As a student and future educator, it is important to be aware of the important rules we should be following. Living in such a digital world, it is so easy to find a picture on Google, or a YouTube video that is relevant to an assignment that we can show in a presentation. BUT, as many of you probably didn't know (because I didn't either), we are infringing on copyrights if we do not properly let our viewers know where we got the online media from.It sounds simple enough, but not many of us are actually following these guidelines and effectively giving credit where credit is due.

There are some people (some very nice people) that want us to share their work as long as we obey their conditions. These nice people have formed a network called Creative Common's which helps the authors legally share their work with free copyright licenses so the pubic (us) can use them.

San José Library. (2008, August 9). Children using the library computers. [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/sanjoselibrary/2839927173/

This very helpful YouTube tutorial will show you how to find a Creative Common's photo with its restrictions listed (if they have any), and how to download it onto your computer. I prefer using Flickr as I find it's easier to navigate, but it's up to you whichever you prefer.

If you need more information on how to properly cite your image or media source once you've found it, click here .

These simple guidelines, if followed correctly, can help shape how you find appropriate media sources and more importantly show your students the correct method on adding photos or media to your own work.

This is a conversation that I think is important to have with your students. It is so easy to find sources on the web and copy them to a PowerPoint, or a blog, but we also need to teach our students that this is someone's work that you are taking their idea from and in order to use it, there are guidelines in place so that we can share the authors work and use it for our benefit.

Fancy Jantzi. (2011, January 24). Ipad Curious Learners. [Online Image]. Retrieved from http://calicospanish.com/language-participation-techniques-in-the-classroom/.