Month: August 2020

DIRECT LINK TO SYLLABUS/GOOGLE DOC

Review 1

BETA assignments | Assignment Unit #1: What is Creative Commons?

The Story of The Creative Commons by Lokesh Rajendran is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0

Description of the Work:

The Story of the Creative Commons is a visual timeline describing the driving factors behind the creation of the Creative Commons, starting with the Sonny Bono Copyright Act in 1997, landing in 2018, where collections on the CC Platforms have swelled to over 1.8 billion shared works. Along the way, major milestones are touched upon, including the Sonny Bono Copyright Act, the work of Lawrence Lessig, Eldred v Ashcroft Case, and the eventual formation of the Creative Commons as a non-profit. The information presented in this graphic is accurate, all milestones linking out to openly available resources and information providing more details to the learner. The material provided is incredibly informative, easy to read and digest for a newcomer to the Commons. The creativity is exceptional; visually stimulating with loads of embedded content, but without overloading the learner. The timeline is easy to follow, approachable, and well-designed.

Where Information Could be Added/Improved:

While the embedded links work in the downloadable .pdf, is there a way they could be embedded on the page where the timeline is hosted?

It would additionally be wonderful to have this timeline translated/available in Arabic العربية

Review 2

October 2018 class assignments | Assignment Unit #1: What is Creative Commons?

What is Creative Commons? by Greg Szczyrbak is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Description of the Work:

What is the Creative Commons? is a work created in bookcreator. Stylized as a comic book, it provides an extensive overview of the origin of copyright in a fun and approachable way. Comic-style onomatopoeia are sprinkled throughout the visual timeline provided; well-placed POWs and ZOOMs bring the reader in to a playful review progression of the Creative Commons, borne of necessity to maintain author rights while sharing work openly. The information provided in this work is historically accurate, with embedded links out to openly available detailed information outlining the timeline milestones presented. The overall work is very informational for the newcomer, including visual cues to myriad open repositories of shared and shareable content. The creativity of this work is off the charts! The playful nature of the comic book format removes barriers to those who may be reticent to approach what may seem dauntingly dense with legalese. This turns a timeline into a real story, which is enjoyable to readers at multiple levels. AND! the bookcreator platform includes an audio reader in multiple languages, making it even more accessible.

Where Information Could be Added/Improved:

The alignment on some of the panels could be cleaned up – the Aldred case page, for example, has some text overlap.

The attribution page could be reformatted to match the rest of the text, giving it a better flow/finish.

Review 3

January 2019 class assignments | Assignment Unit #2: Copyright Law

版權條例(著作權) Copyright Ordinance(Copyright) by Judy Wong is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0

Description of the Work:

版權條例(著作權) is a youtube video using Doodly and Amara, presented in Cantonese (廣東話), with English subtitles. The learner is walked through how copyright law applies to creative works, including trademarks, patents, and where and how fair dealing applies. The content included in this video is very accurate, providing reference to reputed government sites in Hong Kong for additional information on intellectual property. The three methods of protecting IP are covered, the Berne Convention’s impact on modernized copyright law is outlined, and fair dealing is explored. Overall, the video is incredibly informative, without overloading the learner with what can be very dense content. This video’s creative approach to visualizing a walkthrough of incredibly detailed information makes for an enjoyable view. It is approachable, and delivers a lot of content without feeling overwhelming.

Where Information Could be Added/Improved:

While the sound overlay/dialog starts out strong, it takes a real dip at the 0:09 marker, making it really hard to hear the narration, and then another big dip at the 2:54 marker, making it extremely difficult to hear. If the background music track were adjusted, that would help a lot (volume is up too far), but rerecording the narration altogether might be what need to be done.

The end of the video cuts off pretty abruptly – there could be a fadeout, or ending slide with more resources listed.

Review 4

October 2018 class assignments | Assignment Unit #3: Anatomy of a CC License

Anatomy of Creative Commons Licenses by Mélanie Brunet is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Description of the Work:

Anatomy of Creative Commons Licenses is an infographic created using Canva, which walks learners through the layers, elements, and types of Creative Commons licenses. It additionally covers exceptions and limitations of the licenses, as well as Public Domain and what some v all ‘rights reserved’ means in practice. The information accurately and factually depicts the anatomy of CC licenses, in an approachable, well-organized way. It is incredibly informative for the CC newbie, covering all the bases of licensing, while not being visually overwhelming. The creative visual representation of the license components, categorized in bright color blocks, makes following the path of information very digestible and not too dense.

Where Information Could be Added/Improved:

I actually don’t have any recommendations on this – the alignment looks great, information is accurate – all of the elements are there. I suppose one could consider alternative colour scheme for those who may be sensitive to bright colours and/or experience some level of colourblindness (try grayscale patterning..?).

Review 5

September 2019 class assignments | Assignment Unit #4: Using CC Licenses and CC-Licensed Works

Using CC Licenses and CC Licensed Works by Carsten Elsner is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Description of the Work:

Using CC Licenses and CC Licensed Works is an interactive presentation designed using Canva, which walks learners through the creation of new works, how to create a collection of shared works, and the process of adapting or remixing shared works. All information presented is accurate, providing instructional images and links out to more detailed information about NC restrictions, and how to use a the license compatibility chart to apply licenses with confidence. There are multiple examples provides in different formats – images, text, and audio files, that help learners to concretize concepts in real life. The creative (and adorable!) use of rabbits all throughout the presentation helps to not only tie together and unify concepts throughout, but makes what can be a complicated an intimidating lesson more approachable.

