Blog Journal 3

         This week in lecture we discussed issues around Intellectual property, copyright, fair use, etc. .. To fully understand these topics we must first learn what copyright and these other ideas are. Copyright is a form of protection for intellectual property; it means that that person or property has exclusive rights to use and distribute it. An example of this seen in action is through "fair use", this was enacted in part of the Copyright Act of 1976; it establishes guidelines and allows for users to copy material for nonprofit educational purposes! So why does all of this matter in terms of education? As future educators we will be utilizing others' work and intellect; understanding copyright laws and what you do and do not have rights to, share, copy, etc., is extremely important! 

    As we continued the lecture we discussed past and more emerging technology problems that educators are now having to face. The one I found most interesting or at least pertained to me was academic dishonesty. As a college student and throughout my whole time in school I have seen academic dishonesty. In a time of advanced technology and using smartphones and tablets in the classroom, it is extremely hard to avoid some form of academic dishonesty. One proposition that I have seen a lot of teachers use is honor lock, this blocks online users from changing tabs, using notes, listening to recordings, etc. While my fellow students may agree that they probably don't like teachers using platforms like this, however, it is the only thing as educators we can do as of right now to hopefully prevent the majority of cheating and academic dishonesty. 

    AI was also a huge topic in class this week! For me, I find that AI is definitely a helpful tool. I think overall it will do more good than harm in respect to education and educators. It can be a great tool for educators to access information quickly and to free up time. However, it is without question that the flip side of this is a big problem. Because AI is so easily accessible and easy to understand/use, some critics feel platforms such as AI and ChatGPT will take away students' creativity and motivation, or lead to mass cheating. And while all of these problems are very likely, there is also a great advantage and strength to having a tool like this! 

    Lastly, this week we wrapped up our newsletter designs! Overall, I thought this was a great and fun assignment; I loved playing the role of a teacher during this and really getting creative and inspired from my assignment! Not only was this assignment fun but it significantly helped my Microsoft Word skills; I learned so many new tools and tricks within Word such as making columns, how to add graphics, special text, etc. All of these things we learned are going to be extremely useful not only in this class and moving forward, but as educators and when creating projects or presentations for our classes! Even for those, like myself who do not necessarily want to become a teacher, these skills learned from this assignment are just great to have for any job or any time you need to type something up! 

Below I included a screenshot of my newsletter !! :)