Congratulations! You’re at the halfway mark of our course. 🙂
This could be a good time to consider whether you’ve completed the first four tasks, or whether you need to catch up on any. I’ve added a new page to the blog to make all the task information a little clearer.
This week we explore the topic of images, copyright, and Creative Commons.
Is that a groan I hear? I realise there are some experienced bloggers who know they need to either learn more about this topic or teach their students about it.
Don’t worry, I’ll break it down and show you options to find free images that are:
- legal
- ethical
- age appropriate
- not too time consuming to source/attribute
A blog without images would be pretty boring, wouldn’t it? So everyone definitely need options to find pictures. Images can really enhance our posts, pages, headers, widgets or any other part of your blog you want to jazz up.
Students seem to learn very early on how to search on Google images and how to copy or save these pictures to use elsewhere. While we should give them credit for mastering this workflow, unfortunately, using Google Images on your blog is something we really need to avoid. We need to actively teach our students this too and, of course, offer them alternatives.
As Ronnie Burt’s cat has told our community before…
What's In This Post?
An Overview Video
I’ve made a short video to explain the options for finding free images for your blog posts or digital creations.
Please set aside 5 and a half minutes to go through this presentation before you move on.
There was a lot of information there! If you want to go through it all again, I’ve got a blog post that breaks it down in written format.
Key information from the video
Things to remember:
- Google Images is not a good option. Most images are protected by copyright (and the advanced search filter to find images available for reuse can be complicated).
- Making your own images is an excellent option. This can be done either by drawing, taking your own photos, using computer software, or using online tools. Just be mindful of two things:
- Creating images can interrupt your workflow (ie. some kids can take two hours to draw a picture when drawing wasn’t the learning focus for the lesson).
- Many online tools have age restrictions (often over 13).
- Purchasing images is an option for some (usually businesses). While schools wouldn’t have the budget for this, consider having a class discussion on the ethics of paying artists for their work.
- Creative Commons is worth knowing about! Everyone’s work is protected by copyright unless stated otherwise. Creative Commons licences let creators tell others what they can or cannot do with their material in a clear and universal way. CC licences don’t just apply to images but also text, videos, music etc.
- If you’re using Edublogs, the Compfight plugin is an excellent shortcut. It lets you find and attribute Creative Commons images without any fuss. If you don’t want the attribution information on your picture, or want a broader range of choices, you might want to look elsewhere at some stage (see the next point).
- Another popular shortcut is using Creative Commons Zero or Royalty Free images. These are the least restrictive licences so anyone can use the images freely and attribution is optional. There are an increasing number of sites where you can find CC0 or Royalty Free images but remember:
- Many sites contain inappropriate content if you search for it
- Many sites have age restrictions (13+ or 18+)
Classroom Resources
Below you’ll find the resources I mentioned in the video to provide a snapshot of what some of the more popular sites do and do not offer.
This collection of websites are easy options because the images on all of these sites don’t require attribution, except Photos For Class (but the work is done for you on that site!).
All you really need to do when using the sites below is learn how to search for an image, save it, and insert it into your blog post.
Beware of advertisements
Remember, when using sites with advertisements, teach children the difference between real search result options and ads for paid stock photography sites. Make sure they know not to click on ads.
For example, on Pixabay, I typed ‘dolphin’ into the search box. The top row of results has a Shutterstock watermark on it. Clicking on this takes me to the Shutterstock website which is a paid stock photography site.
Overview Chart
Links to sites listed are:
Note: I recently added Pics4Learning to this chart. I didn’t add it originally because I found the images a little restrictive and amateurish, however, some teachers have mentioned they find it useful. It’s probably an easy option if you teach students under 13.
Also note that Pics4Learning actually contains “copyright-friendly” images meaning the creators maintain the rights to their images but allow teachers and students to use them.
Task Cards
For easy reference, I have created two printables for your classroom. Print them off as handouts, embed them on your blog or display them as posters.
1. Task Card for Students Under 13
This document walks your younger students through the process of finding an image on Photos for Class and openclipart.
Loading...
Reload document 
Open in new tab 2. Poster for Older Students and Teachers
This document references the five sites that are useful for 13+ students (remembering Pixabay requires permission for users aged 13-18).
