Copyright presentation

I asked my brother-in-law who happens to be an attorney to talk to my 6th and 7th grade computer classes about intellectual property issues. First of all, I have to commend my students -- they were great! They were quiet, listened intently, and -- for the most part -- asked some very good questions. I think they learned a lot.

Larry geared most of his talk on music downloading. This is a big issue with these kids. Many of them have portable digital music devices (mp3s, iPods, etc.). He explained to them that the best policy is to be sure that you pay for the music you download and get them from a reputable site. He referred them to riaa.org for a list of reputable downloading sites. I did print off the list and will put the link on my school webpage for parents to see. The students asked such questions as:

- What if I give my friend a copy of the songs that I downloaded?
- Why did they invent things like DVR, Tivo, CD and DVD burners if it's illegal to copy songs and movies?
- (this is a good one!) What if my friend and I go halves on a CD, do we both get to download the music onto our iPods?

There were many more, this was just to name a few. What a great teachable moment! Thanks, Larry for your presentation!

End of the day thoughts

The presentation by Will Richardson was tremendous! There are so many ideas buzzing around in my mind. When I got home, I was just a-"twitter" with all the information I left with. How am I going to use this with my students? How is this information going to impact the expectations and rules I have for my own personal children? Do I want to encourage my oldest son to explore the world of social networking and blogs now instead of discouraging him because I am afraid of all the dangers out there? What a powerful tool the internet is! Actually, as I reflect on the content I have developed for my computer classes so far this year, I think I'm on the right track. Will explained today that we need to teach our kids how to be safe on the internet first. And that's exactly what I'm trying to do. Now, I just hope they listen.....

Day 1

It's 1:10 p.m. on Friday and I am sitting at the Rend Lake Marketplace in a presentation by Will Richardson. We are learning a lot in a very short amount of time. The burning question in my mind is how am I going to use this in my classroom. What great tools for the kids! This is going to take a lot of thought on my part. I'm one that tries to stay a step or two ahead of the kids. But when it comes to social networking and blogging, they are at least a step ahead of me. I am hoping that the information I have tried to impart on them so far this year helps them to understand how to stay safe when they are socializing via the internet.