Discussion on Copyright

Here are the postings I made in the PIDP 3240 Discussion on Copyright

Re: Adding images to your blog – Thursday, 24 April 2014, 12:58 PM

Here is what I have found on the subject of Youtube videos:

“Video-sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo offer the option to post videos to your blog by embedding them. When you embed a video, it automatically creates a link back to the place where it was originally posted. Because the original creator or poster is automatically credited, you don’t have to worry about going through any extra steps to give credit.” http://www.gcflearnfree.org/blogbasics/6.4

When you are uploading a video to youtube you can choose to turn the embed code on or off. It is assumed that by leaving it on you allowing others to share it. Also lately the courts have ruled that embedding a video in a blog is not the same as copying it.

Embedding YouTube Videos is Not a Copyright Violation

Re: Who is the owner of that photograph?- Saturday, 26 April 2014, 9:38 PM

But you would be looked on as the producer of that video and also I would imagine the writer and director. The only way I can see your employer having any interest in the copyright on the video you produced is if you were doing it under their direction. This would put them in the position of the film studio who hold the copyright on the films they fund and produce.

Re: Who is the owner of that photograph? – Wednesday, 23 April 2014, 10:05 AM

Hi Kevin

Copyright works a little differently for video in that usually the producer or production company owns the copyright to the video produced not the camera operator. Another thing that I used to do when I was making a video is to use a standard release form that anyone appearing in my video would have to sign, giving me permission to use their image and voice in my film. Here is some more information on copyright for video producers.

http://www.abacuswebware.com/Video-Legal.aspx

http://www.videomaker.com/article/15953-9-copyright-laws-every-video-producer-should-know

Open Education Resources – Tuesday, 22 April 2014, 12:27 PM

As I started searching for copyright free educational material I came across the University of Michigan and their Open Michigan initiative:

“Open.Michigan initiative is based on the principle that public universities have a responsibility to share the knowledge and resources they create with the public they serve.”

This is an initiative that is in keeping with the view of the internet as a space to share and collaborate rather than an extension of the market economy. In researching further on their site I came across the Open Education Resources Commons which is an international consortia of libraries, educational institutions and other resource providers who provide an incredible amount of content for educators to use and share.

There is also a section on the site that allows you to contribute your own work using open author or you can share other material that you find on the internet. They also have a variety of groups based on a commonality of subjects being taught and the level that they are being taught at so that you can join in with people engaged in teaching similar subjects.

Re: Fair Dealings – Thursday, 17 April 2014, 11:47 AM

 Thanks for posting this resource Vara I will definitely take a look at it.

A Fair and Better Way Forward – Thursday, 17 April 2014, 11:41 AM

A Fair and Better Way Forward was written by the Canadian Copyright Institution in the fall of 2013 in an attempt to open a dialogue with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the Council of Ministers of Education Canada, and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. Originally it was sent privately to the organizations involved but after they were actually rebuffed or ignored they decided to release it publicly. They want a return to the collective licensing agreement with educational institutions and a stricter limitation on the ability of educators to photocopy and distribute copyright protected material.

In an article in Quill and Quire CCI chair Jaqueline Hushion is interviewed and declares, ““There’s no measuring cup. Everybody has a different definition of fairness in proportional terms.” The report outlines different “fair dealing” scenarios that the Canadian Copyright Institute takes exception to.

It will be interesting to see if there is any compromise between copyright holders and educators. The recent Supreme Court decision has really expanded the scope of “fair dealing” and allows for the expanded use of copyright material.

Re: Locate copyright friendly images with Compfight.com – Tuesday, 15 April 2014, 11:48 AM

Great find Nicollette I like how you can find the licensing information so easily and it makes it so easy to download and organize your images.

Re: Adding images to your blog  – Tuesday, 15 April 2014, 11:36 AM

Thanks Vara very useful information.

Re: Copyright Issues in Online Courses – Friday, 11 April 2014, 8:50 AM

This is a problem that is going to become increasingly contentious in the future as MOOCs expand and gain ground in education. Most universities when they licence material for their courses do so for the students registered in and attending their classes and not for the students that access these courses through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

There are also other issues involving MOOCs. For example in a classroom setting the instructor “most often own the rights to the courses and materials they develop, modify, and teach unless a specific agreement with the institution indicates otherwise.” However because of the infrastructure and production investment that institutions put into setting up MOOCs, many institutions are putting in a claim on these rights.

Another factor in MOOCs are the platform providers. Institutions should carefully read the Terms of Service agreements that they sign because many platform providers want a proprietary claim on user generated content. Also terms of service agreements put the onus on the educator and institutions to licence the material that is put into the MOOC so they and not the platform provider are responsible for any copyright infringements. Because of the global reach of MOOCs it is harder to get copyright clearance for material used in these courses.

For more information on this issue I found this article which is licensed under a Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-Commercial, Non-derivative Licence.

Artist Legal Outreach – Wednesday, 2 April 2014, 11:39 AM

The Artist Legal Outreach is a website run by a group of volunteer lawyers and law students who offer legal advice for artists about copyright legislation so they can best share and protect their works. They offer clinics, workshops and a variety of online resources that you can use to develop best practices when it comes to attribution and protecting your own work on social media. They also offer information and advice about employment standards, employment status and a variety of standard agreements and contracts.

The Tyee is offering a master class this Saturday featuring Martha Rans from the ALO.

archive.org
by David Maidman – Monday, 31 March 2014, 12:04 PM

Archive.org is a valuable source of materials that usually carry an open source or creative commons licence. Archive.org was founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle an early internet pioneer and entrepreneur as a non-profit digital library with the mission of “universal access to all knowledge”. (Wikipedia) At first the Internet Archive began to archive web pages which the public could access in 2001 through the “Wayback Machine” located on the website.

The website also archives video, audio and has now started the Open Library which aspires to be a web-accessible public library. The video and audio content can be downloaded and remixed. This is also a site where you can upload and archive any podcasts or other material you might create and use it to distribute your content. I have found this site very a useful source for audio and video files that one can reuse without fear of copyright violation. This is what an open internet is all about. For anyone looking for useful material I would highly recommend this site.