Loading...
Final Thoughts: Invest In Fluency
To gain a comprehensive understanding of all things Creative Commons and copyright, check out this post by Sue Waters and Ronnie Burt.
Teaching students about the full range of Creative Commons licences and attribution is an investments in time. However, I strongly believe this is something students should learn about at some point.
If you’re not up to that or don’t want to interrupt your workflows, you might want to take a shortcut. Using Public Domain or Creative Commons Zero images (or the Compfight plugin) are better shortcuts than using copyright images. Avoid that at all costs!
Whatever approach you use, it’s worthwhile investing time in becoming fluent.
For example, if you decide that one or more of the sites mentioned in this post are going to be useful for your blogs posts, invest a little time in playing around with the site and teach your students how to use the site properly.
Then when you need an image for your post, you will able to grab one quickly without having to interrupt your writing too much.
Newbie Technical Checklist
Some of you might not have tried inserting images in blog posts before. If this is you, you’re encouraged to take a look at the tutorial on adding images to posts or pages.
Once you’ve tried it a few times, it will take you no time to enhance your posts with some visuals. As always, be sure to ask if you have a question.
Your Task
Try out anything that was mentioned above and report on it in a comment.
Reminder: When you comment, please write your name at the end of your comment if it’s unclear from your username. 🙂
Maybe you could:
- Use one of the websites mentioned to find an image for a blog post. Share your post.
- Print off the task cards and use them in a lesson. Tell us about it.
- Try out the Compfight plugin.
- Write a post or page with some information about images, Creative Commons, and copyright (obviously, your own interpretation, not simply copying this content 😉 ).
- Explore ways to create your own images — eg try out some of the online tools available such as Adobe Spark, Canva, BeFunky, AutoDraw etc. (There are many more!).
AND
- Don’t forget your support and encouragement of a fellow participant via a comment or visit to their blog makes a big impact!
Next week’s topic: Connecting with other classes around the world!
I knew this topic would challenge me!
My student guidelines have always been:
-it isn’t yours, it doesn’t belong on your blog.
-If I wanted to know what google had to share, I’d google it. What do YOU have to share?
I think that seeing their writing, drawing and photographs is far more interesting, and so do they. They seem to agree and have no problem following the guideline. It makes sense to them. (Another version of the lesson – you don’t write in other people’s notebooks or eat each other’s lunches) ***The exception is if they copy certain items from my blog, which I have given permission to do so as often as they would like.
-Thank you for the video,(I love listening to your voice – My Canadian ears hear such an accent!), shortcut and age-appropriate resources.
I will complete the task this week by: teachIng a simple Creative Commons lesson. I’ll try to include a few details in a daily post this week.
QUESTION: If I want to include your video or the younger QR poster you shared… how would you prefer for me to acknowledge you as the source?
Hey Becky,
Good guidelines! Makes it nice and simple. I like your notebook and lunchbox analogies too. This reminded me of another video Linda Yollis made with her students years ago where they put the wrong names on others’ artwork https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmz0CRAdxFY
Very funny about the accent! I was actually watching an American movie the other day and it’s funny how your ears get used to it because when an Australian actor came into the storyline it really stood out!
Can’t wait to see your lesson. Definitely feel free to include any of my resources. You could just say they’re from me and link to my blog. Maybe my blog post about this topic would be most helpful to link to in case people want to learn more http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2017/10/09/where-to-find-free-images-for-students-and-teachers/
Done! They enjoyed searching for pictures more than I anticipated. http://edublog.amdsb.ca/team2eagles/2018/02/12/compfight-and-the-creative-commons/
Fabulous! So glad to hear they enjoyed it! 🙂
Hello!
I too was challenged by this topic. Challenge is good because it makes us improve. I must confess that there was a time when I thought anything on Google images without a watermark was fair game. Thankfully that was a long time ago and I’ve come a long way since then! 🤦🏻♀️
Knowing how to acknowledge the original source is a good thing. APA referencing is ingrained in me from my university days. The compfight plugin that was mentioned earlier sounds like a big timesaver. Lots of things to try!
I followed the directions in this post on how to share Mrs. Morris’ resources. Thank you for asking such as helpful question.
