Reflection Week 2: All Things Privacy, Copyright, Open Education & Social Media

The introduction to Educational Technology has been a learning curve these past couple of weeks! While I would in no way say that I am technologically illiterate, I generally use technology when I need it and in the simplest way possible. In the past, I haven’t paid much attention to learning about copyright, where data is stored, etc. because I just didn’t think it mattered all that much to me. I assumed that because I was using the internet for personal reasons, much like many others were, it didn’t really matter. Now I sit here today, on my way to becoming a teacher, realizing that understanding the ‘behind the scenes’ of the technology that we use, is so important – and not to mention required of us as soon to be teachers!

While I am still feeling very overwhelmed by all that I have learnt, and still have to learn, I have discovered some very interesting things about copyright, privacy, and social media that I never knew before.

#1 Copyright

Coming into this course I knew what copyright was, but one thing I had never heard of was Creative Commons. I won’t go into what Creative Commons is in detail, but reading through their “about” page was super helpful and so if you’re interested in learning more about the free sharing of information check them out here. In our lecture, Dr. Valerie Irvine discussed the importance of educators collaborating and sharing resources, and Creative Commons is a way to do this. This all relates to the concept of Open Education – Open Education is essentially making learning resources freely available to all! This video made understanding Open Education incredibly understandable and so I highly suggest giving it a watch.

In addition to Creative Commons, it was really interesting to learn about how to properly attribute photos. Recently an organization I work for  got in trouble because someone used copyrighted images on their website without permission, leading to a major fine. Hearing about this made me realize how sharing photos because they ‘look cool’ isn’t as easy as we always think, and we really should be careful about doing so. While I have used Unsplash in the past, and their photos don’t require attribution, I still found it really interesting to learn how to attribute the photo if I wished to do so. My goal from now on is to always attribute the photos that I use, as I think it is a great practice to get into.

#2 Privacy and Safety

Privacy is something that I found very interesting to read and learn more about, especially for understanding how to make sure I am using all of the necessary privacy settings in my future classroom. I found it really beneficial to read over the consent process in SD 61, but what I  was mostly fascinated by in my exploration of privacy, was the Focused Education Resources. This website made privacy in the classroom really understandable for me by speaking of very specific technologies that are likely to be used in the classroom. More specifically, I found the Reference Guide to App Privacy Implications amazing due to its simplicity, and so I would highly suggest any teacher look at it!

#3 Social Media 

The last main thing that I explored was Social Media and more specifically, some of the resources for Twitter usage. I decided that if I was actually interested in using Twitter for professional connections, I should really learn how to do it properly. I took a look at Hootsuite and Tweetdeck, and LOVED Tweetdeck! I think it is a great layout and so easy to use – I wish it was the Twitter default view! I think Tweetdeck will make twitter more enjoyable and manageable for me, so I am excited to see how I enjoy using it. If you have ever thought about using it, I would highly suggest doing so. Here is an image of what my Tweetdeck looks like incase you were wondering how it is set-up!

I feel like I am only beginning to dip my toes into really learning about all of the components of Education Technology, and I know I still have so much more to learn. I am looking forward to continuing on this journey of learning how to use technology in the most beneficial way possible both for myself and my future students.

Thanks for reading, 

Jaime 

Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash