From Russia with Love

Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Winter University 2018

University of Tomorrow: Innovative Pedagogy and Methodology

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by Jasmin B. Cowin, Ed.D., Associate Professor of TESOL and Bilingual Studies
Graduate School of Education, Touro College, NY

It was a distinct honor to be the keynote speaker and workshop facilitator for the XIX Winter School, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow. Thematically, Plekhanov’s Winter University focused on “Current Global Trends in Teaching English.” The Head of the Foreign Languages Department, Irina Ekareva, Ph.D., Associate Professor, a highly regarded scholar of historical sciences, founded the yearly conference in the spirit of the importance of lifelong learning. Collectively, the department instructors passed international professional exams and participate on a regular basis in international conferences and grants. The Foreign Languages Department is actively introducing and using the latest interactive technologies in teaching foreign languages through meetings and hiring international specialists for workshops and conference presentations.

Prof. Ekareva’s overarching conference theme was on the urgency to adapt to a rapidly irina pic changing world while creating agile mindsets in students and facilitators. She opened the conference with her observations on the acceleration of change domestically and globally. Her remarks crystallize a common global theme on the far-reaching disruptors within the education landscape and the dynamic developments in regards to career pathways for the iGen and Gen Alpha generations. Both Generation Alpha and iGen are the first smartphone generations in our history to be immersed from birth in the super-connected social networking and gaming landscape.

The daily workshops designed and facilitated by Prof. Dr. Cowin were: Current Global Trends in Teaching English; Developing Materials and Resources in Teaching English – Methodology; E-learning & Micro-Methodology in Teaching English; and E-Resources Discovery and Analysis. As a final project, participants submitted online learning modules for their EFL courses focused on content-based instruction while incorporating the flipped classroom model.

20180115_131540 While designing the workshops, it became clear that many of the communicative activities and teaching approaches would require participants to step outside their comfort zone. Over the course of five days, the workshop attendees were challenged to incorporate new teaching approaches based on communicative, student-centered components and activities. Through using Harkness method strategies which encourage open classroom dialogue, the workshops were transformed into “Think Tanks” emphasizing a nurturing environment. This anxiety-free, collaborative approach supported risk-taking, opening up within the group, and personal initiation of hands-on activities and projects.

Upon reflection, the four C’s: communication, cooperation, creativity and critical thinking are culturally transferable and as relevant as ever in engaging teachers and students to become agile thinkers, leveraging learning for continuous improvement.

Proteus vs Papert – Musings by Dr. Jasmin B. Cowin

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What does the future of public, private and corporate education hold for us? I believe Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, natural language processing, neural nets and deep learning will be the catalysts for world-changing disruptions in fields such as medicine, education, and job creation. Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Baidu, Ford, Tesla to name but a few are positioned to be leaders in this transformation. Questions on institutional pathways to success and viability need to be framed against the background of AI, super intelligent machines and the broader questions of humanity and human consciousness.

In The Gears of my Childhood, Seymour Papert states “What an individual can learn, and how he learns it, depends on what models he has available. These questions raise, recursively, the question of how he learned these models. Thus the “laws of learning” must be about how intellectual structures grow out of one another and about how, in the process, they acquire both logical and emotional form.” Papart sees the computer as the “proteus of machines,” the universal enabler, an instrument flexible enough so that “many children can create something” which assimilates new models of knowledge into their individual styles of learning. However, kindling the spark of “love” for learning and inquiry as the driving force in creating a “genesis of knowledge” is the dominant message of Papert’s essay and the universal message to and for educators.

For Ray Kurzweil “Technology goes beyond mere tool making; it is a process of creating ever more powerful technology using the tools from the previous round of innovation.” As a generation of students prepares for their future, they must be prepared for a fluid and lifetime assimilation of new technology and models of national and international coexistence. However, Luke Rhinehart aka George Cockcroft, a psychiatrist, university professor, and writer of the cult novel The Dice Man wrote: “Man must become comfortable in flowing from one role to another, one set of values to another, one life to another. Men must be free from boundaries, patterns, and consistencies in order to be free to think, feel and create in new ways. Men have admired Prometheus and Mars too long; our God must become Proteus.”

Thinking about the future of education and humanity brought forth the questions: Is the quest for AI a quest to create God? If yes, in whose image? Alternatively, is this quest for the ultimate AI the ultimate archetypical story on the search for immortality? After all, humans have fantasized about the possibility of bringing a loved one back from the dead ever since that fateful, everlasting separation of Eurydice and her husband Orpheus on their wedding day through the venom of a viper. In this light, Rhinehart’s words that “men must be free from boundaries” seem prophetic.

Education, Virtual Reality and the 3D Campus

Virtual Worlds (VW’s) are bringing new challenges and a possible disruption of campus life as we know it to the forefront of higher education institutions via virtual campus creation. The quest for exceptional immersive learning spaces requires leaders in higher education and institutions to reflect on processes and practices into VW and 3D environments.

In their book E-Learning Ecologies: Principles for New Learning and Assessment, Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis explore the role of new technologies in communication with learners, changing knowledge representation and the role of new technologies in transforming educational institutions. E-learning has created robust learning societies outside academia. I predict that in the near future, educators, students, and VW participants will spend considerable time in VW’s interacting with each other.

Exploring new technological resources such as VW’s and their unique environments opens new dimensions of the formative teaching and learning process. The landscape of these”multimodal” workspaces has a global reach. Pierre Baldi and Crista Lopez discuss in their article The Universal Campus: An open virtual 3-D world infrastructure for research and education the “Universal Campus”, providing a campus 3-D virtual world with multiple buildings featuring fully furnished laboratories, classrooms, meeting rooms, auditoriums, concert spaces, libraries ,and lecture halls enabling virtual meetings and interactions for faculty, students, visitors, and administration. In my opinion, VW together with 3 D technology such as the Oculus will create innovative, global, transformative knowledge spaces.

Westchester New York Baillage, Pro-Am Gala Dinner at the Fairview Country Club, Greenwich, CT.

Open Access, Author Rights, and SPARC by Jasmin B. Cowin, Ed.D.

Open Access, Author Rights, and SPARC publication model exploration.

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Open access allows researchers to access books and other items for free. These resources are openly available to users with no requirements for authentication or payment:www.cs.cornell.edu/wya/DigLib/MS1999/Glossary.html.

In this publication model neither readers nor a reader’s institution are charged for access to articles or other resources. Users are free to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles. The free availability of scholarly research literature, without restrictions of price or permissions on the Internet, is an important research tool in the age of IoT. Open Access journals allow researchers self-archiving in a digital repository or publication.

Using Open Access does not mean giving up all copyrights of ones scholarly work since it is anchored in the U.S. copyright system. When publishing with traditional scholarly journals, authors typically sign an agreement that transfers all their copyrights to the publisher, retaining no rights for themselves to re-use or distribute their own work. However, with open access journals, authors retain their rights to re-use their work in teaching and further scholarship. (Information consolidated from Lloyd Sealy Library)

One of the best ways keeping scholarly work within one’s personal control is the SPARC Author Addendum. SPARCis a legal instrument that modifies the publisher’s agreement and allows authors to keep key rights to their articles. The Author Addendum is a free resource developed by SPARC in partnership with Creative Commons and Science Commons, established non-profit organizations that offer a range of copyright options for many different creative endeavors. (quoted from SPARC BROCHURE)

Dr. Jasmin Bey Cowin

As an Assistant Professor for TESOL and Bilingual Programs at Touro College, Graduate School of Education Dr. Cowin’s focus is on the Responsibility to Touro Students (Teaching), Responsibility to the Discipline (Scholarship), and Responsibility to Touro College and Community (Service).

Dr. Cowin strives to inspire students to be creative and to model the love of lifelong learning by inculcating the habits and attitudes that create agile mindsets. 21st-century education extends well beyond the classroom, and Dr. Cowin incorporates online learning technologies for L2 language acquisition and current global trends in teaching English as a Second Language.