Great suggedtions as usual.
Last year I wrote a couple of posts about search, optimize images, and wordpress tools for images. It would be impossible for me to translate them in English so I share them as thay are in Italian. Sorry about it.
The first post is about search and optimization.
The second is how to insert imaves in posts and pages
And the third is about WordPress media tools for images.
https://www.iisprever.gov.it/comprever/immagini
https://www.iisprever.gov.it/comprever/inserire-immagini-in-un-articolo/
https://www.iisprever.gov.it/comprever/strumenti-di-wordpress-per-le-immagini/
My login name is victor.
Thank you, victor! I read the first post and I learned from it. It’s a mine of clear information. It’s wonderful to move at ease in the ocean of the web like you do. And your language sounds like music.
Ines
In the last few years, I’ve used Canva and Adobe Spark to create my own images. I saw the information about Compfight and have used it in a few posts recently – it’s a great add on.
A few months ago, our district switched over to a new filter that enforces the Safe Search with Google Images. I had a perturbed teacher send me an email because she couldn’t find images she could use in a Google image search. I explained the new filter system.
Her response: Really? So we can’t get relevant results to searches for school work while we are at school? Hmmm….
My response: Well, really it’s just not allowing you to break copyright laws while on the district network…..
But I didn’t provide an alternative. Reading this week’s post has empowered me to share these resources with my teachers. I will share my experience later on this week.
Hi Carla,
I could not find Compfight in my list of plugins. (I have a pro account) Where did you find it exactly? I really wanted to give it a try. In the meantime , I will continue to enjoy my browsing of images on Pexels! I am finding lots of great images with CC0 licensing that I can use on my Publishing Design class blog as Discussion starters!
Kae Cunningham
Hi Kae,
When you click on Plugins you should see there is a search box on the right hand side? Start typing in Compfight and it should show up? The full name is “Compfight Safe Images”. Let me know if you need more help with that! 🙂
Isn’t Pexels wonderful. Some of the images on those sites are so beautiful.
Thanks Kathleen! I now see compfight in my editor. I do like the “auto”attribution feature, but was a little disappointed with the actual photo selection. There are so many sites /options available to choose from! Still Working on my image post and how I will break the news to my teens that google is a no go.
:0
Oh I’m glad you can find it. I agree about the search results.
Check out the response I left to Mandy too if you need more Creative Commons WITH attribution options.
Ahh good luck breaking the news to your teens. I know what it’s like to the bearer of bad news on this topic!
Hi all. I have been crazy busy the past two weeks and not feeling well to boot. The flu has really hit us hard here. I will go back for weeks 3- but I wanted to include my thoughts for this week on usage. I learned the hard way about copyright law when I used an image from Getty Images without knowing it was theirs. I assumed royalty free meant, well, free. I know better now for sure! Here is the piece on my blog I wrote about usage and copyright.
I have taken the password off for the duration of this course. If it should go back on its MRSE2018. Enjoy! http://mrseddinger.edublogs.org/2018/02/11/usage-and-copyright-rules/
Hi Mrs E,
Thank you for having taken your password off: I’ve just learned from your video how to use Google images in a legal and loyal way. I never let my kids go there, I thought there wasn’t any way to distinguish the creative commons or free images. It really will make a difference both to my students and to me now.
And your blog looks beautiful.
Ines
Thank you so much. I review that lesson with my kids a bunch. They love the videos. It’s good for giggles when they hear their teacher on YouTube!
Thank you! This is very helpful. May I show your video to my students?
Thank you so much. I review that lesson with my kids a bunch. They love the videos. It’s good for giggles when they hear their teacher on YouTube! You are most welcome to use the video!
Yes, thank you for asking. You may use the Video..
Thank you Candria, your video is great. I too would like to use it with my senior Primary students if that’s okay. It is so important to teach them to acknowledge sources, they seem to think images etc are exempt!
Sue
Thanks for sharing. I would like to give a lesson about this in the future.
Hi Mrs E,
What a great Blog you have! Loved your video you made about images. It made it so clear to me thanks! I would like to show my class your video if that is OK?
