Report and Reflection Post 10

Hey everyone,

This week I was introduced to multiple slide show tools, I spent of time exploring Animoto but realized that Prezi was more compatible for my educational needs. Animoto’s main focus is allowing users to easily make professional quality videos. However in my opinion I found Animoto was more geared towards advertising and promotional videos. Wickens (2014) does however provide ways that teachers can incorporate Animoto into their lessons. One of my favourite suggestions that she made in her strategy guide was to have students use an Animoto to introduce themselves at the start of the year, I think this could be a great alternative to traditional icebreaker, or name games.  If this is something you may be interested in exploring click here for a tutorial on how to create your own Animoto video.   

After exploring Animoto I moved on to Prezi, this slideshow tool was much more compatible for my educational presentations which tend to be more information rich and based on text and diagrams. It is a great alternative to traditional powerpoint slide shows and can be much more esthetically pleasing. I also found that Prezi can be a great accessory to presenting information. With Animoto the video talks for itself, with Prezi there is room to explain topics which require more detail than can be put in the ‘circle’. However Prezi too can have its downfalls, it takes time and practice to get used to and to be used effectively. Potter(2013) provides a “how-to guide” for using Prezi in educational settings. This guide includes the Do’s and Don’ts as well as multiple tips for user, click here to get the full guide! -- It is definitely worth the read if you plan on using Prezi.

Using both of these tools require individuals to have a basic understanding of copyright laws and creative commons. This is necessary because it allows users to understand which pictures, videos, songs or other sources of media are okay to use in their slideshows. The video Get Creative by Creative Commons (2007) does a great job of explaining this potentially confusing topic in an easy to understand way, you can click here for the full video.

Forsythe, G. (2013, June 21) Using the Strength of Copyright to Share [Online Image]
Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/9102402492/

After completing this weeks session I realized that as digital citizen I needed to work on giving credit when it is due. I always thought this was something I was so good at. I also did not realize there were so many rules around using media found on the web. I always source my images, but often do not give the direct creator credit. Prior to this week I also have never checked to see what the creators intentions for sharing his/her work were, I always assumed if it was on the internet it was fair game.

This is not to discourage you from using and remixing media, but rather to teach them how to use it correctly. Many creators want to share their work, and encourage it, they just want to ensure they get credit. Every image you find belongs to someone, and every media file have a copyright. Copyrights require that you ask the creator directly for permission, while creative commons license tell you this media is okay to use. I know this may sound complicated, but I promise it is not that bad. This week I provided guides to finding images that are safe to use on two popular sites; Google and Youtube, click here for my step by step instruction slide show. For even more places to look for copyright friendly websites check out this wiki: Copyright friendly. Once you have found your copyright friendly click here to find out how to ‘cite it right’ and you one step closer to being a great digital citizen!

Brock University (2014, Novemeber18)
Isaac Brock Wants You. Retrieved from
http://www.brocku.ca/news/27778

This week I chose to share an Item I found on my Feedly reader that fit in nicely with this weeks topic of copyrights, creative commons and remixing media. The article in the Brock news talks about materials that have recently been donated to the Brock University archives. One image the article talks about that was particularly interesting was the 'Sir Isaac Brock Wants You" image. The article describes how the inspiration was stolen (or remixed):  “We stole it, really, from the ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’ and, of course, the Lord Kitchener campaigns,” Click here to read the full article.

Thanks for reading,

Olivia :)