She represents high levels of scholarship and participates fully in the larger world of TESOL academic discipline. Ongoing research, expressed in scholarly contributions to the advancement of knowledge is demonstrated through publications (articles in Education Update), presentations and participation in academic conferences, blogging and other scholarly activities, including public performances and exhibitions at conferences and workshops such as the Plekhanov University of Economics keynote address and seminars in 2018. Of particular interest to her are The Blockchain of Things and its implications for Higher Education; Current Global Trends in TESOL; Developing Materials and Resources in Teaching English; E-learning & Micro-Methodology in TESOL; E-Resources Discovery and Analysis; and Language Acquisition and the Oculus Rift in VR.

Dr. Cowin believes that the prestige of Touro College and its TESOL Department depends on her endeavors and work outside the Touro College System. She demonstrates the same high standards of personal integrity both inside and outside the classroom through her Presidency at the Rotary Club of New York, chairing of the RCNY United Nations International Breakfast Meetings, and her US Ambassadorship for the Rotary Action Group for Eradication of Hepatitis.

She served as Chief Marketing Officer for a start-up IT company, PeopleMovers®, a Community Networking Platform. As an experienced executive, both at a strategic and operational level, with strong track record in developing, driving and managing business improvement and development, change management and turn-around she worked with value-adding leadership. The main drivers were branding, marketing and efficiency, improved customer satisfaction and retainment, customer service, product management, crosscross-functionalness improvements and development of sponsor presentations with sponsor meetings.

The Presidency of the Rotary Club of New York is dear to her heart. As the second woman to be elected in 109 years, Dr. Cowin had a leadership role in shaping and directing the club’s programs and international strategic alliances. Part of this volunteer leadership position centers around cooperation and collaboration to do “Service above Self.” The Rotary network encompasses more than 1.3 million members worldwide. Currently, I am working on our International Breakfast Lecture series at the United Nations and a Harvey Relief event to increase visibility of the club’s Rotary branding. The International Breakfast Series is streamed live on Facebook with an audience of 5000+ international viewers. In addition, she is the US Ambassador of the Hepatitis Zero Campaign, a worldwide campaign for which she is part of the MediRelationsns team. Through her volunteer position as the President of the Rotary Club of New York and host mother to international students from South Korea, Venezuela, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, France, China, Kazakhstan, and Italy Dr. Cowin is extremely knowledgeable about cultural differences and sensitivities, team work, plus meaningful cooperation and collaboration within a team structure.

As a University Pathway facilitator at EF – Education First, she conceived, designed and developed multiple portfolios of face-to-face, online and blended curricula across a variety of disciplines. For EF’s Russian branch she held interactive Adobe Connect webinars for Russian ESL university faculty at academic institutions such as Moscow University, St. Petersburg, and Siberia with practical applicability into real-life teaching scenarios. Dr. Cowin successfully designed, implemented and taught 21st Century courses for international students which focused on educational technology literacy, assessments, activity paths, learning objectives and content for each course with a 100% paper-free learning environment. Excellent student participation and student ratings for her courses were achieved through online collaborative tools.

Realizing that Educational and Instructional Technology are pivotal in today’s fast changing education environment Dr. Cowin completed August 2017 a Masters Degree in Educational Technology at the Marlboro School of Graduate and Professional Studies, Vermont, with a GPA of 4.0. During her time at Marlboro College, she studied, analyzed and applied pedagogical best practices and supporting media and educational technologies needed to successfully execute online, f2f and blended learning and marketing environments.

DR. Cowin is a Fulbright Scholar, who holds a Doctorate in Education from Columbia University and a Masters in Educational Technology.

CV Dr. Jasmin Bey Cowin

Skype: jasmin.bey.cowin

Professional Experience

PeopleMovers® August 2017- present

Chief Marketing Officer

Transformational leadership

Conceived, planned, created and implemented a “third platform pillar” next to Facebook (social networking), LinkedIn (business and resumes) for community organizations featuring advanced digital tools for organizations to engage and mobilize their stakeholders, and connect resources.
Created platform pathways to communicate information, collaborate on initiatives, integrate technology and build relationships thereby leveraging community strengths and advancing institutional missions.
Cultivated and brought high-net-worth individuals, venture capital and private equity firms to CEO for a capital fundraising campaign.
Developed a grassroots marketing strategy which generated more international and national community organization sign-ups to the PeopleMovers® platform.
Nurtured the following networks through client relationship management: The Technology Network, Women’s Network, Men’s Network, Peace Network, Smart Cities Network, Connect Michigan Now, Connect New York, Connect India, and the Education Network.
Experience in branding, marketing and efficiency, product management, media outreach, publications and development of sponsor presentations with sponsor meetings by collaborating on all written materials such as sponsor presentations, open mike/Start-Up pitches, and tech accelerator events.
Experienced in Semantic Search and Semantic Marketing strategy through identifying keywords in queries and indexing how data is related to relevant taxonomy and ontology driving up website traffic and brand recognition.

