The Web is home to thousands of great images, and now that copying and saving images off the Web is so quick and easy, sometimes students (and teachers!) can forget that the rights to these images may actually belong to someone. Somehow, we've come to believe that "freely available on the Web" means "free".

One helpful tool that I've been using is Flickr's Creative Commons search feature. Some Flickr contributors have decided to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, which means that others are free to use their images as long as certain conditions are met. Under Creative Commons licenses, creators choose the set of conditions they want to apply to their work:

Attribution means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work - and derivative works based upon it - but only if they give you credit.

Noncommercial means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work - and derivative works based upon it - but for noncommercial purposes only.

No Derivative Works means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

Share Alike means:
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

Using Flickr's Creative Commons site, you can search just those images that are licensed with conditions you're willing to meet and then download and use the images without worrying about violating copyright.

I've found it easiest to use only images that require attribution, and I typically use the following format to do that:

Photo: (CC) J. Thomas: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jthomasj/2876512221/

You can find out more about Creative Commons licenses at the Creative Commons web site, and search Flickr's Creative Commons images at http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/.

Streaming video in the classroom

Occasionally, faculty at my university will contact me to request videos to use in their classes. They want to provide students with a learning opportunity that's a little different from the usual lecture or discussion format, and they are generally quite pleased if I can locate titles that work well with their course content.

One barrier has been that adjunct instructors need to request video titles well in advance because their classes are held off-campus, and the discs must be sent by mail from the library. And of course the videos have to be returned soon after the class, which can be inconvenient.

A recent addition to our library collection is streaming videos. Through a company called FMG, we now offer a several video titles, mainly in business and education, that can be viewed over the Web. An instructor can either stream the video through a projector during class, or assign students to view the video on their own computers outside of class. Faculty and students can see a list of available titles and get more information (such as video descriptions and running times) through our online catalog. The catalog record provides a direct link to view the title.

While the collection is still quite small, I'm glad we have found a better way to provide video resources to students who take classes off-campus or online.

I believe that universities that offer distance education programs really have to work to stay abreast of new technologies that will enable them to provide the same learning experiences for all students, regardless of location.


Photo: (CC) Kevin Stanchfield: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgt_spanky/3970722137/

A Cloudy Year

In my position as a reference and instruction librarian, I travel fairly regularly to visit off-campus classes. I have come to rely on quite a few "cloud computing" tools to make working from the road a little easier.

I have tried several Google applications over the past year or so, but this class has really prompted me to make fuller use of them.

With the blog assignment, I needed some way to keep track of 17 other blogs, so I subscribed to each of my classmates' blogs through Google Reader. Since I organized my list based on the Sunday and Tuesday class subgroups, I can quickly navigate to blog submissions by those in my own group. Whenever I have a few extra minutes, I can easily browse new posts and link out to the blog itself to make comments.

I have also made steady use of Google Documents. The lesson plan assignment has a number of different components, so I found myself starting a document at home, then working on it over lunch during the workday, then referring to it while using my laptop. Although I do store most documents on a flash drive, I'm finding that uploading and downloading current versions stored in Google Docs is quicker than grabbing an external device and remembering to take it with me.

While I haven't needed it for this class, I also use Google Sites to support my work as an adjunct instructor. I occasionally teach for an organization called Lyrasis, and I've found that Google Sites is a great tool for navigating the long list of web resources that I demonstrate during my online classes.

I think as more pc-resident software is replaced by web-based "cloud" applications, users will need much less sophisticated hardware. We see this trend already with the popularity of Netbooks and hand-held devices. Why run programs from your own computer when there are tools that do the same thing "out there on the Web"? Why carry around your files and documents when you can access them from anywhere that has Internet access?

Of course there may be privacy and stability concerns, and I will state right now that I will never store critical information (like medical records) with a third party service. But for many other purposes, I find that cloud computing helps me to work a little more efficiently.

