Short e-Learning Course on Copyright
PORTFOLIO
Project Background
In several of the classes I teach, I give assignments in which students are required to use images. Specifically, these assignments ask students to produce work that would be suitable to use in a professional context. Unfortunately, students have a lot of misconceptions about the kinds of images they are allowed to use in professional settings – some have never thought about copyright law in their life; others have a poor understanding of when the law allows them to use images for free, and when the law requires that they pay.
Originally, I developed an interactive, in-person micro-lecture to teach students about how to use images at work. I gave this presentation once a semester in several of my classes. As my courses grew to incorporate more and more hands-on learning experiences, I found I had less time to deliver this material in person, so I transformed the content into a mini-course that students can take online through the LMS before class.
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Problem Driven Scenarios
The course narration tells a story about a fictional student who keeps trying and failing to use images correctly in a professional context. This problem-centered approach allows students to puzzle through the material slide by slide. By observing the gaps in their own knowledge and the consequences of those gaps (you can get sued if you use an image illegally), they value the information more. As the presentation progresses, students get an explanation of copyright law and examples of what sorts of images it protects and why. They also get a demonstration of how to assess if an image might be copyrighted – as well as a demonstration of how to use Google image search tools to find images that are free to use even for commercial purposes.
Two Units w/Built in Quizzes
Student attention spans are short. To make the content more digestible, the course is split into two units. The first unit focuses on what copyright law is. The second unit focuses on how to find high quality images that are not copyrighted. Each unit ends with a quiz to help students check their knowledge. The course is fully integrated into Blackboard. It's mobile responsive, so students can choose to watch the course on their phones or tablets if they like.
Slide design: my work.
Instructional design: also my work.
Voiceover: that's me!
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