I access lesson plans
and activities frequently from the internet and modify them for use in my
classroom. Until this week’s assignment
I was unaware that this process had a name and was getting the attention that
it has. I work at a charter school and
teach science and social studies to 4th grade students. I do not have text books for either subject
so it’s my responsibility as the teacher to find information that matches the
content and standards I teach. When I
find a good lesson I change some aspects of it to meet my student’s needs and I
tend to “own” it by adapting it to my teaching style. If used correctly open content has many
advantages for teachers and students alike.
I think educators
understand the importance of sharing resources, but I do understand how some
would disagree with open content. I
frequently share ideas with colleagues and eventually I plan on sharing my ideas on line
as well. Open content reminds me of a
saying passed along to me during my internships as a pre-service teacher, I was told
to successful as a beginning teacher to I would need to, “Beg, borrow, and steal.”
Although, I believe this
is somewhat unethical, I also believe to
be a great educator it is necessary to gather up to date lesson plans and ideas that are
proven to work. Another disadvantage of open
content is the possibility of the information not being credible or if a teacher
uses a lesson plan or idea without changing it to meet the needs of the
students or their particular style. Both
of these issues can be avoided if the teacher checks the information
first. The issue of ethics can also be
corrected if you just simply cite where you obtained the information. I teach the students not to plagiarize, so I
make sure to point out where I found a particular idea with my students. Creative Commons can help to remedy this
issue by allowing information to be shared, and protected by licenses. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/.
I also agree, with the
Horizon Report (20110 that EBooks will be next big thing for educators to use
in the classroom. EBooks offer interactive
activities and lessons and are very engaging for the studenst and easy to use
for the classroom teacher. With all the information
available on the World Wide Web it would be elementary to assume it wouldn’t be
shared among professions. Ebooks and Open
content offer up to date material that other educators have used and has been
proven to be effective in the classroom.
I believe this topic with continue to be heavily debated and in regards
to ethics and copy writes, but the advantages out way the controversy.
Hi Renee,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your thoughts on how this week's lesson was useful to you. What attracted me about open content and obviously to you as well is the ability to customize content to meet your students' particular needs. I also like the human element you include in that you also adapt your teaching style to fit, i.e, you do not allow the technology to inform you as a teacher, rather, you utilize it as a means and you adapt it to fit you.
I find your comments about the credibility of information to be very insightful. In my working background in academic libraries - Penn State and The University of Michigan - we would educate teachers and students and help them establish criteria to evaluate information. The Internet is rife with questionable information sources and it is all too easy to fall prey to content that "looks good." What I have found interesting though is the increasing use of Wikipedia. I do not mean this as a critique so much as an interesting observation. A few years ago Wikipedia was NOT an acceptable information source and in fact professors would frown on its use. Wikipedia in fact was the target of a major lawsuit in which a close friend of the Kennedy family was implicated in the assassination against Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. The lawsuit was settled and it seems that Wikipedia has gained some credibility. I usually cross check everything ~I read there however, so I guess old habits die hard. What I like about Flat World is that there seems to be a mechanism that ensures credibility. The Open Source Alliance also seems to address the credibility issue.
I think that unless a teacher is employed in a school such as Maumee Country Day or in case of The Netherlands where all schools are on an even playing field, teachers frequently and unfortunately have to beg, borrow, and steal. But our mission is to educate and to that end I do not have as much of an issue with the ethics in that if I have complete permission to customize and redesign then I would not hesitate to do so.
I too agree with the Horizon Report but I want to qualify that by offering that Horizon may be making some assumptions as to the acceptance of e-books by educators. I speak from experience albeit within a niche community. In the magic industry e-book publishing has grown rapidly and will continue to do so. However, opinion among those of us who have been involved in the art are sharply divided as to their worth. Many magicians and mentalists feel that e-books are nothing more than glorified vanity publishing. Others including me believe that e-books are every bit as valid as physical books to convey information; the information conveyed in this art is highly technical and e-books - especially those that include additional media such as embedded video have made the teaching and learning process more efficient in my experience as a mentor in this art. It is estimated that there are roughly 50,000 magicians in the world right now. Of that number, perhaps only 500 to 1,000 of us actually perform professionally and teach. Granted, my observation comes from the perspective of a very niche segment of the population as a whole, but I am curious as to how much resistance e-books will face by the old guard in K-12 education.
With this lesson I wish we could have a bulletin board discussion or perhaps a mechanism to poll working teachers on the issues involved here. Obviously the cost of textbooks has become an industry whose revenues would make La Cosa Nostra jealous. You touched upon an important point from our reading and that is the fact that open content allows for constant updating of information. As a student, I am fed up with spending money - lots of it - for revised editions that frequently contain little more in the way of substantive information. I can only imagine that for parents with a number of children in school that textbooks can be a significant financial burden.
Best,
Joe