Here is Brewster Kahle’s December 2007 TED Talk describing his project.

Michael Geist  – Monday, 24 March 2014, 1:25 PM

Michael Geist is a Canadian academic, and the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa (Wikipedia). He is one of the foremost experts and commentators on the internet and copyright law in Canada. On July 12, 2012 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on 5 cases affecting copyright laws in Canada which fundamentally expanded the use of fair dealing in using copyrighted material.

Michael Geist edited a book “The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook The Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law” published in 2013. As a great believer in the open internet and the creative commons Dr. Geist makes the book available in pdf format for anyone to download.

Re: Copyright Infringement – Monday, 24 March 2014, 1:36 PM

I was at at the 2008 Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto where the director of the movie Brett Gaylor was present discussing his soon to be released movie (it won a prize at the 2009 festival). It was a really well done movie as it showed how large corporations such as Disney appropriated material to create a character ie. Mickey Mouse from Steamboat Willie then copyrighted their creation so no one else could do the same. Also my focusing on one remix artist, Girl Talk, he kept the story immediate and engaging. The film was released by Hot Docs on their Kinosmith collection.

Re: Copyright Infringement – Tuesday, 18 March 2014, 12:35 PM

Kimberly I agree with you that copyright infringement is a thing of the past. I watched the music industry’s attack on Napster and file sharing and contrasted that with how Apple dealt with the problem by putting songs on their iTune store and having people pay to download them. For an interesting take on this problem I recommend Brett Gaylor’s NFB film RIP! A remix Manifesto.

Re: Copyright Infringement – Sunday, 16 March 2014, 2:55 PM

Fair dealing in Canada is a defence that allows substantial use of copy-right protected works to be used, copied, transformed for a purpose enumerated in the Copyright Act of Canada.  In the U.S. the system is called fair use and is not as restrictive as the Canadian system.
For example in the U.S. libraries can send an electronic copy of a journal article directly to the computer of a person requesting it whereas in Canada they can only be delivered in paper format or a payment must be made to the rights holder for an electronic version.
In the U.S. educators  can show films and videos in the classroom without payment or permission this requires a payment to the rights holder in Canada.
In the U.S. teachers can make multiple copies of a work including complete sets for a class in Canada once again payment must be made to rights holders represented  by a collective.  In 2003 $26.9 million was paid out much by educational institutions.
These are just a few examples of the advantages that the U.S. “Fair Use” system has compared to Canada’s “Fair Dealing” system for educators.  A good book on Canadian copyright law is “In the Public Interest: The Future of Canadian Copyright Law” edited by Michael Geist.  In Chapter 15 Carys Craig writes about recent rulings regarding Fair Dealing.   A good comparison of Canada-U.S. Copyright law was prepared by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada in 2005.

Discussion on Instructional Media

These are my postings in the PIDP 3240 Discussion on Instructional Media

Re: Chalkboard. Is it still an option? – Thursday, 24 April 2014, 12:30 PM
Thanks for bring this up Philip. Sometimes in our rush to use the latest gadget we forget that the old ways sometimes work best. Here is a paper that describes how they went from using PowerPoint to using chalk-and-talk to teach the Signals and Systems at the Griffith School of Engineering. In their assessment of the study “many students identified the advantages of ‘chalk-and-talk’ lectures over PowerPoint-based lectures”.
One thing that I have learned from the PIDP program is to define my learning objectives for my students and then decide what is the best method to achieve the desired results. In the study of the engineering students it was found that:
“the desired objective is for students to gain a solid and deep understanding of the content. This paper aims to show that presenting to students in a way that highlights the step-by-step process in deriving equations or solving problems is central to achieving this.”
So as we look to all the new tools and technologies that we have available we still have to think of our students, what they have to learn and what is the best method for us to help them learn it.
So, S. (2012). Refined’chalk-and-talk’of lecture content: Teaching signals and systems at the Griffith school of engineering. In Profession of Engineering Education: Advancing Teaching, Research and Careers: 23rd Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education 2012, The (p. 1087). Engineers Australia.

Re: eTextbook – Wednesday, 23 April 2014, 10:58 AM
This is such a good point Warren. I was amazed at the cost of technical textbooks, as an example here is a welding textbook, Modern Welding Technology 6th Edition, available on Amazon for $170. Needless to say I didn’t find the price of the textbook for the 3240 course pricey at the VCC bookstore.
Another advantage I see for etextbooks in the trades is that technology is changing so rapidly, notice we are on the 6th edition of this particular book, that etextbooks would let us rapidly update material without having to print a whole new book.
Another thing we have to consider is the environmental impact of printing all those new books just because of a few new changes, all the trees being cut, energy expended, toxins from the inks and chemicals used in their production.
As someone who came late in life to digital technology I prefer a printed paper book. But my students have grown up using digital devices and are glued to their smart phones so they would have no problems using etextbooks.
For the trades it means we could incorporate video demonstrations into the text books to accommodate the visual learners amongst our students. Also in this age of a global network of content available on any subject matter isn’t the concept of a textbook, a single source of knowledge and expertise on the subject, obsolete?
As for quick referencing, tablet technology is rapidly evolving and I am sure there is probably an app for that.

Re: youtube is great  – Wednesday, 23 April 2014, 9:45 AM
As someone in the trades I find that youtube is an incredible resource because I can usually find a video that demonstrates any competency I want to teach my students. Also when I am designing my lesson plan I try to imagine how I can produce it as a series of podcast videos on youtube. This makes me structure my lessons into shorter, self contained units that build on one another.

Re: Using the Last Class effectively – Tuesday, 22 April 2014, 11:54 AM

 I like the idea of using the last class to engage with the students to assess if the course has met the performance objectives outlined at the beginning of the course.  Here is an exercise that ties the last class to the first class:

” As an example, in our courses it is common practice on the first day to ask students to write out their own expectations and objectives for the course on index cards. The cards are then mixed up, and each student is asked to read one card (not his or her own) either to the entire class (if there are fewer than 40 students) or to each other in groups of five. This activity provides the opportunity to compare their course objectives and expectations to our own, to note and reflect upon similarities and differences. The cards are gathered and saved for a review exercise during the last class.”

http://www.universityaffairs.ca/the-last-class.aspx

As I learn more about teaching in the PIDP program I am starting to learn the power of the performance objectives and how instruction has to be centred on achieving them.  Using the last class to assess whether we have met our objectives or not allows us to critique the courses we are teaching an

Future Tense – Thursday, 17 April 2014, 11:00 AM

 This is a partnership between Slate.com, the New America Foundation and Arizona State University that describes itself as “The citizen’s guide to the future”.  On Wednesday, April 30 they are organizing an event “Hacking the University: Will Tech Fix Higher Education?”  You can join the conversation online using #hackhighered and by following @FutureTenseNow.

