Although last on the list of 12 Hard Lessons, the concept of “normal” is one of the most important ideas I want to get across to my students. I left school with a clear delusion that there was a type of person who was …
Read the rest
Tag: sharing
Hard Lesson #12: There is no “normal”
Your Work: Dead or Alive?
The following tweet landed on my feed this morning, and it really got me thinking. I so often try to tackle printing as an environmental issue, that I forget the fact that it is, in many ways, simply an inferior way to work.
Don't tell me a policy is a "living document" that is being constantly reviewed if you then go and print it on paper. Sigh. — Chris Betcher (@betchaboy) January 28, 2013This led me to compose the following email to my colleagues, as an opening salvo in a new offensive against the poor practice of printing:
Colleagues, you all know that I am opposed to printing. But there is more to it than just environmentalism.
If you want to think of your work as "living" (eg actively used, collaborative, flexible, responsive, meaningful) then why consign it to static paper? Why not share your work online, build an audience and set your work free. Put it in a blog, or an online document, invite commentary, make everyone an owner.
This is the future of knowledge for our students. Lead by example. Paper is a dead end. Isn't it time to upgrade?
Fortunately Chris Betcher put his thoughts down in a shared, digital environment, and so we are all able to make use of them. Imagine if he just printing them out, and filed them away.
Talking About Depression
Last weekend, a former colleague committed suicide, tragically unable to deal with living his life any longer. Tim Ford was, on the surface, a man who had it all: great job, wife and kids. Having spent time with him, I can attest to his …
Read the rest
Copyleft: A Teacher’s Guide To Sharing
This short movie, introduces copyright and sharing from a teacher's perspective. It is aimed at students and teachers, and will hopefully help viewers to understand copyright, and inspire them to create and share more. In making this film, I remix Brett Gaylor's "RIP!: A Remix Manifesto" to produce something similar but different.
If the video won't play within this page, try it here on YouTube.
Creative Commons: What Is It?
Edit: today (06/02/2015) I was discussing Creative Commons with some teachers who are new to it. I promised to share the article below, but realised it might need to be prefaced with a synopsis. So:
- Creative Commons is a way to legally consume, share and
Read the rest
Jamendo: Free, Legal Music
Jamendo is a fantastic source for music that students can legally use in their own creative works. Shared under Creative Commons licenses, the site offers a whole range of sounds, much of which is very professional in its composition, performance and production.…
Read the rest
Dropbox
http://getdropbox.com/
Dropbox creates a folder on your computer, which is continuously synchronised with a personal, secure space on the web. The system gives you 2GB of online storage for free, and you can purchase more as required. This is a great way to share files …
Read the rest
FlickrStorm
http://zoo-m.com/flickr-stormFlickr Storm allows users to search flickr for images shared under Creative Commons licenses. Creative Commons enables and underlies a massive pool of content that is available for students to use in their projects, including images, videos and music. Whilst this site only focus …
Read the rest
Wikipedia
http://wikipedia.org/
A giant; world-wide collaborative encyclopedia . Often criticised because anyone can edit it; but most people miss the point that this is what makes it so great. Shunned as a tool for student research, it does in fact make an excellent starting point, with …
Read the rest