Blog Journal #3

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects a person's original work. It also allows the copyright owner to give permission to or restrict others from legally using their work. Fair use is a set of guidelines for using copyrighted material without permission from the owner. The copyrighted material may only be used under certain circumstances, for example for educational purposes. As a teacher, I would be sure to closely follow the fair use guidelines to set a good example for my students and also to respect the hard work of others. If I were to be using copyrighted material, I would clearly include a citation and give credit to the owner. When developing my own instructional materials I would copyright it but allow for it to be used by others as long as proper credit is given. Additionally, I would require my students of all ages to include citations to protect themselves and the work they are referencing.

As technology use continues to grow in education, problems have arisen. These problems include academic dishonesty and decreased productivity. To minimize these issues I plan on implementing solutions in my classroom. My solution for academic dishonesty issues is to plagiarize-check all assignments, including checking for artificial intelligence use and for stealing the original work of other students. If academic dishonesty is prevalent in my student's work, I will use it as an opportunity for a life lesson and require them to redo the assignment. If the issue continues, I will report it. My solution for decreased productivity issues is to have graded productivity checks at the end of class. If a student can show me what they worked on and explain how it was productive, they will receive credit. Having no productive work to show at the end of class will result in a warning.

The Newsletter Design assignment required me to acquire various new skills. I learned how to create columns, WordArt, and how to shade sections. Learning how to do these things made my newsletter more aesthetically pleasing and organized. In the future, I could improve my newsletter by applying a border around the page(s) and making the colors more legible. In my future career as a clinical psychologist, I can use the skills I learned from this assignment to make handouts for my clients. In my personal experience the more visually appealing a handout is, the more likely I am to read it.