Future Tense also has a blog hosted by Slate.com that has a variety of articles on the world wide use of technology.  They also publish in-depth articles.  Paula Krebs, a dean at a small regional university in Massachusetts, writes about the use of technology at smaller state universities and how technology can be used in liberal arts programs to enhance the job skills of graduates.  As she writes:

“We who educate the majority of college students in this country need to provide the skills with technology that allow students to see its place at the intersection of the culture and the economy.”

I like the idea that our use of technology in the classroom has to mirror its social and economic uses in order to be relevant both for our students and to prepare them for life after graduation.

I look forward to learn more information from Future Tense that I can incorporate into my instructional practice.

Re: Why Consider e-Appprentice? – Wednesday, 16 April 2014, 11:11 AM
Thanks for posting this Daniel. This seems to be the future of apprenticeship training. Here is a report by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum on “The Impact of Technology On Apprenticeship Training in Canada”. Where I work at Vancouver Shipyards we are undergoing a $200 million expansion with lots of that invested in new technologies that workers will have to be trained to use. Younger workers will have to be more computer savvy as automation will play a bigger role in the shipbuilding industry.

Re: LinkedIn – Tuesday, 15 April 2014, 11:30 AM

 I have a LinkedIn account that I used when I was involved in alternative media production.  I was trying to set up a new account now that reflects my new career as an instructor but am finding it problematic.  Any suggestions?

Re: Schoology, the Facebook for Instructors. – Tuesday, 15 April 2014, 11:13 AM

 Thanks for sharing this information Nicolette it looks like something I might be able to use for the courses that I am developing.  I like the simple interface as you don’t have to learn a new system as it sticks to the format that I am already familiar with on Facebook.

Re: Video Games and Education – Tuesday, 15 April 2014, 11:34 AM

 I don’t know if this is pertinent to video games but the Operating Engineers Training Institute in Ontario is using simulators in order to train people how to become equipment operators.

http://www.oetio.com/Crane_simulator.aspx

Re: Why Blog? – Friday, 11 April 2014, 8:08 AM

 In reading about blogs one thing that is repeated over and over again is how blogs are the digital equivalent of a journal or a diary.  Over the course of history journals and diaries were used by people to not only record the events in their lives but more importantly they were used to record and express their feelings and emotions.  They acted as an important release, a place where people could blow of steam and let go of their feelings and frustrations.  It gives us a good insight into people’s thought processes.

By encouraging students to blog about what they are learning and how they feel about their learning it would give the instructors a good way of assessing student engagement and getting feedback on the course material and their instructional strategy.  If students are having problems in class but are too intimidated or too timid to ask for help in class it would allow them to let the instructor know how they are feeling so the instructor could offer help or further guidance.

I feel that instructors using blogs in their classes should encourage students to write about not only their thoughts but also their feelings.  This would provide the instructor with valuable feedback that they could use to further student learning.  Here is some more information regarding the use of blogs in classrooms.

Re: Is your podcast good enough? – Wednesday, 2 April 2014, 10:40 AM

 I have created a podcast before for the NFB (check episode 101) using Audacity a free, open source application that allows you to convert, import and edit various audio tracks.  It’s multi-track format allows you to mix your audio so you can put music into the background or sound effects or whatever your imagination can come up with.  I must warn people that there is a bit of a learning curve involved but you can create professional quality audio podcasts.

I am not sure if this will work on iPhones but you can use your phone to record and then import the audio file and edit it using Audacity.

OERu – Friday, 28 March 2014, 12:39 PM

Most of us have heard of MOOC (massive online open courses) that are offered on the internet using closed licensed material.  Recently however a newer service was launched at Thompson Rivers University.

OERu is an independent, not-for-profit network that offers free online university courses for students worldwide using open educational resources and is coordinated by the Open Education Resources Foundation headquartered in New Zealand.  Using open source software this is a free service although students have the option to pay a fee to have their work assessed for academic credit and have these credits recognized by the partner institutions.
OERu builds on the UNESCO 2012 Paris OER Declaration which encourages the release of teaching materials funded with public money under open licenses.

OERu is very involved in western Canada partnering with Athabasca University and Kwantlen Polytechnic University as well as Thompson Rivers University.

Re: Social Media for Learning – Friday, 28 March 2014, 12:14 PM

Last night while discussing the use of cell phones in class with two recent college graduates I mentioned how in Media Enhanced Learning we were trying to integrate digital technology in our classrooms and build on student’s use of cell phone technology. This led to the comment that this would only increase inequality in learning opportunities as many families have a hard enough time affording school supplies let alone iPads, smart phones and other digital devices.

This is an important discussion as there is a general consensus that inequality is increasing around the world and that it poses a threat to our future. 1 The question is what causes inequality and can we correct this through our educational system.

One school of thought is that inequality is caused when technological advance vaults ahead of educational change. This skills biased technological change (SBTC) pays a premium for workers with the required skills and since the rate of college educated workers has decreased from 3.8% from 1960 to 1980 to 2% from 1980 to 2005 this accounts for their increased wage premiums 2 Others argue that inequality is caused by government policies that favour the wealthy 3, 4

As technology becomes an increasingly important part of the educational system I wonder if it will lessen equality or increase it. In the ‘flipped classroom’ students will need to have access to digital media at home in order to compete in class. 41% of teachers stated that learning gaps between students were, according to their observations, being accentuated by disparities in access to digital tools. 5

As educators we should be aware of this possibility an design our courses so that our use of technology enhances our students learning but not disadvantage students and create an unequal playing field in our classrooms. The way I see doing this is assessing our students access to and plan our courses accordingly.