Where Information Could be Added/Improved:

The embed code for this presentation didn’t seem to work – was not able to resolve the HTML. It would be interesting to see how this presentation looked lifted out of the digisrv site, which has a layout that doesn’t really match the presentation (understand that it’s predominantly functional).

Over my years in academic libraries, I’ve learned about the publishing industry, and how broken it is; I’ve worked with faculty to help them understand how to publish openly, preserving rights to their own scholarship.  I’ve been aware of Creative Commons licenses for the past several years in the context of opening up access to content and allowing for a more equitable sharing model for authors and creators, and have been publishing openly myself for a few years as well.

It wasn’t until I started my Educational Policy and Leadership doctoral program that I started really ‘getting’ what open access and OER could do for student scholarship, equitable access, and social justice in higher education. Learning more about participatory action research, open pedagogy, and the potential to partner with students to shape curriculum to make something meaningful, was a more powerful way to teach. Understanding this potential, I shifted my research toward taking a closer look at the connection between open scholarship, the Creative Commons, and intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. So much more was making sense to me about how I could conduct research that could help move policy decisions toward shifting to an open pedagogical model.

I started collaborating with other colleagues at my institution on the study of teaching and learning (SoTL), looking specifically at courses that had renewable assignments, and as a part of the curriculum, included educating students about Creative Commons licensing and applying it to their own scholarship. After having talked with students for years on how to transition from information consumer to producer, this felt like the missing piece – researching how much that model of having them become creators impacted their perceptions of themselves as scholars. By having students collaborate on the development of their curriculum, they become a part of that process, and have their voices reflected in the education system.

Rising costs may have started the conversation regarding the transition to open access publishing, but open educational resources have the potential to further engage the student community and open up learning opportunities that have not yet been accessible to learners.  Open pedagogy, similar to self-determination theory, assumes that with perceived control over participation, individuals have a stronger feeling that their actions are very important to their personal fulfillment and motivation.  By opening up the education process to increased student participation, we are allowing for learners to take on an active role in shaping their learning and their future (Blessinger & Bliss, 2016; Ryan & Deci, 2017; Mays, 2017). 

In addition to engagement, open education serves humanistic, social and political purposes; by allowing for the inclusion of the student voice in the creation of scholarly content, learning becomes a more social and democratic process (Blessinger & Bliss, 2016; Mays, 2017).  In a conversation with bell hooks back in the late 1990s, political activist and Harvard professor Cornel West discussed scholarship and access to prestigious publishing houses in the context of power dynamics and lack of voice for subordinated groups.  He proposes that the best these marginalized groups could do to fight against a closed system would be “to either establish our own institutional networks that would give our texts visibility, or simply continue to bring critique to bear on the manipulation and the co-optation that goes on in the mainstream” (West & hooks, 1999, p 546). 

Critiques of the publishing industry have pushed the industry to a critical tipping point with faculty and academic libraries as research intermediaries pushing back (Ellis, 2019).  New institutional networks and university press have grown to support the scholarship of all academics and the potential to include more voices.  The next step, including the student voice, will provide the motivation and engagement every educator seeks to instill in their learners.

It is this inclusion of the student voice and active participation in the educational process that is at the center of my current consideration of academic integrity at my university. A challenge I am currently facing in the rapid transition to online learning prompted by the pandemic, is that many faculty and our administration are incredibly concerned about students cheating during online exams, and plagiarizing the work of others. Sitting on the executive board of our Faculty Senate, I was hearing the topic of proctoring software coming up again and again, and that implementing a surveillance state at our institution was the solution for the coming fall semester. The glimmer of hope that I had a couple months ago was during a conversation with our Chancellor, where his rebut to this conversation indicated that we could design the curriculum differently, and that many other global institutions do things differently, lending to a thread in the exploration of open pedagogy in broader context. Since that time, I have been shepherding a two-pronged campus-wide discussion on how to approach academic integrity: (1) Long term: Moving toward an open pedagogical model, starting with student education and student-led advocacy (2) Short term: Exploration of prevention of cheating through anything but proctoring software if possible – supporting the development of creative assignments and assessment.  

I am finding that by approaching a shift to openness through a shared topic of concern that is indirectly related is making all the difference. We’ve been having conversations with faculty about open publishing for years, supporting the transition of teaching content to open through our Open Education Initiative grants starting in 2011 (https://www.library.umass.edu/oer/open-education-initiative/), implementing an Open Access policy for publishing in 2016 (https://www.library.umass.edu/open-access-policy/), and supporting open access publishing and research in myriad ways. Necessity and shared struggle are what brings our faculty together now to look to a future of openness. Talking with other educators as a part of this certification course has helped to give me so many new ideas about how to approach conversations, as well as many new skills in my toolkit. I am thankful for the community and new knowledge! It has inspired me to establish new ecosystems of support for the open movement on my own campus and into the global community.

Blessinger, P., & Bliss, T. J. (2016). Open education: International perspectives in higher education. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers.

Ellis, L. (2019).  A turning point for scholarly publishing.  Chronicle of Higher Education, 65(23), 5 p.

Mays, E. (2017).  A guide to making open textbooks with students.  Montreal, Quebec: Rebus Community.

West, C. & hooks, b. (1999). Conversation with bell hooks. In West, C. (Ed.), The Cornel West Reader (pp. 541-549). New York: Basic Civatas.