Discussions

Your Name and Title:

Michel Gagné

Lead Educational Technology Teacher



School, Library, or Organization Name:

Almaguin Highlands Secondary School



Country from Which You Will Present:

Canada



Language in Which You Will Present:

English



Target Audience (such as primary school teachers, high school administrators, students, etc.):

Intermediate/Senior teachers



Short Session Description (one line):

How to set up and use a Multimedia Resource bank with student-generated content.



Full Session Description (one paragraph minimum):

This year we have started collecting student-generated multimedia content and organizing it into a multimedia resource bank. This bank will be available to other students and teachers in our school, and eventually our school board.  Throughout the session I want to focus on how and why to use such a resource bank, and not the logistics of setting it up (although anyone interested in the logistics could certainly contact me afterwards)

Our purpose is twofold. Primarily this resource bank will allow students to share their multimedia work with other students and teachers. This sharing is beneficial in two ways. It allows student-creators to have their work and effort validated in a way that isn’t tied to a mark and that is more accurately reflective of the real-world. This bank will also allow students and teachers, as co-creators, to incorporate others’ work into their own.

This shifts the emphasis to the student.  The student, by taking on the role of creator, becomes the expert.  They can share their perspective on a subject/topic.  This perspective can help others better understand cultural, religious, regional, linguistic, etc... differences.  

For example, if a student in an english class is creating a video they can go to the resource bank and use a song that has been recorded by a student in a music class. This is a mutually beneficial situation. The english student is a able to use the music for their project, without concern for copyright issues (more on this shortly), while the composer’s work is validated because it is being used. Another example is that a teacher can take a video, remove the sound and then have the class write and record dialogue to go with the video. This gives everyone the same starting point, but differentiates the final product.

Today's world and many aspects of its economy are tied to multimedia.  By immersing our students in the creation of or manipulation of multimedia projects we are better preparing them for a future that will likely require them to collaborate with others from various and varying backgrounds.

The second purpose is to bring to life issues of copyright and intellectual property rights for our students. This material for the resource bank will be collected under a Creative Commons license. This type of copyright licensing allows the creator to tell future users how their original work can be used. For example it states if the original work can be used for profit or not.

Copyright issues are important, but are often difficult for students to understand from the perspective of the artist. This resource bank will give the students a chance to experience it from the perspective of the artist/creator, giving them a real-life connection to the issue.

Such a resource bank could also be a wealth of information to help students better understand others from around the world.  I teach in a small Northern Ontario town.  Many of our students haven't traveled out of the province, much less out of the country.  The internet is able to bring the world to their doorstep.  Such a collaborative resource bank could give them opportunities to work with students they might never otherwise meet.


Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session:

http://creativecommons.org