Hi Class! As a librarian, artist, teacher and someone who has worked a lot with digital images, the issue of copyright is close to my heart. It was interesting and useful to reframe those issues in the context of blogging, which is somewhat new to me. I found the number of suggested tools for getting and making images particularly useful. I have tried Befunky before so tried Autodraw (didn’t like it, too clunky for someone used to more functional drawing programs) and Pexel (did like it, lots of great images! This week my y3 class are starting a new topic about Storybook Wolves in Language Arts. So, I’ve combined a bit of learning about posting images with a stimulus image to introduce the new topic using the class blog. It’s a private blog, so you can’t see it but the image I used from Pexel is this: https://www.pexels.com/photo/animal-animal-photography-canidae-canine-45242/ . Have a great week!
I agree. All images tools were totally new to me. I’ll try Pexel.
I love that image!
Do you post your artwork online? If someone were to purchase your artwork and then take a picture of it in their house, would you cite that?
I use a lot of ideas from other teachers that I find online. If you use someone else’s lesson or worksheet or activity, how do you give credit?
I am in the process of creating a blog for my students to learn about the copyright laws. Now because I am still new, but making progress, I am guessing I won’t have all of the information up front for them, but it will be a start.
I have found that none of my students have ever blogged and they are needing step by step instructions. I am trying to get them to be brave and explore the dashboard and all it has to offer and a few have been able to help others navigate a bit.
Truly, this course has been so very helpful, considering I had no idea where to start and now all of my students have a blog currently linked to the class blog. They have all been able to comment, link, and also create a page and post.
I am excited to see where we will be at the end of the year.
Lisa Meyer
Hi Lisa!
I used to send my students to one of our wikis where I opened a page just with the links Sue Wyatt had told us were safe for kids under 13, some years ago. http://inpicad5.pbworks.com/w/page/61363492/Creative%20Commons
Now I must update this page and I will also bring all the links to our blog. I have checked them all and some are a bit tricky as they may show pictures that are not entirely free.
I also use to do something I’m not sure I can do: for instance, if a student tells he has been in a cruise, I’ll ask the name of the boat and show its picture with the link of the company who is advertising the travels.
http://cadescrita.edublogs.org/2017/09/29/o-esplendido-cruzeiro/
I think I’m “helping these sites” by making them more kown and perhaps that’s why they never asked me to take any photo away.
I always only let my kids go to the safe and creative commons sites, but I take some “liberties” on my own.
But now I’m not sure if this is okay to do. May be I should ask Kathleen…
Ines
I ended up creating a blog post about keeping it ethical for the students to have at their fingertips. http://ramblingrhetoric.edublogs.org/ In the blog I created links to the free photos available for students and I think they had success in using them. Thanks for the response.
Lisa Meyer
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for sharing your very useful Post. I’ve written one for under 13 and another for older students.
And I’m taking care of my own uploads, changing images I took from commercial sites without asking them permission.
I remember asking permission to “The Hubble” site to create and publish a power point with their images and they answered me, gently asking to share the link for them to keep in their educational archives.
I must act similarly with tourism sites, cultural sites, bookshop sites and commercial sites. It is not enough to show a link to the source. If it takes too long, I must go to free image sites.
Thank you for listening to me.
Ines
To teach about plagiarism I often get someone to pick a poster they have made and are really proud off, then I give it to another student and say that they made it and deserve the grade. We then discuss how they feel and what is wrong with the situation. I then explain this is what it is like when you copy and paste something off the internet without permission. The students seem to respond to this scenario.
I love the idea of students creating their own images. What a great way to display their creativity and IT skills.
I love the example of putting the kids in the shoes of others, and having to articulate their understanding of the situation. It’s so powerful.
Last year I was working with Grade 1 and Grade 2 students on making and designing posters. We were Powerpoint and some of the pictures that kids made using simple shapes were absolutely phenomenal. They really put a lot of time and thought into what they were creating, and it was a great basis for a conversation about creating our own content and taking credit for someone else’s work.
I really like what you did to help the kids better understand plagiarism and pictures. It is a hands-on way for them to really get it.
