coComments related to Mr W’s Blogging Great Thing

of resources. The ability to d

2009-10-07T08:51:19.956+02:00

of resources. The ability to do this would attract many more users. For more discourse on this visit this link and this Reply

5, 2009 by Mr W My recent p

2009-07-11T09:05:53.917+02:00

5, 2009 by Mr W My recent post about copyright, quality assurance and Glow certainly got the conversation started! Here’s a quick update on what’s been happening Reply

I arrive at this debate a litt

2009-06-21T18:06:33.250+02:00

I arrive at this debate a little late, but I just want to make one comment: Where does it say in the A teaching profession for the 21st Century that your employer has ownership/copyright on the teaching materials you create?In fact the only mention of “teaching materials” on the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) is in the duties of Education Support Officers, section 2.15(e) .Regards Kenneth…Reply

Oh yeah -_____________________

2009-04-10T19:04:33.403+02:00

Oh yeah -_______________________________________________All my posts Copyright Iain Hallahan 2008 ©, all rights reserved. _______________________________________________Don’t want Neil claiming he owns our posts and then selling them on because it was ‘work’ we were doing on ‘his’ site for him…….:-pReply

It’s still dull in Aberdeen so

2009-04-10T19:04:11.737+02:00

It’s still dull in Aberdeen so here I am again. A couple of short points. Can we separate the quality of teaching and learning from the quality of the resources? Some of the best teachers I have known are wonderfully disorganised and basically quite incapable of producing a polished worksheet. I want those teachers to be able to continue to inspire without needing to worry about the point size of the text. So I don’t agree with a market place for teacher produced resources. Third party copyright infringements are a huge issue – we all do/did it. The eleventh commandment should be “Thou shalt not right click and save image as…” (Sorry, I can’t afford a mac!) However there is not really a problem here. The law is quite clear and we should simply follow it. Licenses from organisations like CLA and to some extent CC just muddy the waters. Just make sure you have permission to use what you use and make sure also that the person giving you the permission has the right to do so. We wouldn’t steal or receive stolen goods in any other aspect of our lives would we? What would help here is not just a bank of free resources but a bank of people who are prepared to allow you to use their work. I keep a growing file of people who have given me permission to use their stuff – I haven’t been turned down yet. Much of the discussion above concerns the relationship between the teacher and the employer in terms of IPR ownership. I would really welcome some comment from someone who might be able to influence this aspect of the debate.Reply

