Week 2 Reflections

Today’s class was actually very interesting and informative.

I was actually really interested to learn more about copyright law and all the ways that I had been previously breaking those laws without even knowing (I know, it’s bad)! I didn’t know, for example, that copyright is automatically created on everything that is ever created. I did know that copyrights expired but it was helpful to learn that it was after 75 years and that there are resources like archive.org that have compiled a plethora of media that have become public domain due to copyright lapses.

It is also really important to know that as educators we do have slightly different rights when it comes to copyright law and using copyrighted materials with our students. Knowing the way to go about asking for permission (and that authors often grant permission) will also be imperative, going forward.

Being provided with and learning about the resources available to us as educators was really eye-opening and I hope to incorporate some of those resources into my future teaching life. The idea of open education is really interesting to me, as long as those resources are regarded with a critical eye. As future teachers, though, most things are questioned before they are immediately accepted.

On a different note, I am still unsure about creating a professional twitter account. As of right now, I have an anonymous twitter account that is mainly used as a way to vent frustrations, anonymously and without giving specific, identifiable details, and I question my own ability to take a platform that is not necessarily designed for professional use and turn it into a professional platform. I will continue to consider a professional twitter account as an option, but I am not yet ready to commit.