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** Digital Age Issues (Part 1) **
"Colleges, universities, and employers are now looking through MySpace and other social networking Web sites to see if candidates have a profile and what is in that profile. Employers are doing Web searches on a candidate's name to see what else is out there online. It's it's not flattering, a student could lose a potential job or not get into the college or university he or she wants." Hitchcock, J.A. (2007). Cyberbullies, Online Predators, and What to Do About Them. //Multimedia & Internet@Schools//, 14(3), 13-15.

I selected this quote this week because I have first hand knowledge of the effects technology can have on first impressions. The way that a student presents themselves through their voice mail message, email address, or online can affect their chances of landing a job interview, or cause them to miss out on other opportunities. As we all know, students tend to live in the moment and don't envision the long-term effects that their decisions can have on their future. I see them once they enter the college arena but I find that many are still holding on to their email address from high school that reads "sweetbabycakes" or something far worse. Just this week our staff were interviewing new applicants to our program. We had some serious questions about one particular applicant and as we reviewed her application more closely we noticed that the email address read "annoyedashell". What sort of impression do you think that made on our interviewing panel?

In the past I have personally called adults who were looking for work to tell them about a job opportunity only to find that I was forced to listen to an extremely long musical intro to their voice mail message. If I had been an actual employer I would not waste my time leaving a message to return my call unless I was desperate. These are seemingly small details that students need to be aware of and pay attention to. Just as the choices they make in life will determine their future, the choices they make online will also have an impact on their future.

“When a district employee creates a copyrightable work, such as a computer program, a workbook, or a photograph, and the work is created within the scope of the employee’s job, the district is legally the “author.” Ownership of copyright lies initially with the author, which means the district or school owns all rights in all copyrightable works produced by its faculty.” Stroder, R.S. (2006). What every school should know about intellectual property. //Education Digest//, 71(6), 35-41.

I also underlined this same quote in the article you chose but gave special attention to the words that I have highlighted in bold. "When a district employee creates a copyrightable work, such as a computer program, a workbook, or a photograph, and **the work is created within the scope of the employee's job**, the district is legally the 'author'."

This causes me to question whether this is referring to the work an employee does __within__ the realm of their job description / requirements? Or does it mean __all__ the work done by the employee while they are employed by the district? For example, say I am working during my lunch break and I bring my personal laptop to work, and I am working on a project for a presentation to the parent teacher association on cyber ethics. I volunteered to do the presentation and it was not an assigned task from supervision. I would say that my creation would be outside the scope of my job duties and that I would be the author instead of the employer. Am I wrong?

On the other hand, the article goes on to say "If the work was created by the employee **on the job**, the law says the employer is the author." Basically, this says to me that if an employee is paid for the work he does while on the job, then the product he produces belongs to the employer. The product that teachers produce are lessons in a variety of formats. I think that because teachers dedicate so much of their time to their students not only while at school but also after the "workday" ends, they may find it difficult to separate when they are working for the district and when they are off the clock. Being a teacher is not just about what you do between 8 and 5 p.m., it becomes who you are. I have had the same feelings expressed here about wanting to protect the rights of the work that I produce. I created lots of desk aids and spreadsheet tools for a former employer and got a rude awakening when I was informed that the tools did not belong to me. About four years ago, my son who was an information technology student, worked as an intern for a college. He created a database for them to track their drops and withdrawals which I understand they still use today. No credit was given to him because he was a student and was temporarily working for the college.

Reading your comment Danielle reminded me of the teacher who probably had the biggest impact on my life. It was my fourth grade teacher and I can still remember her by name. I thought to myself, "What was it about her that made her so memorable?" Now, we are talking about 40 years ago since I was in fourth grade. What I remember about Nancy Cobb was the fact that she took us on several field trips and brought speakers in to talk to us about various subjects. She made my fourth grade year exciting and interesting. I remember a field trip to meet man who grew the world's largest lemons and having a young man battling leukemia come and speak to our class. We also worked on group projects that year that challenged us to get out of our comfort zone and create something with our hands. Ms. Cobb just seemed to take teaching up a notch from what had been my experience with the majority of my teachers. And of course, there were no computers or digital technology that we have today. I believe that Ms. Cobb created a classroom that was extremely engaged in interactive communication and reached beyond the classroom walls.

As the author states "Teacher's technology use tends to mirror their experiences during teacher training." I can envision the use of digital technology taking teaching to the next level. It's like the difference between watching a Powerpoint presented by the teacher or having a student create one themselves or even attempting to build a new software program. I think Ms. Cobb would have been that sort of teacher today, one that takes teaching and learning to the next level.

This past year I had my first introduction to social networking sites. The majority of people with which I interacted already had some acquaintance with me in varying degrees of social levels. Now I find myself engaged in building a wiki and attempting to use it as a way to collaborate with my colleagues from all over the nation. This has the potential of taking my work to the next level. Is has also caused my focus to change from the people and resources within my own frame of reference and has allowed me to begin to think more globally. The possibilities are tremendous.



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