I’d open my comment by saying

2009-04-10T19:04:04.237+02:00

I’d open my comment by saying that speed is of the essence in a debate like this – Local Authorities and LTS need to join in before the next 23 comments appear. Here’s my tuppence worth:IPR In terms of Intellectual Property, something over which I’ve spent the last six months my head in contracts, there are two elements: ownership and exploitation.Firstly, it is perfectly normal in most domains that the employee automatically transfers ownership of their IPR to the company. So if, for example, I am commissioning a Supplier to do some work for me, I don’t want an employee within that Supplier to raise an action against my Company for having used an element of their work. Therefore, Local Authorities are right to claim that resources created within the terms of your contract (35 hours per week) are assigned to them. It makes it easier to sell them on. It also assumes that, with all teachers paid more or less the same, all teachers are also putting in the same amount of new IPR to the organisation. In the ‘real’ world, the coasters would be out of a job or, at the very least, paid less than the high flying profitable creators of new IPR.Resources created over and above that period of time (films, for example, which have required significant effort outside the working week) could belong to the employee, but you need a different status. Without being self-employed, you remain an employee.More importantly, IPR created before employment, existing IPR, currently is not recognised as belonging to anyone other than the current employer. This is a really blunt instrument, created by lawyers or Local Authority managers who don’t understand IPR.Therefore, one solution is that all teachers become self-employed and use this status (NeilWinton.com, ewanmcintosh.com – as I did at LTS, and which I assume Ollie did when writing textbooks) to assert their rights to IPR created over and above and outwith the terms of their contracts. The solution also means all teachers have to get savvy about their rights – and not sign contracts that go against those rights.IPR EXPLOITATION Regardless of who owns that IPR, something which is quite easy to make a decision on and can often end up mattering less in the digital world than the atomised one, exploitation is where the action is.I think a more intelligent and sustainable system than the one above is that Local Authorities recognise that all IPR created by an individual is owned by that individual, much in the same way as all broadcasters recognise that ownership of the IPR remains with the television producer, but that the Local Authority has a licence to exploit that IPR for a period of time: * a finite time – one year, five years * having exploited it to a certain financial value, and perhaps on profit- or revenue-share with the teacher * for as long as the teacher is employed by the Local Authority * in perpetuity (the current system)This would make for an interesting marketplace for teachers. It would financial recompense teachers for successful sale of their resources, and also motivate them to exploit them.As you say, good resources will tend to rise to the surface anyway, so quality control (is this good?) is not really required so much as a vibrant community who give a damn – and teachers would rise to the plate, I think.MICROPAYMENTS IN GLOW? REALLY good resources might be so good people were prepared to pay. Glow needs its own iTunes/App store, which makes electronic distribution outside that tricky or impossible, and allows good resources to attract a micropayment – 99p a resource?Personally, I’ve always felt free is a hard price to beat, and I think most teachers would be happy to share and sharealike for free – but I guess we’re talking about choice. If two great resources are available, one for free and one for 99p, I’d like the choice more than the obligation.THIRD PARTY IPR Whatever mechanism is used to share resources, CC, licenced or copyright, LTS have an unescapable onus to make sure that materials do not infringe third party copyright i.e. the picture or video you used can be reproduced in the material.LTS do not have the manpower to do this, and often it’s hard to trace back the way.LTS probably expect Local Authorities to do this, but likewise it’s hard for them to trace back.Teachers do not produce goods with distribution in mind, therefore they do not keep a record of where CC images come from as proof of their CC status.In Glow, LTS is the publisher of those materials and is therefore ultimately responsible for making sure that they do not infringe third party rights. From what I pick up they are transferring the responsibility for this check to Local Authorities, not that this stops LTS from still being liable. What is has meant is that LAs have become the baddies for ‘quality checking’ (when what they mean is checking for third party infringements). It’s not their fault – they should be passing the baton back to the publisher, LTS.What would I suggest as a solution? The marketplace that I mentioned above. If teachers own the IPR to what they are producing and stand a chance to make even the tiniest bit out of their material – and this would include simply being recognised for having produced it – then they would perhaps take more care in what 3rd party material they insert.Secondly, if publishing material had now become the norm, teachers would be well-versed in where to seek out cleared images and videos. This is what I slaved pretty hard for over five years, firstly at Musselburgh Grammar School with mgsonline, then with http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/mfle and its image bank and resource centre, then with eduBuzz.org and the training that went with it, and then with LTScotland’s own online service, where my efforts to have the whole site, and then Glow, released on Creative Commons as default failed.It’s a bit, just a bit, of a long comment, and one I might tidy up for a blog post chez moi. But I hope it’s got some fresh understandings of IPR ownership and exploitation that help target your debates.Reply

Neil, an excellent post.Copyri

2009-04-10T19:02:51.737+02:00

Neil, an excellent post.Copyright/IPR is becoming a big issue down south. As far as I am aware it is the school that owns the copyright to work produced by teachers for use within their job. Some teachers seem to either claim that they don’t know or their school gives them permission to sell their work. Unfortunately this was not the case for me, a couple of years ago I wrote part of a Year 7 ICT textbook in my own time and on my own machine. The LA claimed IPR for my work and it was them that got paid by the publisher and not me, a hard lesson was learned and I have not written anything commercially since!Reply

