Creative Commons - The answer to our Copyright prayers?

While delivering a briefing on copyright recently I realised that copyright had not featured on my Blog. The danger when talking to staff about copyright issues associated with digital resources is that in effect you cannot copy and paste anything from the Internet without breaching copyright law. Case closed - and that's not what staff want to hear!

Our approach here at the RSC however is to focus on how you can find resources that you are at liberty to use. Creative  Commons (CC) is a not for profit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright and for me has become the most useful tool to use to help find materials that you can use. Essentially Creative Commons allows you to assign usage rights to your work before it is published indicating how your work can be used. Unless this, or something similar, is done the default position is that the work is copyright as soon as it is published to the web.

Google (for websites) and Flickr (for images) now have advance search tools which allow you to filter your search to resources which have a Creative Commons licence already assigned. You should click on the CC icon and read the licence but really all 4 licences do tend to cover use in the mainstream, non-commercial education sectors with just a simple attribution note.

Advanced search in Google:click advanced search / enter your search term / expand date and usage rights section / choose one of the 4 appropriate usage terms that suits you needs. All 4 reflect the CC licences.

Advanced search in Flickr: enter your search term / click search / then choose advance search / check box that says "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content".

The returns you get using either of these techniques will provide you with materials that you can use without breaching the copyright legislation but you should check out the CC license terms for every resource you find.

It is worth noting that you may not be in a position to assign a creative commons licence the work you develop yourself for your students as the intellectual property rights are likely to rest with your employer. Check it out

http://creativecommons.org/

How Creative Commons works

JISC Legal Webcast on “Digital Copyright with Confidence”

Which comes first the Chicken or the Egg ?

This week saw the start of our new initiative aimed at supporting curriculum development in our region - we're calling it Collaborative Course Design (CCD) and beginning pilots in 3 of our supported institutions. My colleague and I spent 2 days this week working with a course team exploring technologies and how each can add value to the learning experiences both for the learners but also for the staff. It kind of brought home to me the chicken/egg nature of making decisions about how to exploit new technologies in general. In other words how do you know which technology to use unless you are exposed to them in an appropriate context.

Although I had a few concerns, the original plan for our sessions to explore and establish a common understanding of new technology was a good one. While individuals have ideas about the role of technology in the context of learning & teaching, ideas are constrained, quite naturally, by an individual's own experience and exposure to technology and software. I did wonder if spending time showing and explaining the scope and range of new learning technologies might be perceived as a waste of precious preparation time. However it became evident that a brief and concise demonstration provided enough of an insight for staff to quickly realise the potential of and application of new technologies for learning & teaching. The experience also supports our new 20 minute topic briefings aimed at senior & operational managers which we are offering and delivering to our supported institutions. These are also aimed at assisting the decision making process but in an institutional context rather than a course context.

Working with a course team meant that, as a group, ideas could be bandied about and the practicalities, suitability and local issues regarding the use of hardware and software could be considered as a group and introduced to a course in a more coherent way. The whole experience seemed to me to promote a very creative and positive experience with real commitment to making some changes and doing things a bit differently. Reservations about making what might be considered to be a significant departure from previous methods are understandable but I'm quite delighted that our Collaborative Course Design (CCD) initiative has got off to such a positive start.