Governance and operational leadership

Used Lean Startup principles as part of the primary leadership team. Meshed customer and product development to grow relationships and develop research under the principles of “build, measure, learn”.
Contributing member of the Board and leadership team with a personal focus on nurturing a collaborative mindset and long-term business strategies.

PeopleMovers® September 2016 – August 2017

Lead Educational and Content Designer

Educational and information technology

Implemented a vision of streamlined user experience from inception to completion.
Developed compelling textual and visual solutions across a variety of formats and digital platforms (e.g., print, e-books, mobile, and Web) for online learning resulting in a compelling user experience.
Combined expertise in technology and instructional design to create objective-driven, contextually-rich, online content that focused on real-world problems such as Emergency and Disaster Management.
Led and managed a full stack design team from concept to implementation, tracking time and tasks in a detailed, complex project management system while hitting performance targets.
Created a proto app for Disaster and Emergency Management.

The Rotary Club of New York, Host Club#6 June 2017- June 2018

President

Transformational leadership, financial stewardship, and membership experience

Public face of RCNY, speaking for the Board of Directors, trustees, club members, aligned community organizations and NGO’s.
Rebuild RCNY’s board for innovation, diversity and collective literacy and achieved the goal of a marketplace of ideas.
Created personal identification of members towards the organization, calibrated diversity and provided anonymous feedback channels resulting in robust member base growth of 30% since September.
Cultivated strategic partnerships with other not-for-profit organizations creating entry to donor organizations such as the Kellogg Foundation.
Maintain all official records and financial documents and ensure compliance not only with federal, state and local 501C3 regulations but also with Rotary International charter regulatory rules.
Implemented new budgetary oversight procedures through a new report format which lists all anticipated resources and planned uses for the resources ensuring that planned uses are supported by identifiable resources.
Vetted all Mutual Letters of Understanding to close-out unproductive relationships and create institutional space for new collaborate alignments.
Put into place robust succession plan by identifying and recruiting internal leadership candidates to secure continued RCNY success.
Responsible for cultivating, securing and directing speakers for the International Breakfast Lecture series at the United Nations with a focus on the following topics: Social Justice, Diversity, Inequality, Immigration, Multilingualism, Digital Initiatives, and Urban Studies.
Leadership role in shaping and directing the club’s programs and international strategic alliances such as generating Mutual Letters of Understanding with NGO’s, community organizations, prominent sister clubs overseas and the United Nations.
Serve as the US Ambassador of the Hepatitis Zero Campaign, a worldwide Rotary campaign dedicated to the eradication of hepatitis, thereby elevating the RCNY profile and public exposure.
Implemented Hurricane relief events for Houston, Florida, and Puerto Rico as “Service above Self” projects after membership collaboration and vote.

Financial acumen and stewardship

Pioneered ‘passive income’ stream for the RCNY such as the ‘Life Now’ Hotel with Rotarians receiving a 10% discount and RCNY receiving a 10% commission for each booking.
Conceived and implemented a worldwide project called # RotaryWalks for increased visibility and enabling RCNY sponsorships.

The Rotary Club of New York, Host Club#6 June 2016 – June 2017

President-Elect

Transformational leadership

Framed my leadership vision and aligned it with Rotary International’s core values of Integrity, Innovation, Empowerment, Service, Diversity and Transformational Leadership.
Instituted informal round-tables throughout the year with former RCNY Presidents with a focus on club membership, member experiences (what was successful, what failed), leadership presence and leadership presentation (collaborative vs. authoritative processes), and hindsight analysis of failed projects to fold their collective experiences into my presidential planning and preparation process.
Conceived presidential motto: Cooperation + Collaboration = Transformation

