Free "copyleft" visual resources

Every day, I am becoming a bigger advocate for copyleft licensing options for content. Copyleft licenses lets the creator maintain ownership (and copyright), while allowing others to share the content under terms specified by the creator.

If you are looking for images to use in presentations, copyleft content offers you a legal option for free content. If you are creating content, consider sharing it with others under a copyleft agreement.

My newest podcast features a sampling of great copyleft visual resources, like clip art, photos, and video. (If you missed it, the last show was on audio resources.) Both of these shows were really fun to produce (and a lot of work to edit, but that's part of the fun).

Here is a list of copyleft sources to look at:

Clipart
* Open Clip Art Library [Note: This site is in transition, but this art is also downloadable from other sites.]
* Wikimedia Commons

Photos
* Wikimedia Commons
* The Open Photo Project
* morgueFile
* Stock.XCHNG
* Flickr
* NASA
* Library of Congress

Video and animation
* Wikimedia Commons
* NASA's Earth Observatory [lets you build your own custom animations]
* Internet Archive

Music
* ccMixter
* Wikimedia Commons music
* Internet Archive (wide variety of stuff here, not all copyleft)
* Partners in Rhyme
* MusOpen

Spoken word
* Spoken Wikipedia
* Library of Congress
* Voice of America
* Internet Archive (wide variety of stuff here, not all copyleft)

Sound Effects
* The Freesound Project
* Partners in Rhyme
* US Fish and Wildlife Service (animal sounds)

Search engines for other copyleft content
* Creative Commons
* Wikimedia Commons
* Common Content
* ibiblio

At some point in the future, I'll do another podcast on copyleft-licensed educational resources. Hope you enjoy!

NECC-Closing thoughts

Here are some of my big take-aways from NECC this year:

- There are a lot of new things going on, and they're inspiring a lot of energy. (And I haven't always felt this way at past conferences.)
- Web 2.0 is the being used by a lot of people in some very creative ways.
- Intelligent tagging is critical to making net-based content usable.
- Open Source, Creative Commons, and other "copyleft" licenses are catching on.
- Information literacy is an increasingly critical skill that should be a core part of school's instructional mission.
- The goals, methods, and tools of education need to change to reflect the changing world.
- Change is happening fast and getting faster.

See you all next year in San Antonio!

NECC session-Classrooms and Libraries for the Net Gen

I went to a session at NECC by Doug Johnson called "Classrooms and Libraries for the Net Gen" that I really enjoyed. I read Doug's blog, but had never seen him speak before. He is a great presenter.

The session focused on various characteristics of the Net Gen and the consequences of those for schools. Here are some observations I took away from the session:

- Doug reeled off a long list of statistics of how the Net Gen is different from boomers or even Gen X. This made me feel old, but also to be happy to be living in a time of so much excitement, energy, and positive change.

- Students in the Net Gen WANT TO LEARN. They just may want to learn different content and with different methods than schools traditionally offer.

- It was suggested that the Dewey Decimal system is losing relevance. (This inspired defensive indignation in the crowd of mostly library media specialists in the audience.) Doug talked about user/student-generated tags as a more relevant system of organization. This is definitely a trend at NECC this year. Are organizations beginning to tag analog content like library books?

- Like others here, Doug encouraged us to be more flexible in allowing students to bring electronic devices, like iPods, handhelds, and even cell phones, to school. Again this is a theme here this year. Doug suggested including students on school and district planning committees to help administration understand the new paradigms of learning of this generation.

- On the subject of filtering, Doug says, "Safety comes from education, not blocking." Doug's site and handouts give some thoughtful ideas for how his district is handling these issues.

- Physical place is important. Schools need to be more comfortable and even fun environments. It strikes me that this could be done for little or no cost. I was at a university earlier this week that has done a lot of things like adding nicer student spaces, etc. while simultaneously generating revenue for the school. An associate dean there pointed out to me a Starbucks in the library and said that, while students love it, the librarians were not so happy with it.

- Librarians have a central role to play in information literacy and learning in the future.

See his web page for more thought-provoking details.