Community Debate: iPod Touch in the Classroom

A community blog in my area recently reported that the city school board had approved a three-year agreement with Apple to lease 124 computers at the cost of $129,540. These computers would also allow students to use the iPod Touch as an educational tool, and in a separate, grant-funded project, the school system has plans to expand the use of handheld devices like the iPod Touch and its applications throughout the system.

This kind of news is not particularly groundbreaking; school systems all over the country are steadily increasing the use of educational technology as their budgets (and policies) allow. But I found the confusion surrounding the announcement and the reactions from the community to be quite interesting.

First, it appears that the two local blogs covering the story managed to confuse the board-approved lease of the Apple computers with an existing grant project that purchased iPod Touches for one classroom in one school (but would also fund additional iPod-related purchases). One blog post was titled "iPod Touch Coming to Decatur Classrooms" when the story really concerned the lease of computers that would pave the way for the use of iPod Touches.

But it turns out that the facts really didn't matter all that much, because the announcement prompted a firestorm of debate about the wisdom or folly of allowing the use of iPods as an educational tool.

Some readers worried that scarce resources were being spent on devices that would be stolen, or misused, or just not as effective as traditional teaching methods. "What happened to just teaching kids?" asked one reader.

Others outlined various educational uses for handheld devices, or posted links to information about similar initiatives in other states.

One reader lectured the naysayers by providing an historical listing of classroom technologies that were initially questioned (film projectors, calculators, computers) saying, "Technology will happen whether we embrace it or not. So rather than dismiss them as gadgets that will inhibit learning, why not take advantage of what they can offer?" Another reader's response, "Because we can't afford it!"

Several of the comments related to the use (or misuse) of public funds, but to those who opposed the use of taxpayer dollars to buy electronic gadgets, one reader responded "in public school, not everyone has the same access to online resources and providing these Touches can help to level the field a bit."

I'm afraid the discussion eventually turned into angry vents about overspending on the new high school building, and the negative impact a new grading policy (that doesn't allow a grade below 60%) is having on already under-achieving students. But I found this snapshot of community feeling related to the introduction of a new educational technology to be a real eye-opener.

I'll go out on a limb and describe this community as fairly progressive and forward-thinking. There's a city-wide wifi service and the small school system is generally considered a jewel in the somewhat tarnished public school system crown. But blog readers were clearly divided on this issue, and I think I have a clearer understanding of why it's so hard for schools to keep pace with technology - even when it's useful. Even with adequate funding for technology tools, schools will have to demonstrate the value of any new approach in order to change the attitudes of many in the community.



Resources:

Decatur Metro: iPod Touch Coming to Decatur Classrooms

Calling All Adult Learners

I admit I've been a little anxious about completing an assignment that involves a lesson plan (which I don't use) and an actual class (which I don't have). While I do provide instruction to adult students, I'm really more guest lecturer than teacher, and I don't have access to the same group of students over multiple days or weeks. I provide my lesson during one meeting of someone else's course, so my dilemma is how to compare the effectiveness of a technology-based lesson to a non-technology lesson without a group of students to be my guinea pigs.

To overcome this obstacle, I decided to prepare a short class on a single topic, but deliver one session in a face-to-face classroom, and another session as a self-paced online tutorial. I would give all of the students the same pre- and post-tests, but the face-to-face group would complete their tests on paper and the tutorial group would submit their responses online.

Since I work with a number of colleagues who are enrolled in various degree programs, I thought they would do as an audience of adult learners who could be taught how to use Google Scholar to research a topic. I invited some of them to the classroom session and others to do the online tutorial. I thought I'd have to bribe them with food, but as it turns out, several were quite willing to participate simply for the opportunity of learning something new about doing research. Although the groups are small, I expect them to be similar in terms of technical skills and familiarity with the content, so I'm hoping to get interesting results.

Of course I still don't have any experience with writing lesson plans, but I've found some good examples to follow, and more importantly, standards that make sense for my learning environment.

Some might call this "making it up as you go along", but I prefer to think of it as improvisation.

Going Virtual

Reading about Michigan's Cyber School initiatives made me curious about similar programs in my own state. I was aware that Georgia had implemented a statewide virtual school a few years ago, but I didn't realize that the courses were offered to private and home-school students as well as public school students. I had also assumed that the program was intended for only high school students, and was surprised to learn that middle grade courses had been added in 2007.

