Blog Post #3

Copyright and fair use are very important topics to learn about because they ensure you're not taking legal risks when using someone else's work. Fair use allows more freedom with using certain works depending on their use. Copyright has different licenses that allow for different usage: One might allow you to share a work with no alterations, one might allow you to change things with proper credit, and one might not allow you to use it at all. As a teacher, it's important to be careful about what licenses the material you use have to avoid any legal issues. This might mean that it's just easier to make your own material than to borrow from someone else. I did learn a lot more about copyright and fair use than what I did before the lesson, and I feel more aware about the material I choose to work with now.

There are many technology implementation issues that need to be avoided when using technology in the classroom; one big one is student privacy. There are a few different things that can be done to try to fix this. First, the students should not share their name, age, address, or any other person information online. Second, the work they do via technology should only be visible to the teacher, peers, and possibly the parents. Lastly, if the parents still aren't comfortable with their child using technology, then they cannot be forced to and a different approach to the assignments will be figured out.

Working on the Newsletter Design assignment helped me think about the more important aspects of design when trying to reach a specific audience. I was a yearbook design editor for almost 3 years, so I know a lot about design in general. However, when making the newsletter, I was challenged to think as a parent of my students to understand what I should focus on and highlight to get all of my information across. In the future, I would probably mess around with other article topics as a weekly newsletter rather than a monthly syllabus. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do as a future career—I want to go into publishing, but I haven't decided on the traditional novel or the magazine design route—but depending on what I choose, the skills learned from the assignment could be used a lot when thinking about design anywhere.