Re: Google Glasses – Wednesday, 19 March 2014, 9:00 PM

I guess I am dating myself that in my youth it was the transistor that was the technological rage and actually made the digital age possible. No more fragile, bulky, vacuum tubes producing immense amounts of heat that had to be disappated. Devices could be downsized where you could carry a battery powered radio around in one hand.

Television was entering every home and new form of mass media was remaking our society. Mind you computers were huge and there were relatively few of them in the world back then.

Derek Bok in “The Politics of Happiness” states that happiness in North America peaked in the 1950’s and that neither the rise in material goods and advances in technology have really made us any happier. One thing that disconcerts me about our modern technology such as cell phones and Google Glass is that is tends to disconnect us from our immediate environment. Studies have shown that for most people “happiness is greater in natural environments” (MacKerron, G., & Mourato, S. 2013 p.13). I don’t see that viewing a natural environment through digital technology would bring the same sense of happiness.

At the risk of sounding like a grouchy old technophobe I will end my post here but it makes me wonder what the purpose of learning is if it doesn’t increase our personal satisfaction and happiness.

MacKerron, G., & Mourato, S. (2013). Happiness is greater in natural environments. Global environmental change.

Facebook and Higher Education – Wednesday, 19 March 2014, 7:49 PM

Social networking sites have become a major part of young people’s lives. Many professors are angered when students will check their Facebook feeds while attending class while others are embracing the technology and incorporating it into their teaching. They posit that the interactive nature of Facebook allows students to collaborate and share information. While many studies have done on the effectiveness of using Facebook in education, the conclusions vary.

In his 2009 paper Neil Selwyn found that students use Facebook to:

1) recounting and reflecting on the university experience
(2) exchange of practical information
(3) exchange of academic information
(4) displays of supplication and/or disengagement
(5) ‘banter’ (i.e. exchanges of humour and nonsense) (Selwyn, N. 2009. p.161)

He found that students saw Facebook as being part of ‘their’ internet and resented its appropriation by the hierarchal university and suggested that his data showed that Facebook as a “backstage space” that augmented their university education.

One way that Facebook has found to be effective is when it uses Facebook pages to form online study groups. An example of this is the School of Instructor Education Facebook page allows students to share information that they have found on the internet. This allows students to access a portal that has much relevant information to their studies rather than tedious searches through a search engine.

Dr. Nisha Malhotra at the University of British Columbia uses Facebook groups to answer student questions, post relevant articles and engender online discussions. Dr Leah Donlan in her 2012 paper concludes that students are happy using Facebook for academic purposes when it is on their terms as they wish to keep their private and academic lives separate. This suggests to me that any teacher that wishes to use Facebook in their courses might want to have the students collaborate in designing and defining the Facebook group and how it is to be used.

The use of Facebook and other social media in a formal institutional environment is still in its infancy and much study still needs to be done to assess their effectiveness. Searching the anecdotal information available one finds many successes and failures, but we have to realize that Facebook is a vital part of student’s lives and it is where they spend much of their time. As Susan Erdman writes “Perhaps the bruising immediacy and startling intimacy of Facebook will indeed offer a way out of the ritualized arena often found in traditional learning environments.”

Donlan, L. (2012). Exploring the views of students on the use of Facebook in university teaching and learning. Journal of Further and Higher Education, (ahead-of-print), 1-17.

Erdmann, S. (2013). Facebook Goes to College; Recent Research on Educational Uses of Social Networks. Nordic Journal of Modern Language Methodology, 2(1).

Selwyn, Neil. “Faceworking: exploring students’ education‐related use of Facebook.” Learning, Media and Technology 34.2 (2009): 157-174.

Selwyn, N. (2012). Social media in higher education. The Europa World of Learning 2012.

Education, Technology & Business – Monday, 24 March 2014, 12:11 PM

Education, Technology & Business is a blog managed by Scott Moore an associate professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan since 1993.  I would like to share his posting on “Digital and multimedia alternatives to traditional written reports”.  This posting lists a number of tools that he uses for student reports as an alternative to the traditional written paper.

As we move into the future it will become ever more important to use new tools in our teaching in order to engage our students.

Journal Assignment #3

“Second jobs, however go to those who have strong basic skills, know how to learn, are comfortable with risk, have persistence, and can adapt,  This is especially true in a period where jobs are changing rapidly”

(Bowen, J.A. 2012) Page 268

Most students go onto pursue a higher education in order to improve their career prospects.  The National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education in the United Kingdom (Dearing, R. 1997) found that 29% of students surveyed went to university to help get a better job while 19% needed a particular qualification in order to pursue their chosen career.  As educators I think we have to ask ourselves, are the programs we are teaching creating students who have the requisite skills that will allow them to flourish in our rapidly changing world, or are we merely turning out students who have put in their time and done the required work and achieved enough credits in order to achieve a credential in order to enter their chosen career path?

This is especially true today, as technological advances not only having an incredible impact on what and how we teach, but on our economy and society as well. Globalization and automation have impacted jobs in the manufacturing sector so that in the U.S. they have declined from 30% of all jobs in the economy to less than 10% since the 1950’s. (1) By expanding our post secondary education system, we were able to train people in the needed skills for the jobs that the new “knowledge” economy demanded. This ameliorated the social and economic disruption to some extent.

However as machines are becoming more and more capable of analyzing metadata , drawing patterns and learning from it, and algorithms are becoming even more sophisticated many of the careers that students are studying for today, may be gone tomorrow.  A recent study commissioned by the Oxford Martin School found that 47% of current U.S. jobs could be automated within the next 20 years.  Even as students study half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year. (2) As Dr. Bowen illustrates in “Teaching Naked” colleges and universities will have to undergo a radical change if they wish to keep on attracting students, especially if they are no longer seen as a way to a rewarding career in the economy of the future.

As someone who has had to move and adapt and relearn over the course of my working life in order to stay employed, I appreciate the immense challenges that my students will be facing in the future.  I worry that I might be teaching them skills and giving them information that will become irrelevant over the course of their careers.  An example of this happened in my own vocational training where we spent most of our time practicing gas and stick welding in class and no time using wire welding machines, only to see them widely used in industry less than five years later.