The state of Georgia's program supports currently enrolled students, but it is interesting to note that some reasons given by Georgia students who enroll in online rather than traditional courses match those given by at-risk students participating in the Michigan programs. Although some students take online classes because a course is not available in their area or simply for enrichment, others require the flexibility of online classes due to scheduling conflicts or medical issues. Some need remedial classes to catch up to their peers, and some need to repeat courses they've failed.

The Georgia Virtual School offers a credit recovery program that allows students who fail to retake classes. Unlike regular classes, which are teacher-led, the credit recovery courses provide teacherless instruction with a longer timeframe for completion. This allows students to complete their coursework while managing other obligations.

Working with adult learners in higher education, I see this need for flexibility as a primary driver for students taking classes online. It would be impossible for them to manage a traditional class schedule along with the demands of work and family. The sad truth is that many young people face similar demands, so the availability of online programs like the metro Detroit Cyber School or the Georgia Virtual School's credit recovery program can help to meet the needs of these students.

The Southern Regional Education Board's 2008 State Virtual School Report, indicates that 5720 students participated in the Georgia program during 2007/2008, and according to a recent Sloan Consortium report, "the overall number of K-12 students engaged in online courses in 2007-2008 is estimated at 1,030,000" representing a 47% increase since 2005-2006.

Clearly, interest in online education is increasing at all levels, and I think each state will need to carefully consider the impact this will have on budgets, policy, standards, infrastructure and faculty development.




Resources:

Southern Regional Education Board. (2008, August). Report on state virtual schools. Retrieved from http://info.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/SVS/2008_report_on_state_virtual_schools.pdf

Picciano, A, & Seaman, J. (2009, January). K-12 online learning; a 2008 follow-up of the survey of u.s. district administrators. The Sloan Consortium. Retrieved from http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/pdf/online_nation.pdf

The Internet that Ate My Brain

For the past decade, I have spent my work weeks at a computer, searching the World Wide Web for information. I use the Internet daily to assist students and colleagues, and going to the Web has become second nature in meeting my own information needs. In the article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", Nicholas Carr discusses the Internet's potential effects on human cognition, worrying that it is "subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies." According to Carr, the Internet "is becoming our map and our clocks, our printing press and our typewriter, our calendar and our telephone, and our radio and TV."¹

I'm not sure when the Internet began shaping the way I think, but there were signs along the way. I dropped my newspaper subscription because I got most of my news online. I renewed library books again and again because I couldn't finish a book - even a good one - before the due date. When I do read, my thoughts distract me and expect any concept that interests me to lead immediately to a related concept, background information, an image or a map. Basically, I want my book to hyperlink.

Watching the video below, it's easy to pity or scorn poor Joe for his expectations. Joe and the rest of the Net Generation have been surfing and linking since pre-school. It's funny to see a kid as befuddled by a textbook as his grandmother's generation was by a cell phone. But in some ways, Joe's information-seeking behavior is uncomfortably close to mine, and it's important to acknowledge that at least Joe is seeking information.



If the picture of Frederick Douglass in his book prompts Joe to search for more information, why shouldn't that be as easy as a double-click? Of course he could turn to the index in the textbook, then browse alphabetically for the correct entry, then flip to the appropriate pages, and then - finally - read. But if that same information is stored just behind the image in a Web environment, then I suspect Joe could read up on Frederick Douglass and move on to Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the same time it would take to find page 43 in his textbook.

Carr's article also points out that "the kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author's words but for the intellectual vibrations that those words set off within our own minds."² I'd like to think that using the Internet has increased our knowledge, that like the printing press, it's a tool that enables us to access and share information across a broader audience. But I do miss having the ability to become engrossed by a long passage of well-written text, and I find it a little sad that students like Joe may never have that experience.


Resources:
Carr, N. (2008, July/August). Is Google making us stupid? The Atlantic, 201(6). Retrieved February 1, 2010, from http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google