Interesting debate. Thought pr

2009-04-10T19:02:44.237+02:00

Interesting debate. Thought provoking post. Thanks for brightening up an otherwise dull day here in Aberdeen. I have a history in e-learning in FE and have certainly experienced the ab/use of QA applied to learning materials there. In that (commercial?) environment quality of output is particularly important – ie:- the stuff that eventually gets to the student should be of good quality – in many cases they are directly paying for it. The problems arise when the definition of good quality begins to erode the creative process involved in developing innovative teaching materials. Who is to say that my scanned notes or PDFd whiteboard scribblings are not of good quality if their existance online enhances the learning of even one of my students? College staff were often very reluctant to post materials to the e-learning system because they perceived them to be of poor quality and were concerned (with some justification) that the Thought Police would disapprove. In some cases this was a genuine fear – in others it was an excuse. I certainly agree that we should do all we can to promote the sharing of resources and also agree that poor quality materials will simply fail to be used. However, the sharing of ideas is equally as important as the sharing of actual resources – it would only have been very rarely that I used a resource without applying some of my own effort to personalise it to my style of teaching. “I like what she is trying to do with this handout but I think I’ll adapt it a bit ……”. So not everything needs to be a polished article.Does this mean that I think that teachers should be the sole judge of quality of their own materials? Well, regretably no. Experience has taught me that if there is no benchmark at all, too many items will fall below a reasonable standard. Do I think that others should be formally checking? No again. But I do believe that there should be guidance and assistance available to help teachers to produce materials which are of a reasonable standard. Further, the way in which students prepare their responses to homeworks, essays and projects is now increasingly influenced by material sourced online. We should set a good standard in our own work. Jaye is quite right to raise the issue of accessibility – materials intended for general use should take account of issues of accessibility both because there is a duty to do so (SENDA) but also simply because we can. The fact that a document will be read online opens up many new and interesting possibilities for the learner in the way that they may access this content. A little extra care applied at the time that a worksheet is created can greatly enhance the online learning experience of a whole range of people including many mainstream learners who would benefit from appropriate application of font size, styles and “roll-overs”. I would reccommend that readers take a look at the JISC TechDis service (http://www.techdis.ac.uk/) for excellent practical advice.IPR is another matter altogether and requires much careful thought. I am beginning to develop a fuller picture of the issues and have enjoyed reading the various posts on the subject. I am sympathetic to the Creative Commons idea but in order to share a new resource under a CC licence you must be the copyright holder. Where a teacher has created such a resource (in the absence of a specific agreement with the employer) the resource belongs to the employer – however unpalatable that may be. Logically therefore, the employer should authorise the use of a CC licence. Will they do this? I doubt it. Some authorities derive an income from the sale of such resources. Perhaps we need guidance from further up the tree. The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) (http://www.cla.co.uk/) have been around for a while. We are all familiar with the notice that hangs on the wall by the photocopier. How many of us have read it? CLA now license scanning as well and have a pilot licence (2008 – 9 with possible extension to 2010) for loading scanned material into Glow. The conditions in the licence are quite restrictive and I’d be fairly sure that it gets broken with alarming frequency. It contains such useful statements as “Digital Copies may be uploaded onto the Glow Network by the Council only” and “….and shall, in any event, be deleted at the end of the Academic Year in which the Digital Copy was made”. Check it out at (http://www.cla.co.uk/assets/209/schools_scotland_lts_glow_terms_and_conditions_jan_09.pdf). Also remember that the CLA licence only covers some published material from some countries. It does not cover audio, video, newspapers, periodicals etc, etc..Much food for thought and debate here.Reply

@Tess -The problem with GLOW,

2009-04-10T19:01:53.403+02:00

@Tess -The problem with GLOW, and in particular, GLOW learn is that for your resources can be tagged for search, but it’s your LA which decides on opening up this nationally. So if they decide against doing this (for whatever reason) then you can’t share or access any other resources within learn other than those you have loaded yourself. So all over the country, people are reinventing the wheel in their own little GLOW enclaves, and none of this will be shared unless their LA’s agree to tick the box. The offline or blackmarket sharing of resources is ok if you know quite a few folk (and I’ve used many things from your own blog, btw – thanks , but wouldn’t it be good if we all decided to share, tagged stuff in GLOWLearn, and then could search withing learn to see what others were sharing for a particular subject/topic/sector…? This is what’s in danger of not happening, and for many teachers, it was to be a big, big selling point for GLOW, and this is what Neil means when he talks about GLOW dimming. The lights may indeed, not stay on if there is no satisfactory solution to this….JayeReply

