search feature in Google Docs, your results will be filtered to include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes and modify it in ways specified in the license. Only select images that you have confirmed you can use legally in your intended context, including with appropriate attribution if necessary.
Once you Select the image it is inserted into the document without an attached link or attribution. This is still a step students will have to do manually which is actually a good thing.
Unfortunately the image search and subsequent filtering shown in this post is only in Documents at the moment and not in Presentations which would be really useful. No doubt things will become more consistent soon.
In the hope of widening my understanding of the perception of formative assessment, or assessment for learning as some like to call it, and also the broad nature of the challenges we face in the classroom, I have started this collaborative document.
People from all over the world have outlined what they believe are the biggest challenges to implementing and sustaining systems or habits of formative assessment. I will be looking for trends within the issues raised and hope to write a post soon about some of the common themes identified within it.
Please consider adding your own contribution to the document by editing it here and leave a comment of anything you are beginning to notice once you have read through the ideas so far.
Admittedly this is a great advert for Google Docs, but it also struck me that what I considered a simple tool can still create incredible things in the right hands. This little film really challenged my preconceptions about Docs – a sort of “I didn’t know it could do that!” moment.
Just discovered this nice little film which also explores the notion of tools, simple tools, however personal, making complex and beautiful things.
Toronto Comic Arts Festival: Pencil it In from Toronto Comic Arts Festival on Vimeo.
Last Friday I flew to Dublin, Ireland to attend the CESI 2011 Conference in Portlaoise. I was delighted to have been asked to open the conference with the keynote presentation.
I spoke broadly about the idea of crowdsourcing content with teachers and asked each teacher to use a Post-It note they had been given to write one idea, one simple bit of advice or tip that could be shared. It could be about technology, after all it was a technology conference, but could have been about anything.
The response was fantastic and the stage was awash with ideas. I cradled these all the way home to England and have now written them up as a Google Doc to share with the world.
We hope you enjoy the mosaic we made together in the last 10 minutes of my keynote. It always amazes me what we can create if we make one small contribution.