Blog Post #2

As a student, I have used MS Word in almost every class I have ever taken. I most commonly use MS Word to write papers, whether it be a research paper, short essay, or discussion board, I always use Word. I also use Word if I need to print out a picture. I paste the picture on a blank MS Word file, and then print. I enjoy using MS Word because it is simple and easy to use. I have seen my teachers use MS Word mostly to post instructions on how to do something. I have also seen teachers use MS Word to write recommendation letters for students.

My experience with copyright and fair use of materials is very small. When I was in high school I never had a teacher, who went over the fair use of materials. After reading the CSMI’s best practices I did not know this issue existed, but it makes sense to me now why it would. I found the podcast helpful as well to further my knowledge about this topic. When I am a teacher I will be sure to teach my students about copyright and fair use in an age appropriate manner. I will also teach them how they can copyright their own work. I think a good activity would be to have each student create something on their own, or in a group. After they have created something I could walk them through the steps of getting it copyrighted. Once they have created and gotten it copyrighted they could then maybe better understand how other people feel when people use their work without giving them create.

Reflecting on the implementation issues from Chapter 11 I feel that the more people use technology the wider spread these technology issues will become. The three main technology implementation issues are legal issues, social issues, and ethical issues. Under the legal issues category acceptable use and copyright falls under it. A solution to prevent this from happening in my classroom would be to teach students that the information they find on the web is copyrighted. I would also explain how using other online sources without sighting it is plagiarism. Another issue is cyberbullying, there would be a zero tolerance for cyberbullying in my class. If a student was caught cyberbullying another student I would immeditaly send him or her to the principal. I would tell my students how hurtful cyberbullying is and what can happen to students who are bullied. A third issue could be students using freedom of speech in the wrong way. For example, students may think that they can say whatever they want online and nothing bad will happen to them. Students must be made aware that what they post on the internet cannot be deleted.