Moral, ethical, and legal issues were raised in our class when we were talking about technology in our own professional practices. There was substantial information that was really important, especially in a time where there is a major pandemic and we are teaching from home. How do we navigate these waters without stirring the pot that is the copyright infringement?
A number of my colleagues had thought of the idea of doing a read aloud to their class. They would chose a book and record themselves reading it and post it to Seesaw or Google Classroom. Simple enough and a great idea! BUT HOLD THE PHONE, PUMP THE BRAKES and CUT THAT CHORD! We as educators need permission to be able to post anything of that nature, permission from the author and the publishing company. Through this pandemic however, some authors such as J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter) have made their books open for such causes which is an amazing gesture and nod to education.
COVID-19 has really opened my eyes to these situations, as an educator looking for resources to utilize with my class online. One cannot simply take and use any content they want, we must seek permissions where applicable like the aforementioned novels.
These are difficult waters for educators to navigate we need to make sure that we are diligent and thorough with the content that we post and utilize the resources that are School Board certified. If we aren’t we need to make sure that we are taking the right precautions with the content we are using so we are able to safely encourage educational growth from our students with distance learning.
I am excited but a bit paranoid about copyright laws and infringement and do my best to follow and regard them seriously in my practice. Pandemic education has changed the course of what school looks like and it seems like the greater public are sympathetic to our new educational reality. With authors and book companies lifting fees, maybe the best way to engage your students in novels and reading is to steer them to those sites so they can choose a book they might enjoy and dive into it on their own with regular check in’s.
Adam Scott Williams 
Looks like you were thinking almost exactly the same thing as me! Thanks for the post!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Adam,
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. It certainly made my mind going. I was taking pictures of vocabulary cards the other day, posting for students to write sentences about them: First, Next, Then, Last. Then it made me think. Is this ethical? How many cards am I allowed to take pictures of? I also liked some of the ideas my kids’ teachers are using. If I would like to incorporate those ideas in my lessons, do I need to ask for their permission? I also googled the same ideas and they can be found on the internet. So, who do these ideas belong to? It seems that the more I learn about ethical and moral issues, the more questions I have.
I do like the idea of letting the kids choose a novel they are interested in reading and checking in with them. I think giving them a follow up writing activity would be a nice addition, even if it is only picking a new word out from each chapter, difining it, adding synonyms, antonyms and using it in one or two sentences.
Wishing you all the best on this unique journey!
Melinda
LikeLiked by 1 person