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I have given you 2 EDL Resource guideline examples of some ways you can use these in your own classroom! If you have any questions feel free to comment and I can give you some links, or some better descriptions if you need! 

Fair Use in the Classroom

In some instances, copyright materials can be used without permission depending on certain educational purposes under copyright law; this is known as Fair Use. This is the right to use portions of copyrighted material (without the permission of the copyrighter ) only for educational purposes. This can also be used for purposes of commentary or parody in some cases as well. However, fair use has some rules that are very specific and as long as educators comply with the,, it can prevent unwanted lawsuits. (This is so special because this is NOT the case for some general fair use principles). As teachers, we want to give our students real examples of things that happen in the world we live in today, and since these rules are put into play, we need to be careful that we are not infringing or copying other peoples work. I will give you an example to demonstrate a use of fair use for educational purposes:

A professor copies an article from a periodical that is used for distribution to the class. This is an example of fair use because when you distribute multiple copies for classroom uses, it is fair use. However, if you were to repeat the use of a copyright framework, from term to term, has to require more scrutiny for a more accurate evaluation. So sometimes

Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the framework that determines whether of not something is being used under fair use, and also identifies those specific types of uses. (These can be criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarships as well as research) These laws are set in place, especially regarding any form of copyright, so that it protects certain kinds of original work. The protection of copyright especially fair use gives the owners protection of their creation.

Some people think that fair use is an exception or a carve out of the protection that we have under the first amendment, but this is an expansion of protection for authors, teachers, ect, but it is a fundamental right that we have to use it. Thanks to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the supreme court has ruled that fair use is in fact a "First Amendment Safeguard" However, just like the first amendment, fair use is a safe, broad and flexible term that is subject to change, and it supports the purpose of copyright to "promote the progress of science and the useful arts." One fun interesting statistic, is that experts estimate that industries reliant on the fair use concept, contributed $2.4 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2008-2009 or 17 percent of the US GDP.^1

One example that can be used in the classroom would be a line from a poem written by someone else. Let's say that we took a poem from Sheil Silverstein. Since the teacher used one line of a poem, it is protected under the fair use because the teacher is not using it as their own, they are using it to inspire other students to create their own poems. However, by duplicating that poem and selling it in a school fundraiser is not fair use.

CCIA, Fair Use in the US Economy, http://www.ccianet.org/wp content/uploads/ library/CCIA-FairUseintheUSEconomy-2011.pdf 

Visual or Verbal Learner?

We have all heard the theory that some students are visual learners, and some are auditory learners. You go through school telling yourself you are visual or auditory, and that is what you stick with because that is what comes easiest to you. You tend to tell yourself that you are one or the other, and refuse to acknowledge the other. You spend your whole time through school focusing just on that one specific need, and everything else is tailored around that. But is this really true? Are we just one or the other?

By now we all sure know the answer to this one, or for the most part know which one has worked for us in the past. However, are we really one or the other? The answer is no. Experts say that there are little to no evidence, to support that someone is a visual or verbal learner. When you look at evidence for different types of learning styles, most to that which would be convincing would tell you that "people of one preferred learning style learned better when taught material in their favored way, whereas a different group with a different preference learned the same material better when taught in their favorite fashion." However when we look at this, we often see that both groups perform better when they are taught by one style. Even though each and every one of us is unique, the most effective way that we can learn is not by our individual preferences, but by the nature of the material that we are being taught. (Christian Jarrett)

For example: A 2012 survey of teachers in the UK and the Netherlands revealed that the learning styles meshing hypothesis was the #1 neuromyth, believed by 93 percent and 96 percent. (L&D Neuromyth) When you look at a questions such as this one, it is so hard to put people into one group or the other. Most of the time ironically you wouldn't even know if you were learning visually or verbally. David J.M. Kraemer is a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and has made a valid point regarding this myth.


"An important feature of processing in a specific cognitive style is that when one encounters a stimulus that is presented in a non-preferred modality, one mentally converts that information into his or her preferred modality."

We tend to think that we are one or the other, when in reality our brains can just process the information the same way, no matter what learning style you prefer! Isn't that awesome?  So everything that we perceive we can take in one way or the other.

Since our whole industry has been sprouted based on learning styles, there are different products, that are targeted to tailor to different learning styles. However, time and time again, researchers are still finding NO evidence, that backs up the idea. "We have not found evidence from a randomized control trial supporting any of these, and until such evidence exists, we don't recommend that they be used." (Willingham)

When teaching, it is important to tailor to your students needs in the classroom. You know them the best! But when you are looking at comparing the visual to auditory myth, don't consider it into any of your teaching strategies. Willingham suggests it might be more useful for teachers to figure out similarities in our our brains learn, rather than differences. There is more common ground there, and by mixing things up in the classroom is something that is scientifically supported that boosts attention.

Sources: 

http://www.edutopia.org/article/learning-styles-real-and-useful-todd-finley

https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Science-of-Learning-Blog/2015/07/LD-Neuromyth-Learning-Styles

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/08/29/139973743/think-youre-an-auditory-or-visual-learner-scientists-say-its-unlikely

https://www.wired.com/2015/01/need-know-learning-styles-myth-two-minutes/ (Christian Jarrett)