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Consider this statement from the article above: "The internet has made it cheaper and easier for authors and other creators to create material and make it widely available to a global audience. Critics of copyright law maintain that since it is cheaper and easier to produce a book, film, song or image, copyright protection is no longer necessary to protect and encourage creativity. They believe that by freely allowing a person to reproduce or adapt an existing work, creativity will flourish. This dichotomy is at the heart of the relationship between web 2.0 technologies and copyright. The nature of web 2.0 makes it easy for anyone to create an original work, to adapt or reproduce an existing work. Many of these creators have little knowledge or regard for copyright law. As a result many users are infringing copyright. Again, critics of copyright law argue that the law has been slow to adapt to how people are using copyright material and that the law should be changed to reflect this." Have copyrights outlived their usefulness? Why or why not?

Don, That site was very informative about all the issues of copyright. Before this class, I never realized how serious an issue copyright laws are and how easily they can and have been broken. The one item that stood out to me was "Using Material Created by Other People." It says those people who join your social network (for me it would be Facebook) and use pictures, videos, etc. have limited provisions. So all those pictures and memes need to be copyright? Something to think about and be wary of next time I share a picture/meme and I do not know who created them. Should those images be attributed or not shared at all. http://www.nyccounsel.com/business-blogs-websites/who-owns-photos-and-videos-posted-on-facebook-or-twitter/

I don't have Instagram or Twitter and I rarely uppload any pictures to my Facebook account. I wonder who is worse the NSA or these social networks.

Web 2.0 certainly adds to copyright confusion! Especially when people are sharing lists of links that contain so much information, however, it is always the researcher's responsibility to find and credit the originL source!

Araceli, the article that you posted was quite interesting. I never paid attention to the terms of social media websites like Facebook. It is scary to think that anything (i.e., picture, movie) a person posts to the website now becomes the property of Facebook and they can do anything with it as owner. Yikes!

Brenda, It is super scary. I have lots of my friends who are no longer on this social media. I now have it in the back of my mind, if and when I do post pictures, do I really want Facebook owning that image. Something that makes you go hmm?

The social media site doesn't "own" the content, what you are agreeing to is a license for them to use the content. The ownership stays with the creator. I find the contention by some that copyrights are no longer a valid way to handle content to be more troubling than Facebook or Twitter's licensing agreement. Just stay away from posting things to Twitter and Facebook or other social media site that you don't want other to have control over and your problem is solved. However, if we give in to the idea that copyright laws are outdated and that since it no longer is cost prohibitive to produce content we should just give up copyrights then we have a new and different issue. What happens to print, music, art, video and other media once it has been produced without copyright laws? Is there a better way to define copyrights that would be more in line with how content is shared and distributed today? Should we just bring an end to copyrights? Should we go the other way and try to rigidly enforce copyright law? Is that even possible in the social media world we live in?

Don, I found the site quite informative. Copyright on the web has become a complicated issue. As Araceli stated, websites can use what you post on the their sites. But what if what is posted infringes on a third party's rights. Could the owners of the website also be held liable. I know that people upload songs to Youtube. Is simply giving credit enough to avoid litigation? What if the author does not want their song upload on Youtube.

I have noticed when I upload videos to YouTube that it scans for copyrighted music and flags those videos. I uploaded a student created video that had a song off the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack in the background. YouTube immediately noticed it and prompted me to investigate, concede, or remove the video. With too many violations your YouTube account can be suspended or revoked. As impressive as it is that YouTube can scan all the content that is uploaded to it on a second by second basis, I've got to agree, managing copyright law is a bit of a nightmare in this day and age of social media. Facebook, G+, Twitter (and others) all want us to share, and often. But our culture reinforces this sense of immediacy and urgency that seems inextricably tied to online activity...how do we balance the two. I think it's clear we have a long way to go in this area.