Young Global Leadership Foundation January 2011- December 2014

Executive Director of Global Education

Transformational leadership, entrepreneurship, and organizational governance

Collaborated and implemented strategic planning for a start-up, non-profit organization creating an experientially-based educational program to train emergent young global leaders together with a UN Ambassador.
Co-wrote the foundation charter incorporating New York State not-for-profit rules and ensuring compliance with complex IRS regulations.
Served as founding member and Ambassador of the German charter functioning as a bridge between the US and German leadership visions.
Represented foundation to the board of directors presenting data and precision analytics.
Helped create the message and branding concept from inception to delivery including all written materials, website, and logo creation including the motto: Learn from the Past ~ Live in the Present ~ Look to the Future.
Raised $100.000 from private donors to finance initial startup.

Commitment to student experience

Designed, refined and budgeted colloquiums and recruited 300+ international students to attend the Inaugural Colloquium in New York City in conjunction with a UN training session.
Conceived, designed and delivered the Foundation’s College Preparedness Program – CAP for International students preparing for US college admission.
Created all curriculum and programmatic materials while embracing John Dewey’s assertion that students’ experiences will be individualized based on past experiences and not all students will take away the same outlook on the concept.
Guided students with academic, young professional and civic engagement advice, including UN opportunities by arranging for mentees to attend UN events; the CSW, UN NGO events, e.g., the IPI series; and internships with UN NGOs, e.g., CCC-UN.

Innovative Community Enterprises 1994 – 1998Director of Education

Operations management and grants management

Successfully negotiated Vendor status for the New York City Board of Education
Developed, coordinated and implemented purposed-centered education programs in public and private schools to achieve optimal outcomes for students’ personal and educational growth.
Pioneered the following programs: Oral History projects for underserved youth in conjunction with senior centers in New York, Literacy through Arts, the D.A.R.E. drug education programs, Multicultural Music, Conflict Resolution Peer Mentoring and Science through the Arts in 15 school districts to more than 4000 students creating a revenue stream of more than $300.000 per year.
Supervised and trained 14 facilitators to teach custom developed, experientially based curricula focused on literacy, science and the arts.
Applied analysis, evaluation and creativity in experiential learning to promote transformational intellectual student success.
Cultivated program directors and principals at school districts for educational sales initiatives.
Managed all reports and program assessment, data collection, detailed program reports, newsletters and special events for participating schools and school districts.

New York Department of Aging, NY 1994 – 1998

Grant Administrator

Operations and grant management
Wrote and received grant from the Department of Aging with a budget of $250 k spanning a 4-year period.
Conceived, developed and administered a multi-year award-winning program “Building Bridges”, an experientially-based program linking at-risk youth with senior centers and nursing homes.
Arranged for program sites, participating schools and implemented strategic plan linking three nursing homes and senior programs with more than 200 at-risk youth.

Faculty Experience

Education First January 2013 – June 2017

University Preparation Facilitator

Responsible for identifying and pioneering innovative courses to recruit and retain a larger student body for the University Preparation program such as integrated e-portfolios, civic engagement, and writing-enhanced components while leveraging technology for a variety of student success initiatives including an online academic alert system, placement testing, and student outreach.
Created and implemented campus-wide University Preparation Grammar Fair, providing positive turn-around and vision to a customarily despised core subject, while improving student buy-in, success, and retention.
Was voted by students as one of the top 3 teachers at EF in 2014.

SIT-World Graduate Institute January 2013 – May 2017

TESOL Certification – Clinical Assessor

Westchester Community College January 2014 – May 2016

ESL Adjunct

Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies January 2012 – December 2016

Psychology and Opera Lecturer

New York Public Libraries January 2012 – December 2014

Lecturer

Composers Voice September 2010 – January 2013

Resident Harpist

Columbia University, Teachers College September 2008 – May 2012

Adjunct Harp Professor

Marymount Manhattan College September 2001 – May 2008

Opera Lecturer at The Center for Living and Learning

German American School, New York September 2000 – May 2005

Head Teacher

New York Board of Education September 1998 – June 2000

Substitute Teacher

Education and Credentials

Masters in Educational Technology, Marlboro College Graduate School for Professional and Graduate Studies, January 2016 – August 2017,

