A Return to Form (or as close as I can get)
Welcome back. I'm sure you're quite glad to see my posts again. I have received quite kind comments on my posts and my sense of humor. Was it mandated by the class? Perhaps. But the kindness certainly was not, so thank you.
I have had my fair share of encounters with fair use and copyright laws. As I mentioned on my previous post, I utilize the internet to get music for my IPod in a manner that my Dad taught me how to do by ripping MP3s (if you are the FBI reading this, I can assure you wholeheartedly that this is all satire, and is therefore not admissible as evidence in legal proceedings).
A picture of advice I probably should take at some point.
IPod by Cordelia Yuan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
When it comes to educational usage, being thorough on what is shown and avoiding usage of copyrighted material was is vital in order to avoid fees (if your classroom is harboring a little narc, for example). However, efforts should still be made in order to make sure the material is of the highest quality, so your students aren't learning from a string of hastily researched YouTube videos, but from a robust network of intra-teacher contributions.
Technology in and outside of the classroom can be utilized in order to, unfortunately, make some peoples lives miserable or to cheat students out of a proper education. When it came to preventing academic dishonesty and decreased productivity in the classroom, careful filters and cubbies were used online and in the classroom to ensure students did not have an on-hand distraction. We were also encouraged not to share personal information online in order to preserve our privacy. Some students did it anyways, because kids are not very smart, and were caught doing very shortsighted things, such as cyberbullying, as a result. As a frequent victim of it, I wish my teacher has been monitoring more carefully online in order to prevent people from making fun of me on platforms I had no access to at the time, whispering behind my digital back. Unfortunately, a lack of understanding of technology and lack of funding on an already string-thing budget make this task difficult. Utilizing library resources and groups such as BuyNothing to acquire some used technology may help, but may require learning more about unfamiliar OS.
Refamiliarizing myself with the OS of Word was a Sisyphean effort which I have no desire to do again. Given the program's ubiquity, however, I assume it will be similar to death and taxes, so the skills I learned to make the newsletter came in handy. I hated the automatic formatting and alignment of the program that made adjusting textboxes a waking nightmare, but it resulted in a much cleaner result. I was also very proud of my use of creatively colored boxes in order to create depth and cohesiveness. If there's one thing I've established I'm good at, its a well put together theme. Many elaborate birthday parties have trained me for this day.
I know this post is shorter than my others, but I am very busy, and my time is a currency I do not have lot of in today's coffers. So this is ta-ta for now, I suppose. I will be back soon to string together some thoughts on vaguely connected topics based on even vaguer memories.
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