This is a mini-review of Larry Lessig’s talk on “How creativity is being strangled by the law”.  This presentation was on TED.COM.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/187

Trust and tradition is difficult for many people to accept.  Common sense is not always used when law and “the way things have always been done” conflicts.

Broadcasters came together and created BMI to publish public domain items.  Before this, there was a monopoly by a company who was charging what they wanted for music.  Competition created a better broadcast world in the long room.  But, broadcasters still controlled the majority of the music.

Today, kids have computers, and technology,  to create their own  works.  This is new.  It also frightens those whose creative works have been sold for financial gain in the past, because they may not make their money.  This brings us to the copyright laws of today and public domain issues.

It is a shame when common sense is not the usual principal that people follow when using the internet.  The internet is becoming the world.  And those items shared by others on the internet must be examined and fair useage must be followed.  But what amount of sharing is fair?  When does tradition and the “how we always did it” get put aside for the good of the masses?

During the presentation, Mr. Lessig mentions the legal case over 50 years ago when two farmers sued the aircraft industry for the tresspassing of airplanes on their property.  You see, for hundreds of years before, any area of your property, including extending into space, was yours and yours alone.  The courts ruled that times had changed and that common sense must prevail for technology to continue to advance.

The same is said of today.  With the internet and computers, anyone can be a creator of any type of work.  Therefore, we must all use “common sense” when sharing and viewing  other’s creative works.  After all, it is only fair!

The following is a mini-review of a podcast by Alan November. Mr. November is a popular presenter and thinker about educational technology. He sat down with the podcasting team for a brief conversation about his FETC presentation entitled “Preparing Students To Succeed In a Global Economy.” You can read more about Alan at his website novemberlearning.com.

http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/item.php?itemID=9764

REVIEW:

The global education is expanding to the entire world. Countries that were seen as “third world” in the past, is now surpassing the US in education and commercial dominance. The internet has made this possible.

One of his comments that caught my attention was this. “…there are more gifted students in China today than are the total number of students in America.” as well as this statement “..we cannot compete with $12,000 engineers in this country..” Other countries are motivated to learn, we are not.
Our students are behind the rest of the world. November says that students need to take control of their own learning. They need to be motivated. Kids use the electronic media. I-pods are everywhere. He suggests that all teachers need Skype to communicate to others in the world. Every class should have a podcast and the students should produce it, not the instructor. Blogs should also be used in classes so that the students can communicate in all types of media and the world should be a classroom.

An example he uses is the US vs England regarding the Revolutionary War (the US title) and the events that caused it. He says that students should communicate and debate their facts with each other.

He also talks about getting away from testing and the source for analyzing what the student has learned. Learning should be automatic and we, as educators, should strive to keep the natural motivation that kids have active.