Educators teach students about specific topics and areas of interest. The educator provides students with information and knowledge that can be applied to professional or personal situations. However, the role of the educator is more than just providing learners with specific information and knowledge about one topic of area of interest. This day in age, educators must also teach students about net-based information and the concept that this information is considered property of someone else, the author (Downes, 2011). This net-based information is the result of hard work and it is and will continue to remain that of the author or creator unless otherwise clearly indicated. Many authors or researchers are eager to have educators use their information in the classroom. The same goes for students using the author’s information in reports and homework assignments. However, it is important that the educator and learners have proper permission to use the information or it has been properly sourced (Downes, 2011).
One tool that was found to be beneficial for educators and learners is Permission Template. The rationale for selecting this tool is that the educator or learner will be able to gain approval rights from the author to be able to use the author’s work in class presentations, research reports or homework assignments. Using the tool Permission Template, the student populates select fields, such as the author’s email address, the student’s name, information, the title of the web page, and the information that the student would like to copy or download. The tool can be found at the following website: http://landmark-project.com/permission1.php.
The first example for of how the tool can be incorporated into the classroom is that the educator could assign a research project to the learners. Learners would do their independent research on their selected topics. However, each learner would be required to use Permission Template to receive permission of the author of at least one piece of work that is then included in the learners final project. The learner would turn into the educator the Permission Template email that was sent to the author along with the author’s response. Educators will be able to ensure that work included from another author has been obtained legally and has properly been sourced in the research paper.
The second example is that educators would demonstrate to the learners how to obtain proper permissioning and referencing. Educators need to lead by example. If the educator is improperly referencing sources in their work then how can we expect the same from our students? During lectures and presentations, the educator would demonstrate to the learners their Permission Template, where the information was used in the lecture, and that the source was properly referenced. Learners will have a better understanding of how to source references and will be less apt to plagiarize.
The second tool for incorporation is Citation Checker. Citation Checker is a website where students are able to enter a sentence or phrase in the search box and then is able to search the web for the source of that information. The website can be found at: http://www.2learn.ca/kids/backpack/kidscitation.html. The rationale for selecting this tool is to ensure that learners are properly citing sources. One doesn’t need to copy a whole sentence or paragraph for it to be considered plagiarism. For learners, one is able to search the web for the source of their information. How it works is that students paste a phrase, sentence or portion of a sentence into a search box. They then select the search engine they wish to use, such as Google, and then the system performs a search. There are multiple search engines available for the learner. All matches of the information will appear and the learner is then able to cite their source properly.
One example for incorporating this technology into the classroom is for the educator to select a sentence or phrase from the learners paper and test it in the Citation Checker website. The educator is able to verify that the source is properly referenced. Secondly, the learner would be able to use Citation Checker to show the educator where their sources came from that were used in assignments and research papers. Citation Checker helps to support the idea of digital security. Ribble (n.d.) tells us that we need to protect our information so that others do not steal it. This does not mean that others can’t reference and properly source the information; it means that learners and educators must give credit where credit is do. It is important for an educator to teach learners that using someone’s work or ideas as their own is the same as stealing and can have severe consequences. Additionally, users of digital information must follow the laws of society, even in the online world (Ribble, n.d.).
References:
Downes, S. (2011). Free learning: Essays on open educational resources and copyright. Retrieved from http://www.downes.ca/files/books/FreeLearning.pdf.
Ribble, M. (n.d.). Nine elements: Nine themes of digital citizenship. Retrieved October 17, 2012, from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html.
The Permission Template sounds like a useful tool to make sure copying is not done and that authors have to give their permission to have the use of their materials. I can see my students using this when they are researching a subject for a project.
ReplyDeleteChristie,
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of Permission Template and think that it is a genius idea for students who are doing projects where they need to reference scholarly work. In our master's program we are so accustomed to using APA format and never imagine that we could be breaking copywright laws because we are citing other's work. This tool is not only useful to uphold digital citizenship, but it could also connect students with scholars and widen the range of resources that they are learning from. Thank you for sharing!
Kristy Novak