Ibanuelos, very few artists don't want their music uploaded onto YouTube. That's how they make money now. For instance: If I make an educational video that used a third party song, YouTube gives me a chance to acknowledge any third party content that it flags (and it always catches it). Then, any ad money that comes from my video goes directly to that third party (all of it even though I added my own content) because their content has the preceding copyright. This is how Psy made his money. Every parody video that was uploaded to YouTube that contained his song had ads placed before it that paid him. He made 7 million in a year. "Giving credit" isn't how it works, YouTube's algorithms get the artist paid (and embeds a link where the song can be downloaded with another payment to the author). Now it's a different problem for movies...

Some kids need more social interaction than others...my oldest is one of them. My younger would probably be just fine without all the k12 drama and testing mania. Face to face instruction may provide students with the structure and extrinsic motivation they need to get through a course, but that might be all it does...help the child "get through." Though transitioning to to a home school or virtual school scenario would no doubt be tough, in the long run I think it would produce more capable, independent, intrinsically motivated people.

I had a student last year who suffered from severe social anxiety and missed far too much school to get her year's credits. She did well in my class as I was able to send her assignments to her electronically and she was able to do them at home, but she fell behind in others, as few teachers at my school do any kind of online interacting with their students. Ultimately she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and failed all but two of her classes. I think she would have been a perfect candidate for this kind of program and perhaps would have been able to graduate on-time while receiving treatment (she now attends an online high school and it doing well).

Eric, it is interesting that you are bringing up social interaction. In my experience, many homeschool students are over socialized (if there is such a thing). Because homeschool students can get their work done in much less time than sitting in classes all day long, they have the opportunity to get involved in social activities much more than someone sitting in school all day long. When they were younger, by noon we were done with school work and meeting other families at parks, museums, and various other outings. And this does not include the sports/music/dance/4-H activities we were involved in. Socialization or lack of it was never a problem. Olivia, I know a lot of parents who pulled their kids out of schools because the were diagnosed with ADHD. At home, they thrived in school work. And as I just mentioned above, once they had their work done, they had extra time to use their energy in other ways.

This type of instruction could be helpful for students who might be hospitalized due to an illness or injury. For example, my daughter spent three weeks at home due to a surgery and was instructed to avoid any leg movement. Now, imagine if she would have been unable to return to school. As a parent, I would support a like program like this.

Olivia, I can understand how there would be concerns about online predators and bullying but I think that this is something that could be monitored in a control environment. I realize the situation may not always be ideal but your article explains all the good that can come of online collaboration, such as a decrease in students being absent. Students are already using I pads, kindles, laptops, etc... for other activities, why not encourage that use for something positive that will motivate them in the classroom. I http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom/

I have a book club that consists of 10 4th grade students. We communicate mostly through Kidblog. We do meet once a week however, the kids love posting on their blog outside of the school's four walls. I love that they are discussing book club topics outside of the classroom. They feel empowered when they have the opportunity to make decisions such as, what avatar to create and how they want their individual blog to appear. I've made our blog a very controlled environment in that it is set as private and password protected, just the members have access. In addition, posts must be approved by me before they go out in our blog world (which consists of the 11 of us, plus our principal). Other than the introduction to Kidblog, I began with an author study by providing links to author interviews via a YouTube channel for the students. We have embedded Google forms in our blog for a quick assessment. Overall, it has been successful and the students are excited and remain engaged with our activities.

Kidblog info: http://kidblog.org/home/why-kidblog/ 5 reasons you should consider blogging in the classroom: http://onlinegrad.marygrove.edu/blog/bid/146682/5-Reasons-You-Should-Consider-Using-Blogging-in-the-Classroom