I think the other side of the

2009-04-10T19:00:51.737+02:00

I think the other side of the coin which needs to be examined is the fact that this problem, or the knowledge of a potential problem is nothing new. As Alan Stewart commented on my own blog post on this…“I remember, with some embarrassment, my questions re. accessibility being brushed aside with disdain at numerous meetings. It was galling then and it is galling now”.I think this demonstrates very amateurish project management – any analysis tool would have picked this up as a potential threat to the success of GLOW and it should have been addressed at the time by the LTS Glow program management rather than being brushed under the table , as appears to have happened, for the sake of expediency. This goes, as you say Neil, to the very heart of the whole GLOW project ethos, also described so well by such as John Connell, one of GLOW’s founding fathers. This is one of opening up learning nationally, with crucial planks of this construct being creation, collaboration, and communication between learners, which of course, includes teachers and the resources they are willing to share. How on earth are we going to create an environment which is buit on this concept of sharing when the mechanism for doing so is closed down by this big-brother approach from the LA’s as appears to be happening. LTS should, no, must take a lead on this as well as teachers in working with LA’s to resolve the whole issue of copyright. They are at least ideally placed to go some way towards achieving consensus between LA’s, and all users need to make their concerns known to the appropriate contacts at their respective LA’s. Lets hope no more cock-ups of this magnitude swim to the surface over the next few months. Large tracts of the country, although signed up for GLOW are not or have no plans for wider roll-outs as yet. If Glasgow, Edinburgh and Highland are to adopt it in any way other than a few token schols and teachers, then there must be much more transparency of intent and focus on day to day operational issues which affect classroom learning, for this is where GLOW will stand or fall nationally, on its potential to enhance learning and teaching. The issue of resource sharing goes straight to the heart of this, and nothing will put those LA’s who have yet to roll out GLOW more, than the perceived issue of disputes over ownership of resources contained within it.I’m working on my own contribution to the wiki at the moment. Hopefully, I can expand on some of these points in that post soon…JayeReply

Hello Grump!In the words of th

2009-04-10T19:00:44.237+02:00

Hello Grump!In the words of the kids: Soz, my bad! I usually include a link to Glow[url=] on the LTS website but forgot this time! (Updated above)In short, Glow will be a Scottish education intranet designed to allow us to share resources and learning between everyone in the country. The thing that strikes me is that Glow appears to be about to start triggering very necessary and long overdue conversations about copyright/IPR and teachers.Hope that answers your question… now, I’m away to read your blog! ;o)Reply

i have no idea whether this is

2009-03-04T02:04:34.723+01:00

i have no idea whether this is an active thread, but please get in touch if you’re still active with your higher english revision plans.Reply

of the list is to get busy on

2008-07-25T18:22:55.196+02:00

of the list is to get busy on providing online revision materials for the Higher English courses. I mentioned this a while back, but exams and quite a few other things (I believe they’re called a ‘life’) have Reply

Hey! I’ve just watched my kid

2007-12-17T08:41:15.669+01:00

Hey! I’ve just watched my kids emerge from the Higher with various facial expressions for me to decipher. Your plan sounds great to me and I’d love to get involved – if you’re interested. Any thoughts on this year’s paper?Reply

I have been asked to create En

2007-04-09T13:16:08.935+02:00

I have been asked to create English resources for my school in Wales. We need resources for GCSE English Literature and English Reading& Understanding responses (I’m sure there’s overlap with the Scottish system here). I’d like to help with resources and maybe pinch yours. I’m a little experienced with Moodle and have ICT support at school. Happened upon your site while browsing!Reply

Are you still looking for anot

2007-03-25T07:24:25.333+02:00

Are you still looking for another English teacher to help create materials? If so, I’d certainly be interested.Reply

else… , School David Muir h

2007-03-10T00:32:41.731+01:00

else… , School David Muir has given me real pause for thought with his recent comment on my post about the Blogs and Moodle installation that has recently gone online for our pupils. He (rightly) points out that the rules that I have Reply

Curses Mr Muir! You are right…

2007-02-22T14:13:57.060+01:00

Curses Mr Muir! You are right… I need to revise them as a matter of urgency. Given that I am trying to encourage blogging and Web2.0, the conditions do seem very negative.Feel free to make suggestions people!And as for you, Mr Muir, sir… I take it you’ve already got May 1st in your diary?Reply