Edubloggercon - Classroom 2.0 session

Some quick thoughts from a session on Classroom 2.0 ...

- With wikis, some people are hesitant to add because they think they might be "wrong."

- School 2.o was too radical of an idea for many. [My note: I started out there for just that reason; I was looking for a group with some ideas that were "out there." It was a little lonely though. I moved over to Classroom 2.0, but sometimes find that much of the discussion there is not really 2.0-related.]

- There may be a need for a more database-type approach for creating/storing/accessing 2.0 curriculum resources that's more structured than a wiki.

* There needs to be a set of tags that identify educational grade level, content area, and even national standards correlation. [My note: This is a really big idea, I think. There are so many great resources out there, but there needs to be consistent tags so they can be accessed easier.]

- There was a discussion of issues related to blocking of Google video, YouTube, etc. If more people licensed content under Creative Commons though, this content could be "harvested" off of these sites and put on other more "education-friendly" sites.

- Relevant links: Classroom 2.0 ning, School 2.0 ning, Classroom 2.0 wiki, Creative Commons licensing

Edubloggercon - video session

Some quick thoughts from a session on using video....

- We need research data on the effectiveness of video, so if you have any, please post and share. A lot of us have good anecdotal and qualitative data, but we need more quantitative data.
-Instead of teacher ed programs focusing on classroom video of best practices (which has its merit), how about having teacher's create videos with the key points of their lessons for students to watch? This has the benefits of getting teachers to really think through what the salient points of a lesson are as well as having the side benefits of creating tons of great content. (Make sure to post to your end work so we can all use it.)
- If possible, license your educational video under Creative Commons so that we all can share.
- Check out Next Vista for Learning
- Check out Kevin Honeycutt's video podcast

Internet blocking - help me understand

I've been thinking about Internet filtering and blocking in schools, trying to puzzle through the shades of gray and understand how current policies in this area can seem like a good idea to anyone.

I understand that filtering is mandated by law. At one extreme, most people can probably agree that blocking access to pornographic sites is a good idea. At the other extreme, we can (hopefully) all agree that blocking access to all Internet is a bad idea.

In between there are a lot of gray areas. Here are some questions that I think are worth some thought and discussion:

- Who should make the decisions about what is blocked? The federal government, the state, districts, schools, or individual parents?
- Are there any filtering systems that kids can't get around?
- Should general tools (blogging sites, wikis, video sharing sites, nings, etc.) be blocked across the board, even though they may host some sites that are potentially objectionable?
- If we start blocking tools like this, doesn't that logically lead to blocking most or all Internet sites? (How about paper and pencils? These too are tools that can be used to create objectionable content.)
- Can technology be used more intelligently to filter?
- What treasures are we depriving students of by blocking sites that don't even have objectionable content? (Is this a technological challenge or a human decision?)
- Where are the respective borders of responsibility and censorship?
- What message are we sending students with our filtering policies?

I'm really trying to see both sides of this issue, but I guess my bias is showing. Please comment on this post. I'm especially interesting is heaving from anyone who could explain any possible rationale for blocking things like Blogger statewide. (Of course, if you live in one of those states, I guess you won't be able to post a comment anyway. Sigh...)

Free audio resources you can use

The next episode of Karen's Mashups is up, and this is my favorite show so far! In it, I highlight a variety of sources for "copyleft" audio content that can be used free of charge in your own podcasts, movies, PowerPoint presentations, etc. The post includes links for all the sources used plus more.

The next show will feature similar copyleft visual content (photos, clip art, videos). I'm also presenting a session called "Using Mobile Technology to Differentiate and Enrich Instruction" at NECC. This presentation will include how to create and use this kind of content. If you're at NECC, stop by and say hi!

PD "stickiness"

I do a lot of professional development workshops. (One time I counted and figured I worked with over 2,000 administrators and teachers over the course of a year. )

There are two main types of workshops I do: workshops at schools and districts for specific projects and conference workshops. In general, I like the former better, because I know what I am teaching will be put to immediate use. Conference workshops, on the other hand...I'm not sure. The energy at conferences is always high, and everyone is very excited, but I think a lot of people go back home and get entrenched in their everyday lives and maybe don't use their newly-learned skills so much.