Doctor of Education, Teachers College/Columbia University, New York, 1992

Masters of Education, Teachers College/Columbia University, New York 1989

Graduate Studies in Music, Rice University, Houston, TX, Orchestral and Ensemble Scholarship, 1987-1988

Fulbright Scholarship, University of Houston, Houston, TX. 1985-1986

Diploma in Education and Orchestra Harpist, (Bachelors in Music and Education) Staatliche Hochschule fuer Musik, Karlsruhe, Germany, 1986

TESOL Certificate, SIT Graduate Institute, Rennert International, New York, 2012

Teaching Business English, Rennert International, New York, 2012

Certificate Program, The Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies, New York, 2011

Professional Development

Quality Matters Rubric Course, 2016

TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test) Module 1 and 2, 2013

Cambridge English Language Assessment for ESL Teachers, 2014

Conferences and Symposiums

SUNY conference: Internationalization of Higher Education, Policy Issues

Learning and the Brain Seminars

“Third Culture Kids and Their Challenges” Seminar

“Emotions and Education” Symposium, Columbia University

National Arts Educator Conference, “Emerging Perspectives in the Arts”

The International Conference on Cultural Diplomacy at the UN, New York & Washington D.C. “Trends in Global Communication and Education”

Teachers College/Columbia University, “Conversations across Cultures”

STEAM – Building a Better Future for Girls – American Association of University Women

STEM – Science, Technology, and Mathematics in the Classroom

Conference Presentations

Pax Romana, Holy Sea at United Nations: “Lutheran Values and the Catholic Doctrine – A Paradox?” 2017

“Clean Water for Children”, Keynote speaker, 2017

Positive Peace Event, Pillar Leader, the Institute for Economics and Peace, 2017

NYS TESOL Albany Conference, Presenter, 2014

ESOL Conference, Molloy College, LI – Presenter, 2014

Awards and Professional Memberships

Pax Romana member – aligned with the Holy Sea at the United Nations

“Gift of Life” member

Surgeons of Hope, member

Union Church at Pocantico Hills

Fulbright Alumni Association

Achilles Foundation, Wounded Veterans project volunteer

National Council of Teachers of English

Teachers College/Columbia University Alumni Association

Cornell University Club Member

New York Harp Society

Member of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA),

“Visiting Professor” title in the Arts and Humanities in Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, 2000.

2002 William C. Musham Award for Excellence in Teaching, Marymount Manhattan College, New York, NY

Pro-Active Women of Excellence “Lifetime Achievement Award”, 1998

Ethical, Legal, and Fair Use Issues in Copyright or Can I do this?

An overview of Copyright and Fair Use Issues for Students Preparing to enter College by Dr. Jasmin Bey Cowin

Copyright issues are nothing new under the sun. The Statute of Anne; April 10, 1710, shows that fair use and copyright issues started almost simultaneously with the proliferation of printing presses: “Whereas printers, booksellers, and other persons have of late frequently taken the liberty of printing, reprinting, and publishing, or causing to be printed, reprinted, and published, books and other writings, without the consent of the authors or proprietors of such books and writings, to their very great detriment, and too often to the ruin of them and their families: for preventing, therefore, such practices for the future…” The Statute of Anne complete text.

I am fascinated with fair use issues which directly relate to linking to other sites. The question is why CNN, or Time, or Ticketmaster, would object to a link to their page.

“Isn’t the whole point of having a web page to attract users? These hyperlinks are like referrals — and one rarely hears of one party suing another for sending customers to their store. What’s going on here? In a word — advertising (and advertising dollars). In both suits, plaintiffs are asserting that the way that defendants link to their page deprives the plaintiffs of advertising revenue that is properly theirs. TotalNews, for example, surrounds its web page with a “frame” — a border that appears on the screen that contains advertising sold by TotalNews (or other messages that TotalNews wants you to see). Things get interesting now: if, say, you click on the link to ABC’s web page, you will indeed see the ABC page — but the TotalNews border continues to sit there, showing you the advertising that TotalNews has sold (which squeezes any advertising that ABC may contain into a smaller area on your screen). Similarly, Ticketmaster asserts that Microsoft, by linking to the Ticketmaster website, “has gained revenue from advertising made a part of Microsoft’s website, depriving Ticketmaster of favorable advertising business” and that its actions constitute “electronic piracy.” An Introduction to Copyright Law

Yet, a process can not copy written. So, is CPR a process? When IS something a process? But the questions go deeper.