Mr W, quick couple of thoughts

2007-02-22T01:34:32.895+01:00

Mr W, quick couple of thoughts on this whole Moodle thing… 1st of all I like the idea of getting other English teachers involved, the idea of there being multiple teachers managing it with different methods of teaching is great. However, maybe once the site is up and running and it is getting nearer the exam etc it might be an idea to hand it over to some of us too, they do after all say that the best way to gain confidence about what you have learned is to teach it. That is also to basis of the web 2.0 idea after all. Just a thought though.P.S. Please don’t tell the rest of the class I posted this, I will most likely be strung up…SeanReply

Hi Eva, It is (as z3rb points

2007-02-21T20:33:53.748+01:00

Hi Eva, It is (as z3rb points out) a virtual learning environment… Unless you can actually log in to a course, there is very little you can access… but I’d be delighted to show you what it can do. I think you’ll like it… and will find uses for it.Reply

It’s a sort of “Virtual Learni

2007-02-21T20:33:43.748+01:00

It’s a sort of “Virtual Learning Environment”, (That’s what VLE stands for) it allows techers to create on-line courses and lessons for pupils to take. The name “moodle” comes from the name of the software that powers that portion of the site.Hope that helps, z3rbReply

What’s a moodle? I clicked on

2007-02-21T20:33:33.748+01:00

What’s a moodle? I clicked on it but came away even less wise!!Cheers EvaReply

Great idea, Neil – the things

2007-02-21T20:33:23.748+01:00

Great idea, Neil – the things people get up to while I’m away travelling!Reply

use my post as a chance to let

2009-06-16T22:25:29.746+02:00

use my post as a chance to let you know about an update to the brilliant Free Rice website that I blogged about last November. For those who don’t already know, this is a site that asks you questions and every time you Reply

Thanks for all the comments fo

2009-02-20T12:39:07.403+01:00

Thanks for all the comments folks. I’m going to be trying the site with some of my S3 Bloggers next week… Maybe even get a league table going!Reply

I liked freerice.com too, so I

2008-10-27T03:52:45.060+01:00

I liked freerice.com too, so I typed out a little firefox extension as a companion to the site. You might want to check it out if you use Firefox or Seamonkey. http://ttechnotes.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/rice-count/Reply

This is well cool! My best so

2008-07-02T20:06:22.717+02:00

This is well cool! My best so far is 30… and I’ve given 1000 grains!This will keep me amused for a while.Reply

Oh dear. Can’t resist a challe

2008-03-08T10:20:00.374+01:00

Oh dear. Can’t resist a challenge – got 50 with 760 grains this time. I think I’m a child at heart …;-)Reply

I had such fun with this. And

2007-11-12T23:03:16.162+01:00

I had such fun with this. And had to comment because I persevered until I got 50! By which time I had thousands of grains of rice How self-satisfied am I? DorothyReply

Way hey! 49%, moi! (Smug or wh

2007-11-12T21:48:05.229+01:00

Way hey! 49%, moi! (Smug or what?)Reply

I have just tried it on diffic

2007-11-12T13:24:41.914+01:00

I have just tried it on difficulty level 1 where words such as ‘teenager’, ‘investigate’ and ‘choice’ are coming up. Looks like it will suit S1 Reply

ah! Excellent! Your ‘difficult

2007-11-12T09:50:35.725+01:00

ah! Excellent! Your ‘difficulty level’ was 44! Phew, 50 is the hardest. I am only a mere 33 (middle of the road).On the faq page, it describes that it will adjust the words to your own level dependant on how many you get right or wrong. So the pupils will get words suited to them! I love links like this, although I can never figure out why I never get things done Reply

The best I managed was 44 (%?)

2007-11-12T06:16:29.536+01:00

The best I managed was 44 (%?), but I’ve no idea what it’s out of.I love the simplicity of the idea, but wish it was more accessible for younger kids. Having said that, it might just become mandatory for the Higher class!Reply

Ah, but what was your level? (

2007-11-12T02:42:23.347+01:00

Ah, but what was your level? (wee number which kept changing…)Reply

Great website, great idea that

2007-11-11T23:07:57.158+01:00

Great website, great idea that free rice! I thought my vocabulary was good till I tried it. I’ll be passing this one on to my friends.Reply

This is something that we have

2007-12-11T07:02:45.506+01:00

This is something that we have discussed in East Lothian; awards in recognition of excellent Web-logs.I will bring it up at our next EduBuzz Meeting and let you know our latest thoughts. Reply