I am also fearful of the world described in Frey and Osborne’s report where jobs will be divided between a small group of highly skilled, well compensated workers on one end of the spectrum and poorly paid, unskilled jobs on the other and virtually nothing in the middle.  This is vastly different from the world I grew up in and as history has shown us, such societies are highly unstable. (3) In the past, schools have been able to educate workers so they could adapt and thrive in a changing economy, but as machines become smarter and are able to take on increasingly skilled work requiring more cognitive skills this might not be possible in the future.

As educators striving to meet the challenges of the future, we have to be very clear about we are offering our students, “…the degree is a unit of packaging, not the product.  The real product is learning” (Bowen, J.A. 2012) Page 259.  We must promote student centred learning that concentrates on having them master basic skills, teach them how to learn, encourage them to become life long learners, encourage them to persist and take risks, and stress the importance of adaptation and the dangers of complacency.  I can see a real revolution happening in our education system as we move away from a system that is centred on a solitary pursuit of content to a system that emphasizes collaboration and innovative thinking amongst our students.

We can’t predict what will happen in the next 20 years, only that all social systems, including education, will be very different from what they are today.   Just as the technology available in the schools today is so very different than 20 years ago.  The internet has replaced the school library.  But when one looks at the challenges facing students in today’s economy compared to those faced 20 years ago, one sees the immense importance of good educators and adaptive systems that actually promote learning and the creation of knowledge.  The one thing that hasn’t changed over the last 2,000 years is the ability of good educators to inspire their students to boldly go forward into the future and thrive.

1) http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21594264-previous-technological-innovation-has-always-delivered-more-long-run-employment-not-less

2) http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/12/forecast-6-professional-knowledge-increasingly-obsolete/

3) http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/1/davos-inequalityeconomicsinstability.html

Bowen, J. A. (2012). Teaching naked: How moving technology out of your college classroom will improve student learning. John Wiley & Sons.

Dearing, R. (1997). Higher education in the learning society.

Frey, C. B., & Osborne, M. A. (2013). The future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to computerisation?. Retrieved September, 7, 2013.

Janmaat, J. G., & Green, A. (2013). Skills inequality, adult learning and social cohesion in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Educational Studies, 61(1), 7-24.

Journal Entry # 2

“The workforce of the future will always be connected to the Web, and learning how to triage information is a crucial professional skill”

“If the Web is our new library, it is both exponentially larger and less reliable than the old library”

Bowen (2012 p.145)

Today the internet gives us access to a vast amount of content that no physical library could ever hope to match, but unlike a campus library whose content is chosen and curated by librarians, the content on the internet is full of misinformation and opinion.  Teachers tend to think that just because students today have grown up using the internet that they are proficient in using the internet when doing their research.  The ERIAL (Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries) project found that students tended to overuse Google and had problems conducting proper research queries.  It also found that students were averse to seeking help from their campus librarians and instead would consult with the instructor who gave them the assignment in the first place.  Learning to use the internet to research is a necessary skill, critical in todays world.

You can take any position, on any topic and using the internet to research your position or topic you will find data and information to back up and support your views.  The difference is the credibility of your sources.  Anyone can write anything, you will find websites that support all kinds of views and information that we know is scientifically invalid.  This also reminds me that the importance of teaching is not to provide content to students, that they can find on their own, the important thing is to teach students to not only find information online but to evaluate it too.

As someone who didn’t grow up using the internet I question my own internet research skills.  Not having obtained a university degree I have never really used the internet to research formal papers and it is not something that I use in my career.  I find that when I surf the web that I tend to concentrate on websites that support my basic assumptions and beliefs and I would imagine that most students do the same.  Taking the PIDP program has introduced me to reading and using scholarly articles and papers and using the internet to research academic topics that I have never done before.  By looking at my own deficiencies in using the internet to research topics I can see what is necessary for students to learn if they want to use the internet as a research source.

As I move through the PIDP program I plan to educate myself to not only learn to use the internet to improve my research abilities but to learn to critically evaluate the sources of information that I acquire there.  As I have been researching this journal entry I have found many sources of information that I plan use to instruct myself on this topic.  When I am teaching students I plan to asses their internet research skills early on and not assume that just because they are familiar with the internet and navigate through it adeptly that they can frame research queries properly and critically evaluate the information that they find there.  This will allow me to address any deficiencies I find.  As more and more Web 2.0 tools become available I will learn about them and use the tools I find most appropriate.  I also plan to familiarize myself with my campus library and the librarians that work there to see how I can integrate this resource more effectively with my teaching and act on any advice that they might have for me.

Alexander, B. (2006). Web 2.0: A new wave of innovation for teaching and learning?. Educause review, 41(2), 32.

Asher, A., Duke, L., & Green, D. (2010). The ERIAL Project: Ethnographic research in Illinois academic libraries. Academic Commons, 13.

Evaluating Information Found on the Internet Evaluating Information Found on the Internet

 Hampton-Reeves, S. Day, H. Hart, A. Lumsden, P. Mshiter, c. Westaway, j. (2009). Students’ Use of Research Content in Teaching and Learning: A report for the Joint Information Systems  Council (JISC) 2009. Centre for Research-Informed Teaching, Universtiy of Centeral lancashire.

 Learning for the 21st Century, A Report and Mile Guide for 21st Centry Skills.

Maness, J. M. (2006). Library 2.0 theory: Web 2.0 and its implications for libraries. Webology, 3(2), 2006.

Voogt, J., & Roblin, N. P. (2010). 21st century skills. Discussienota. Enschede: Universiteit Twente iov Kennisnet.

PDIP Journal Entry #1

“Teaching is about making connections, and the first thing we need to do is connect with our students.  Relevance and credible analogies are critical for good teaching; being unable to understand a fundamental premise of your student’s lives will make it harder to teach and relate to them.”