Works for Hire

Let’s take a look at the idea and concept of Work For Hire. In An Introduction to Copyright Law, it is stated, “copyrightable material created by an individual in the course of employment is considered to be a work for hire. Ownership of the copyright vests automatically in the employer.”

What does this mean? Who owns the lessons or any original works that were developed for classes? Are these lessons and creative output the property of the school or district one was employed by? Or if one is a Masters student researching at a college, is that research now the universities property and if one changes programs does that research now becomes untouchable by its creator? Is a student researcher who pays for the privilege to study not allowed to share or even quote their work? What happens if the student or teacher puts a Creative Commons license on their work?

Reading Understanding Copyright Law by Marshall A. Leaffer will help you to either become more confused or gain a better understanding of the complexities regarding copyright issues.

What is the Creative Commons?

“A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. A CC license is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that they have created.” Creative Commons license – Wikipedia

This infographic is an excellent way to get an overview of the traditional copyright process and the Creative Common Process.

The Creative Commons gives everybody the power to select their own license and tag their materials.

The Creative Commons feature various ways one can legally control one’s work without taking the “extreme” route of completely denying remix or reuse of their content.

Digital Rights Management

How does Digital Right Management work?

Digital rights management, or DRM, is the term to try and limit the copying of music and movies. With new technologies, especially the digitization of movies and music, it is almost effortless to copy and distribute music and movies. This is a major issue regarding copyright issues, and millions of dollars are being lost by companies or creators of music, films, etc. Companies have tried to restrict the copying of their materials by putting code onto their CDs to confuse copying software. Instead of trying to find people who have violated the law, companies are seeking to make it harder to copy materials. The problem, of course, is the consumer might want to make copies of the material just for his/her own use. It is relatively easy to restrict the number of copies of a song, but what if the owner buys a new iPod. That owner has the right to that song, after all, they bought it! Sometimes the file can only be copied from the computer it was originally downloaded on to, but what if the computer got infected, or died?

Copyright issues are laws within a country, but the copying and distribution of materials happen across borders. International treaties, like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), try to address these complex issues.

Writing a paper and in need of public domain resources?

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) offers plenty of resources and mimics some in-person museum experiences in a virtual setting.

The home page is divided into multiple components that help the viewer to get oriented to the site quickly and able to determine which option will get the viewer further into the website content. Drop down menus, and content links are well labeled and make choices clear and easily understood.

The central section on the HOME page in the top left is dedicated to advertising the newest exhibition which currently is the American Empire. It offers a scrolling slideshow of maps and other content that catch the viewer’s eye and encourage further exploration. Below it is a search box that boasts content of over 16,000,000 items. Currently, there are 32 different Exhibition topics to explore. The website states that:

“Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Exhibitions are designed to tell stories of national significance using source materials from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States, including letters, photographs, posters, oral histories, video clips, sheet music, and more.” The Home page also offers News and Twitter feeds and provides examples of Apps that others have created using the data collections on the website.”

When looking for non-copyright pictures the following short video will help guide you:

Steven Davis Video: Finding “Free-to-Use” Pictures

Open Educational Resources – for everybody!

“Open educational resources (OER) are freely accessible, openly licensed text, media, and other digital assets that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing as well as for research purposes. It is the leading trend in distance education/open and distance learning domain as a consequence of the openness movement.”
Open educational resources – Wikipedia

Erica Zimmer, a graduate student at Marlboro College for Professional and Graduate Studies explains OER’s in a short video.

Open Educational Resources Video by Erica Zimmer

Creative Commons – The more you know by Dr. Jasmin Bey Cowin

What does it all mean for Me? (The Student)

I believe everybody should make choices from Wikimedia and other CC sources. It is important to respect the work of others. Taking the time and effort to use one’s own images whenever possible will add several layers of work. Yet, the whole point of going to college is to create competency in writing, presentations, and knowledge. Copying others work is Plagiarism, not flattery!