I’m in. But, instead of the ty

2007-12-10T23:39:54.104+01:00

I’m in. But, instead of the typical awards routine, it would be better if there was a system that recognized a larger percentage of student bloggers. Perhaps there could be a top 100 list of individual student bloggers in multiple categories. Give many students around the globe the opportunity to be recognized for their ideas and content. Excellent idea!Reply

Thanks everyone for the kind c

2007-12-10T16:17:02.702+01:00

Thanks everyone for the kind comments (and links)… I think this may be a definite maybe! I’ll see how much more interest ther is, so if you’re dithering about saying anything… don’t! (And that includes pupils!)Cheers!Reply

A great idea Mr W! – one of th

2007-12-10T08:54:11.300+01:00

A great idea Mr W! – one of the issues I have about the edublog awards is the fair criticism of the technorati patting themselves on the back. Let’s get it back in focus. What’s the point of educational awards if the focus isn’t on the pupils? Like David, whatever I can do to help…Reply

Hi Neil Great idea. What a won

2007-12-10T01:31:19.898+01:00

Hi Neil Great idea. What a wonderful way to try to get more students involved in blogging and reflecting about what is going on and what should be going on in their education. I didn’t attend the awards but read about them, but I wonder how “fair” is the voting.Reply

Hi NeilI thought that the even

2007-12-09T16:34:08.328+01:00

Hi NeilI thought that the event went really well last night. It appeared that voting was up on last year and that they were trying hard to exclude block voting. I’m also amazed at the number of folk that I know who were ‘in-world’, the problem was that I didn’t know any of their SL names!I think your proposal is sound and that it is necessary, both to celebrate what has gone on and drive forward innovative uses of new technologies (and collaborative/constructivist/conversational learning).I’d be delighted to help out in any small way that I can.BTW Although my mind was blown by watching my avatar live via uStream and the ScienceRoll guy blogging (and snapping) live, I thought that the turn-out in SL and uStream (don’t know about Skype) was low, and in world-wide terms, rather insignificant.Reply

Hi What a great idea. There ar

2007-12-09T15:46:38.245+01:00

Hi What a great idea. There are many student bloggers who deserve some sort of recognition for their commitment to blogging. I would want to see it open to all students or have categories for all students so holding the awards in Second Life or something similar would restrict that. Look forward to hearing more about this.Reply

I also spelled convener’s wron

2007-12-09T15:46:28.245+01:00

I also spelled convener’s wrong in the first comment… I’m obviously not with it todayReply

And I think you’re on to an id

2007-12-09T15:46:18.245+01:00

And I think you’re on to an idea btw… I’d be more than happy to help with it tooReply

Yeah, there was originally a s

2007-12-09T15:46:08.245+01:00

Yeah, there was originally a student category, but I’m not sure what happened to it. Arthus got nominated for best individual blog though. Surprisingly Students 2.0 got the covenor’s award! Although it isn’t in the awards post…I was disappointed however at a comment aimed at Arthus… that he should be waiting his turn, waiting until the educators had moved on before he should be getting the award.Reply

Thanks Neil I am now in a bet

2009-04-27T20:55:29.565+02:00

Thanks Neil I am now in a better mood with flickr. See you over there once I have coughed up the cash!Merry Christmas! Reply

Tess, Yes, they will… if you l

2008-11-12T13:26:32.886+01:00

Tess, Yes, they will… if you look at the TOS, they only show your 200 most up-to-date photos on a free account (and only three of your sets)… but the rest are still there and will appear ‘as if by magic’ when you give them drinking tokens! Reply

I am in a bad mood with Flickr

2008-05-30T07:57:36.207+02:00

I am in a bad mood with Flickr.The renewal email for my pro account went to an old address. Since I didn’t renew the pro account they have locked away around about 800 images I haven’t renewed the account yet, but when I do will my pictures return?Bah-Humbug Flickr Reply

Sorry looking for link for fli

2007-12-16T00:13:46.125+01:00

Sorry looking for link for flickr on becta, can find it with their search.Reply

Hi Neil, new uploader not work

2007-12-16T00:13:36.125+01:00

Hi Neil, new uploader not working here. Do you have a link for BETT, I feel a bit of campaigning coming on.Reply