 “Teaching Naked” Jose Antonio Bowen  Page 30

Technology is rapidly altering the world we live in and the way we live and learn.  At the same time technology itself is rapidly evolving and changing.  At one time Myspace was the website where one could connect with other people and promote your band, group or organization through the internet, now Facebook is the dominant website.  Even so new reports  that as older adults embrace Facebook, teens and younger adults are abandoning the platform in the millions (Matthews, C. 2014).  The world is now seeing a generation of “Digital Natives” (Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008), young people who have grown up immersed in digital technology as compared to “Digital Immigrants” people like myself who came to digital technology much later in life.  The challenge as I see it is how do I teach my students so that I don’t seem to be some kind of digital dinosaur to them.

My biggest fear as an instructor is being boring and not being able to connect with my students.  As someone who went to high school during the 1960’s I experienced the difficulties faced by my teachers as they tried to connect with their students at the same time that young people were challenging and changing many of society’s basic assumptions.  Today as I look around and see young people constantly looking at their cell phones I wonder how I can reach them teaching in the traditional manner.  I wonder if I will be able to bridge the gap and engage them and interest them in what I have to offer.  It makes me question if I have what it takes to be an educator.  Not only do I have to deal with rapid advances in digital technology in the classroom but also rapid advances in technology that is used in my industry.

The reason for these doubts is the fact that I came to digital technology fairly late in life and while I am able to use some aspects of digital technology I am not as adept as the young people who grew up using digital technology.  An example of this is the playing of computer games something that young people today are very adept at but something that didn’t exist in my youth and that I never participated in.  Another example is that even though I own a cell phone I don’t use it as extensively as young people today do.  I don’t use or have a lot of apps nor do I use it as my primary connection to the internet.   Learning and using the new programs and apps that are developing is much harder for me whereas young people seem to learn their use with ease.  When it comes to much of the new digital media and communication mediums the role of all knowing teacher and student becomes reversed as my students will have a better understanding of how to use these technologies than I will.

So it makes me ask myself what role can I fill in my student’s lives and I realize that my years of experience makes me suited to “… encourage youth to develop the skills, knowledge, ethical frameworks, and self-confidence needed to be full participants in contemporary culture.”  (Jenkins, H. 2006 p. 8)  Taking courses such as this will give me the tools that will allow me to use the new digital technology in my teaching and provide me with a rudimentary knowledge that will allow me to understand my student’s digital environment.  My life experiences will allow me to help my students connect their digital environment to the world that they inhabit.  As I focus on learning and keeping up with the new technologies that my students will face as they go forward in their lives I must not lose sight of my real task which is to make sure that they will function as valued members of their communities.

Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence. British journal of educational technology, 39(5), 775-786.

Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. An Occasional Paper on Digital Media and Learning. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Kvan, T., Mark, E., Oxman, R., & Martens, B. (2004). Ditching the dinosaur: Redefining the role of digital media in education. International Journal of Design Computing, 7.

Matthews, C. (2014). More Than 11 Million Young People Have Fled Facebook Since 2011. TIME.com http://business.time.com/2014/01/15/more-than-11-million-young-people-have-fled-facebook-since-2011/#ixzz2vmmK8blR

PIDP 3210 Rationale

Introduction

Acetylene, was discovered by Edmund Davy in 1836 but it wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century that it was used for welding and cutting steel. So the use of Oxy-Fuel Welding (OFW) by industry predates electric arc welding (Cary, H.B. 1998). In recent years electric arc welding, first Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW), and now Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) with their higher rates of productivity have replaced the Oxy-Fuel Welding in the workplace. There is some debate wether Oxy-Fuel Welding should still be taught as it is no longer used in the workplace and it is not necessary to learn oxy-fuel welding in order to learn other welding procedures (Sgro, S., Field, D. & Freeman, S. The impact of teaching oxy-fuel welding on gas metal arc welding skills.” 2008). It is my opinion that oxy-fuel welding is still a useful welding process and is a good skill to learn, especially for those students who want to go on to learn the Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (TIG) welding process. (Covell, R. 2005)

Needs Assessment

In 2001 Vancouver was ranked third for the number of artists and first for artistic concentration (Hill Strategies 2006). Many of these are visual artists working with recycled steel. Vancouver is also home to the growing Maker Movement, people who embrace a do-it-yourself lifestyle and enjoy learning new skills. “Playing With Fire – An introduction to Gas Welding” is a way in which these people, who have little or no experience can get an introduction to the oxy-fuel welding process. Oxy-fuel welding equipment is versatile and relatively inexpensive and flame cutting is widely used in the steel fabrication industries. Using both classroom sessions and practical, hands-on time to practice in the shop, this course will teach students to use basic welding skills in a safe manner. This course incorporates praxis by having students design and build a project that utilizes their newly learned skills, so they will have something to show for their efforts. At the end of the course students will have a basic understanding of how to gas weld safely that they can use to further develop their skills and techniques, in this way the course encourages students to develop ‘lifelong learning’ as a goal.

Competency-Based Education/DACUM Chart

This course uses a Competency-Based Education approach in its structure and design (School of Instructor Education 2012). The course is organized as a series of seven workshops and is directed at students who have no prior experience with gas welding, so learning has to begin at a very basic level. The course is designed so that students learn a series of competencies that build on one another as they learn to take the basic ideas and practical skills associated with gas welding to the point where they can use their new skills to build their own project. The focus is on the learner and students are assessed on how well they perform the gas welding skills being taught and their focus is to continually improve their skill level through practice. Students are trained on real equipment in a realistic, shop setting. The course outlines six goals that students strive to achieve and each goal consists of four to six objectives that students must attain in order to reach the goal. All these are concepts and characteristics of competency-based education as outlined in the PIDP 3210 text book (School of Instructor Education 2012).

Performance Objectives

Performance Objectives give my students a clear understanding of what skills and knowledge they will be learning and how those skills and knowledge would be taught. These performance objectives assure the students that they will have the necessary knowledge to move on to the next level of the course so they can relax and not be intimidated at the prospect of learning unfamiliar concepts and skills. Performance Objectives also assist the instructor in making lesson plans to make sure that all the necessary knowledge and skills are covered. The ten performance objectives I chose are examples representing each of my DACUM goals and were chosen to give an idea of what is necessary to successfully reach each goal. They were selected to illustrate how both the classroom and the shop setting are used to teach students the knowledge and skills to successfully complete the course. Another factor in my choice of Performance Objectives were to show the different methods that will be used to assess student performance and what is necessary for the students to successfully complete each objective and reach the stated goal.

