Digital Media - Searching Creative Commons

 Using Great Digital Images and Respecting Copyright Laws

@JoeTaylorDHS/@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

Search Window from Creative Commons Search

It's the 2nd week of January, and an original version of this post probably exists in the archives of this blog, but I'm actually getting to a point (yes, it takes me awhile). I'll finally really make the point next week.

There have been some very well-meaning and good-hearted teachers that I have worked with over the years that have either not really understood the "Fair Use Exception" to the US Copyright Law, or simply decided it was too difficult to live within those legal restraints. But as we move to a more and more digital world, don't we want to teach our kids to be good digital citizens? Don't we want to teach them to respect digital copyright laws? And more importantly, don't we want to teach them about citation and attribution before they go to college and are really expected to know it?

A full discussion of the "Fair Use Exception" is still coming (mini-dissertation?), but for today, let's just beat one dead horse. I've had teachers say, "Since I'm using it in the classroom, Fair Use allows me to use anything." Um, no. But there are enough resources out there that you can provide your students with several different avenues for finding images and media that they can use in their projects while respecting copyright laws. In previous posts, we told you about Creative Commons Search as a great way to find digital images and media. Today I want to tell you about two more: PhotoPin for digital images and Next Vista For Learning for digital media.

photo credit: pingnews.com
The Capitol (pingnews) via photopin (license)

Photo Pin is an easy to use search engine for Creative Commons licensed digital images. That means you can use them in any classroom product you'd like as long as you cite the source. Go to photopin.com and search for an image or a topic. A pop up box will appear with the different sizes that are available to you. Download the one you want. Then simply copy and paste the HTML Attribution code onto your website, blog, or whatever.  

Next Vista for Learning is actually the brain child of Rushton Hurley, a fantastic speaker I first came to meet at the ISTE Conference last Fall. He talked about the power of using, analyzing, and creating digital media in the classroom. Next Vista for Learning has videos to search and contests to enter. The front page of the website explains that "Next Vista For Learning provides a library of free videos made by and for teachers and students everywhere," and just like most of the images found in PhotoPin, all of the products are licensed as Creative Commons Attribution, which means you can feel free to use them in any project or on any classroom website as long as you cite properly and give credit.

So, while they might not be the commercially created videos or pictures your students would really like to use, Next Vista for Learning and PhotoPin give us access to beautiful digital images and media that can greatly enhance our digital curriculum, and they give us excellent opportunities to teach about responsibility and digital citizenship.

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Have a favorite site or search engine for finding Creative Commons Digital Media? Please share it in the comment box below.