Part of how I gauge this is through how many follow-up emails I get from people. (I always tell people how much I love hearing from them after a workshop, because then I know they're out there doing great things.) This year, I've seen a real difference with podcasting workshops. I have heard from a lot more conference participants in the months after the workshops. I've gotten emails from people who are podcasting with kids, emails from people who are teaching their own workshops back at their districts, calls from people with questions as they're in the middle of projects, etc. It makes me know that after these workshops, people are going back and podcasting!

That's fun. I'm glad the workshops are "sticking" and even happier that podcasting is proving to be a useful medium for people. It is energizing me for a busy summer/fall full of workshops. Keep those emails coming!

Grant for California schools

The next round of California's Title IID Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant program for 2007-09 has been announced. Applications are due July 27, 2007.

These are complicated applications to write, but it's worth the work. The funding level is significant, and we have had some very large (and successful) mobile technology programs funded through this source.

If you'd like more information, feel free to drop me an email. CTAP is also a good source for information. If you're not in California, but are interested, check in with your state DOE for your EETT status and dates.

New Edition of Handheld Book

There is a brand new 2nd Edition now available of the popular book Handhelds for Teachers and Administrators by Tony Vincent and Janet Caughlin.

This new edition has a lot of new information, including a section on podcasting, which includes tips for using Audacity and information on publishing your podcast. Even if you already have the old edition of this book, it's worth getting this update. It also includes a new CD with more lessons, software, podcasts, and movies!

Video proliferation

I love the recent explosion of user-created video content that's going on in the world. It's creative, thought-provoking, and empowering. I've also written previously about the great potential of video to help differentiate instruction and enrich student learning.

However [rant coming]...the wide variety of video formats, codecs, etc. is driving me crazy! The more time I spend with video, the more time I spend with conversion tools and help pages about what device and software use what format and what codec, and the more time I spend mumbling about why this *%#%&*(# video won't play right.

One tool I've found really useful for this though is Zamzar. This is a free online converter that works not only with video, but also with images, docs, and audio. One really useful thing this tool does very well is to convert videos from YouTube and TeacherTube, so that you can view them on a variety of devices such as iPods and handhelds. You just upload the video (or a link) and select the format you want. Then they email you a link for the converted file. (They do seem to have some DNS problems with their email system, but I've found it works well with gmail accounts, so if you have problems getting an email, try that.)

As with all web-based content, make sure to watch for copyright and attribution issues. And with all Web 2.0 services, you should read the Terms of Service.

And for those who are curious, the name is a take-off on Gregor Samsa, intended to connote transformation. :)

Wikipedia for Schools

I love Wikipedia and the collaborative approach to creation that it represents, but as with any information resource, Wikipedia is not all things to all people. One area where it is problematic for schools is that it contains some content that is not child appropriate. Also, as an "open environment" it is always changing...which is potentially both good and bad.

To address this, SOS Children and a group of dedicated volunteers have now launched Wikipedia for Schools. This is a subset of the best Wikipedia articles that are child-friendly and educationally-oriented and have been correlated to the UK National Curriculum. It is "frozen" so that vandalism, etc. are not concerns, and you can even download it as a DVD. What a great project!

With the increasing wealth of "copyleft" and Open Source content that's out there, I've been thinking about a variety of potential projects like this. Examples include adapting Wiktionary for student use (especially on mobile devices), creating a CD of Open Source art, photos, video and music for student project creation, organizing a list of public domain ebooks by reading level, and more.

There is so much value in this content and providing it in a monitored, safe environment and format would help speed its adoption. It would definitely take a big group of volunteers to work on it though. Would free screened resources like this be of interest to your school? Would you be interested in helping put it together?

[Image of Wikipedia logo is a registered trademark of Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.]

Video-based professional development

The newest show on Karen's Educational Mashups is up. This show features different ways that video resources are being used to provide just-in-time professional development. With all the time pressures on teachers, I'd expect this to be a growing area as schools look for creative solutions to building professional learning environments.