Course Outline

Since my course is a non-credit, general interest course using a workshop structure I felt a brochure would be a better format to use to advertise my course to as large an audience as possible. In a brochure I can use more graphics and pictures that attracts people’s attention and gets them interested in reading the information about my course. This is important as my course is not affiliated with an official school so in order to attract potential students I have to gain their attention and convince them that my course is worth taking. Brochures are a less formal curriculum document than an official course syllabus and I felt it better suited to a course that offers no accreditation to its participants.

My course includes both classroom sessions where students listen to lectures, watch movies and then discuss the knowledge that is presented to them and shop sessions where the instructor demonstrates the competency being learned and the students then practice the demonstrated skill in order to master it. The classroom sessions and demonstrations are designed to give the students the confidence to attempt the skill and be successful. The schedule is designed so students build on the learned knowledge and skills as they move from knowledge about safe practices and basic concepts, to setting up and using the equipment, to brazing, then to welding and they then get to use these skills to design and create their own project. As this is a non-credit course students evaluate their own performance and assess what they need to practice further in order to master the art of gas welding given the criteria contained in the Performance Objectives.

Curriculum Integration and Alignment

Alignment is important as students learn best when the course material flows in a logical and consistent manner. I have designed my course so that it moves from the basic to the complex and the students build on the competencies that they are taught. For example students learn to braze metal before they learn to weld metal even though both processes involve the same equipment and physical skills. This is because brazing rods are composed of a brass alloy that melts at a lower temperature than the metal filler rods used in welding metal making it is easier for beginners to weld successfully using a brazing rod. By successfully mastering braze welding techniques students will then have the confidence to replicate these techniques and be successful when they attempt to weld metal.

A sample of how I integrate alignment into my course is illustrated when we examine how Performance Objective B5 is incorporated throughout the course. Performance Objective B5, “In the shop and working with a partner, wearing proper PPE and after checking for potential hazards, light the torch and produce a neutral flame, within three tries” is taught in the second lesson of the course schedule. On the DACUM Chart this Performance Objective is part of goal B, “Set Up Gas Welding Equipment And Use Torch” and is Objective B5 ” Light torch and produce a neutral flame”. In our needs assessment we describe that ” this course teaches students to use basic welding skills in a safe manner ” and before a student can use basic welding skills they must be able to light a welding torch and produce a neutral flame. By connecting our lesson plans to the needs assessment and course rationale we make sure that our students gain the knowledge necessary to reach the desired goals that the course is designed to achieve which is to give students the basic knowledge so they can go on to safely develop their gas welding skills.

Lesson Plan

I chose to develop a lesson plan for the second lesson in my course as the students are taught using both in the classroom and in the shop. The students start out in the classroom reviewing the material covered in Lesson 1 and reporting on their homework assignment (come up with a gas welding fact not covered in Lesson 1). Next the instructor using lectures and videos, the instructor teaches the students principles of basic metallurgy and about the tools and equipment used in gas welding. This gives the students some basic knowledge so they are better prepared to ask questions about the welding process and discuss how the tools and equipment are used. The students then move to the shop where the instructor demonstrates how the tools are used and how to set up the welding equipment. The instructor then answers any questions the students might have before they set up the welding equipment for themselves while the instructor assesses and critiques their progress. By using lectures, videos and discussions I try to appeal to students who learn best by learning facts and figures, the demonstrations and skills practice appeals to students who learn best by doing. The lesson plan tries to take into account the fact that students learn in different ways “Recognizing different learning styles is an important factor in assisting learners to develop practical skills. Catering to the different needs is critical for success.” (Hampton, C., Teaching Practical Skills 2002, p. 84)

The Lesson Plan creates a positive learning environment by making sure that the students are allowed to discuss and ask questions about a subject area before moving on to the next subject area. The instructor also demonstrates a skill or activity in order to give the students a positive model to follow before the students practice the skill or activity for themselves. By working in pairs the students are able to engage in peer learning and correct and coach each other. By assessing and critiquing the students as they practice the instructor is able to correct any bad habits before they become part of the student’s technique. The lesson plan is designed so students develop the confidence to move on to ever-increasing complex skills and successfully master them.

Conclusion

“Curriculum development can be described as the process of defining, organizing, combining and co-coordinating content so that it leads learners to the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes.” (Dunbar, K. 2002, p.31) “Playing With Fire – An Introduction to Gas Welding” provides students with the knowledge and skills they need to safely practice gas welding. It informs students of the competencies they must learn in order to reach those goals. It allows them to assess their learning by outlining the criteria that they must meet in the Performance Objectives. The lesson plans are aligned to the goals of the course and flow from one to another in a clear and concise manner building upon the knowledge being taught from the simple to the complex. By taking “Playing With Fire – An Introduction to Gas Welding” students will gain the “ knowledge, skills and attitudes” to pursue the art of gas welding further and also be better prepared to learn other forms of welding. 

 References

Cary, H. B. (1998). Miller – The History of Welding. Retrieved June 2, 2013, from http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/articles/index.php?page=articles14.html

Covell, R. (2005). Miller – TIG Welding for Street Rods. Retrieved June 2, 2013, from http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/articles/TIG-offers-precise-bead-control-aluminum-Ron-Covell

Hill Strategies (n.d.). Artists in Large Canadian Cities (Statistical insights on the arts, Vol. 4 No. 4). Retrieved from Canada Council for the Arts website: http://www.creativecity.ca/database/files/library/artists_large_cities.pdf

Mishra, A. K., Bartram, J., Dhanarajan, G., Calder, J., John, M., Dunbar, K., … & Grundling, J. (2002). Skills development through distance education. Commonwealth of Learning.

School of Instructor Education, (April, 2012). PIDP 3210 Curriculum Development Course Guide. Vancouver, BC: Vancouver Community College.

Sgro, S. D., Field, D. W., & Freeman, S. A. (2008). The impact of teaching oxy-fuel welding on gas metal arc welding skills.

Tyler, R. W. (2010). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. University of Chicago Press.