We've come along way as a district. Into thousand 10 when I arrived teacher to not have the ability to create a folder on the desktop. They have access to basically all sites, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube...and many of them are even active on these sites, uploading and sharing resources with other teachers and students. Here is a link to the guidelines we've established for use of YouTube and Facebook: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BMXrouaj67SFh-BISriU24a59c9mk8-K-9K9qeEEW4E/pub Still, the communication is primarily one-way: teachers disseminate information to their students through social media, but do not collaborate with students in real time, nor do they encourage students to collaborate with each other using social media. That may come down the road. For now, I'm happy we have continued to move away from the top-down control model to the empower the end user and give them the benefit of doubt...we don't want our students leaving a walled garden environment to fall on their face in the real world, where their aren't heavy-handed content filters in place. We need to wean them off being told what to do and educate them to make good decisions. With that in mind we moved in 2012 from an Acceptable Use Policy to a Responsible Use Policy. Here's what the student version looked like (https://www.dropbox.com/s/iwqu8kf9qmvlmuu/2012-2013%20Student%20RUP.pdf) and here's the teacher version (http://www.lampasas.k12.tx.us/files/filesystem/responsible%20use%20policy-employee.pdf). We considered opening up G+ to students as it's part of our GAFE suite of services, but tech tells me if we do, students, even younger ones, will be able to communicate with users outside our sub domain / walled garden. Thoughts? Have you found this to be true in your district? We are also looking at Office 365 and Sharepoint in terms of a training ground for safe student social networking....we will see what it can do in the coming weeks. For now, most of our teachers are comfortable using

Araceli, I agree that the benefits DO outweigh the risks especially when controls are put into place and certain systems are used. I try to stick to closed systems, but recently I have been hosting all my courses' book discussions via GoodReads.com, which is open. I teach high school students though, so I feel like I have an opportunity to teach intelligent internet use. For example, not only forbidding students from using actual pictures of themselves and never posting their age or location, but also teaching them why those are bad ideas through digital citizenship lessons. I honestly don't know how I would handle social networking with younger students, but I suspect I would stick only to closed systems.

Eric, Our district has recently decided to open up G+ to our students with good results so far. Because the students are still behind the school district Google web-mail (which provides them a kind-of "dummy" email that can't send or receive messages) their online visibility is very limited and no personal information is shared (as none exists other than their names). However, the program has just launched and many parents have expressed discomfort, especially with elementary and jr. high students. I'm taking a wait and see attitude as far as making any judgements.

With the onset of Web 2.0 tools, collaboration between students and teachers is easier than ever before. I agree with Araceli that the risks far outweigh the risks. With apps like slideshare, slidebomb, google drive, and dropbox, students are encourage to provide feedback to fellow students with leads to increase confidence. http://www.edutopia.org/stw-collaborative-learning-college-prep

As a parent, it would have to be REALLY controlled and closed for me to let my kids use it. I am appalled at some of the things I see kids posting on Facebook and other social media. Obviously, as someone in the EdTech program, I am seeing a lot of awesome ways to use technology. So, while not dead set against social media in the classroom, I would need to know what safeguards were in place and I would still be watching like a hawk.

We have banned social networking in school except using Edmodo, which the teachers can monitor. Our school has problems with social networking without even having it in the school! Parents feel it is the school's issue because problems are occurring between students, even though it is occurring outside of school. In my honest opinion, parents need to be better educated about social networking and take responsibility for their own children. As a parent of a child who did not use social media well, I know it is tough to restrict internet/website usage. But it is possible and needed.

Olivia, I don't see any reason that we couldn't incorporate the use of social media within the closed classroom environment. There must be many opportunities for collaboration, communication and scaffolding using social media in a controlled and safe environment. There are also many social networking sites that are designed specifically with kids in mind. Among them are: 1. Scuttlepad (2010) Age 7+ Social network with training wheels is safe but limited. 2. Togetherville (2010) Age 7+ Kids' social site connects to parents' Facebook friends. 3. WhatsWhat.me (2011) Age7+ Tween social network with top-notch safety features. 4. YourSphere (2009) Age 9+ Kid-only social network promises to block dangerous adults. 5. Franktown Rocks (2009) Age 10+ Music and social networking combine in safe, cool hangout. 6. GiantHello (2010) Age 10+ Facebook-lite gets a lot right, but watch out for games. 7. GirlSense (2009) Age 10+ Safe, creative community for tween fashionistas. 8. Sweety High (2010) Age 11+ Fun, closed social network for girls is strong on privacy. 9. Imbee (2011) Age 10+ Safer social networking if parents stay involved. With proper guidance and parental involvement I don't see any reason that we can't take advantage of the opportunities that social networking could provide.

I think that one of the main reasons that student interest and engagement increases with the use of social media tools is that these tools are familiar and easy for the students to use...it is not only teachers that are intimidated by new tools! :)