 

 

 

 

PIDP 3210 Journal Assignment

Journal Entry 1

2. What characteristics of your adult learners most influence ‘how’ you develop and deliver a course?

PIDP 3210 taught us that the first thing we have to do when developing a course curriculum is to do a needs assessment. An important part of a needs assessment is to determine the characteristics of the people who will be taking the course. What is their level of experience? What is their prior knowledge of the subject? What are they physically capable of? These are the questions that must be asked and answered when designing a curriculum. This stem appealed to me because it reminds me that when designing a curriculum the most important item to consider is the people who will be taking the course. I found the PIDP 3210 course to be very learner centered as it used a hands-on approach by having the students design their own curriculum. This process meant that my lack of experience wasn’t a factor in learning curriculum development. The course taught me to look at curriculum design from the perspective of the people taking the course so I can make sure that I can enhance rather than inhibit their learning. This stem reminds me that in designing a curriculum it is important to be aware of the characteristics of the learners who will be taking the course.

Journal Entry 2

3. How do your perspectives and ideas on teaching and learning influence your curriculum development work?

Learning theories explain how we believe that learning occurs. This stem reminds me that when designing a curriculum we have to consider the manner in which people learn so we can plan our teaching and learning activities to fit into a framework that will enhance their ability to learn. Some learning theories are more useful than others depending on what is being taught. An example of this is as an admirer of Albert Banduras and his work on the social cognitive model of education, I have found it to be an effective model to use in teaching a skilled trade. In the curriculum I designed, the instructor models the behaviors that the students must replicate. I also address the confidence level of my students by giving them plenty of opportunity to ask questions and make sure they understand what is being taught so they will be able to attempt the increasingly difficult skills that are incorporated into my course. Once again it comes back to considering how the learner processes the knowledge that we are attempting to teach them and select the best methods to help them learn. I plan to learn more about various learning theories and how the people learn so I can adjust my teaching methodologies and develop my curriculum enhance my students learning no matter the subject matter being taught.

Journal Entry 3

4. What are some of your general principles regarding the creation of positive learning environments in each of the lessons or workshops of the courses you teach?

This stem ties into the others as once again it addresses student centered learning by looking at the environment they learn in and how to make it a positive one. In my course I have tried to create a positive learning environment by addressing the following principles. Safety is a key factor in teaching a skill such as gas welding. By teaching safe practices in the classroom before the students step foot in the shop I make sure that the students have the knowledge to act in a safe manner. Also as the instructor I must be sure that the shop space is safe and free of hazards for my students. I give them lots of chances to discuss what we will be doing and ask questions before we begin to practice a skill so they have a good understanding of what is required of them. I use self-evaluation in my course so the students realize that their primary goal is to master a skill and not to compete for marks with their fellow classmates. I have the students work in pairs when they are practicing their welding skills so they can support and encourage each other. As the instructor I observe and give them positive feedback as they practice their skills. In this way I hope to create a non-threatening learning environment that encourages the students challenge themselves to learn a new skill.

Journal Entry 4

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) approach to curriculum development?

Competency-Based Education (CBE) is very useful in developing curriculums to meet specific needs within a workplace. It is very useful for entry level training programs and ‘on-the-job’ training programs. By defining goals and developing objectives to meet those goals we can efficiently fill the gap between our present situation and gain the knowledge so we can get to where we want to be. Performance Objectives give the students a clear idea of what they will be learning and the criteria that they have to meet in order to be successful. It allows the instructor to concentrate on teaching rather than testing and assessing. It is a useful approach for those interested in continually improving their skills and knowledge. CBE does have its drawbacks however. Students may be able to meet the standards and criteria in the classroom but not be able to think on their feet when they confront an unusual situation in the workplace. Once students and faculty reach an acceptable level of performance there is a tendency not to push forward and improve. There is a tendency for students and faculty to avoid trying a variety of new skills or learn more than what is necessary to reach the various goals and objectives. That is why it is a sound strategy for the PIDP 3210 to teach both CBE and Outcomes Based Education approaches to developing curriculum.

 

 

Should Canada’s schools become more like China’s?

This is the question that Sachin Maharaj asks in this opinion piece published in the Toronto Star.  There is much debate about becoming more like the Chinese as we watch the rise of the Asian economies.   One of the things that is missed in this debate is just how innovative these economies actually are.   Do they actually come up with new technologies and methods for doing things or do they merely copy what is invented elsewhere?  For many years before entering the World Trade Organization China was accused of many cases of patent infringement.

A major point that the article makes is that much of Asian education is based on rabid competition amongst students so that children enter school at the age of 2 or study after classes until 11:00 p.m.  It takes a toll on the physical and mental health of the students.  It also makes one ask what is the role of education, to create cogs for the economic machine or to create happy, creative entities?

When I look at the emphasis that corporations and right wing think tanks place on standardized testing it reminds me of why we made a major shift in our educational in the 1960’s in order to create a more innovative and creative environment for learning to take place.  At the time the U.S. was shocked by the Soviet launch of Sputnik and needed to catch up.  A decade later they put a man on the moon.  Those who are advocating to the old days of the three R’s or suggest we emulate Asian education systems better watch what they wish for.

Academica’s Top Ten

Thanks to the PDIP 3100 I was connected to the academica group.  I enjoy reading the items in their weekly top ten digest to keep on top of some of the emerging trends in the educational field.   For anyone interested in connecting with this information:

“Academica’s Top Ten is a daily digest of top news and opinion affecting post-secondary education in Canada, published as a free service to our clients and friends. This digest was edited by Katherine Fletcher and Ken Steele at Academica Group, based on publicly-available information.”

www.academica.ca

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Pre-Apprenticeship Programs

Pre-apprenticeship Courses

Pre-apprenticeship Courses are courses designed to introduce prospective apprentices to the skilled trades.  many are designed for specific groups that are not usually represented in the skilled trades such as women, aboriginals, and people from different ethnic backgrounds.  Some are designed to help integrate people with barriers to employment such as drug or alcohol addictions into gaining productive employment.

The Trade Winds to Success program in Edmonton is an example of such a program.  Here is a report in the Edmonton Journal.