Lisa Meyer
Great idea Karina, I am going to try this with my grade. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the task cards – they’re fantastic and while I’m familiar with creative commons, I know a lot of teachers at my school are not, and so it’s helpful to have a visual resource to help train them up. I also didn’t know about the Compfight plugin and I’ve activated that, and will be sharing that with my staff, too.
I love using Unsplash – I haven’t used it for my class blog yet, but I have used it for my personal book review blog and a few personal projects in the past, because I love the high quality of the images.
Generally, on my classroom blog, we primarily use photos of things happening in the classroom, so we don’t have to worry too much (although we have our own school guidelines and permissions around the safe use of images of students and student work that we need to take into account). When I’ve created headers for my blogs I make sure to use graphics that I have a license for creating digital content.
I also find it quick and easy to make title headers and simple images in Powerpoint (when I’m really in a rush) because sometimes all I need are fancy fonts or shapes and that’s very useful, too.
http://adventuresmedialiteracy.edublogs.org/
I added this header picture to go with last week’s post. I am wondering if there is a way to attach a header photo to each week’s post, since the topic is going to change. Otherwise, I will have to keep changing this image to go with the weekly post, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It just means that whatever image is shown will not necessarily go with the blog post if the reader looks back through archived posts.
BTW– I use Unsplash for my images. No one taught me about this issue with images and copyrighting until this past fall. I am doing my best to teach the kids about giving credit for images as well as information, but old habits die hard. Working on it.
Hi there,
Sorry for the delay. I meant to answer this question yesterday! 🙂
You can add a different feature image for each blog post. You’ll notice that’s what I’ve been doing on this blog (when you go to the home page you’ll see all the images).
So to do that, when you’re editing your blog post, look on the right hand side where it says ‘feature image’. Here you click to add an image that you want to show as the header just for that post. Does that make sense? Let me know if you have more questions! 🙂
Hi Kathleen,
Thank you so much for the cards, Kathleen! I use to embed small videos from YouTube on the end of a student’s post; often, I stop the vídeo while it’s “running” and I take a picture of what is being showed. Then I post the picture before the text with the link to the youtube vídeo. Is it okay?
Ines
Sue Wyatt also taught us where we could go and safely create an avatar for kids under 13; I’ll share here the links she gave us, as I checked them all and they are all up and running. Hopefully there are new ones that Sue would show us later.
I took away the urls first letters otherwise my comment would be blocked as spam.
1 – doppelme.com/
2 – http://www.buildyourwildself.com/ – -this is from New York Zoos and you can turn the image into a small avatar
3 – http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mini-mizers/classic-kid-safe-mini-mizer/
4 – http://www.wimpyourself.com/
5 – elouai.com/chibi/harrypotter/icons.php
6 – avatarmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml
Ines
Hi Inês,
Thank you for so many links. Because, as you already know, I’m an EFL teacher, I’ve always tried to introduce different skills and have – myself and pupils – extensively used http://www.voki.com/ which allows us not only to customize avatars but also give it a voice by adding / uploading a recording, record our own voice or type our text and we will listen to an automated voice.
I loved it, but I believe there’s some pricing attached to it now…
Thank you. Best wishes,
Alexandra
Hi Alexandra!
I was missing you! I visited your blog today: it’s awesome!
I never used Voki but I’ve seen many students using it during the Student’s Challenges and I agreee it’s very funny.
I would like to learn how to embed a video from a Student: he is surfing. I think I should go to an appropriate site, post the video and then I could embed it.
I can’t do it straight into the blog because it exceeds the maximum size to load.
I didn’t want to ask Kathleen because she is having a lot of work answering everyone, so I thought perhaps you could help me.
Thank you, Alexandra!
Ines
Hi Ines,
I don’t want to jump in on the conversation but don’t want to leave you hanging either. I’m always happy to help and I know Alexandra is too.
I think the best approach is to upload your video to a site like YouTube or Vimeo and then embed that into your blog using the embed code. I used to use SchoolTube and TeacherTube as well but I’m not sure what they’re like these days?
Alternatively, you can upload it to your google drive. This video that shows how to embed a Google Drive video into your blog post is quite easy to understand.
https://mrlistersd33.edublogs.org/2015/04/14/how-to-embed-a-video-file-stored-in-google-drive-into-a-blog-post/
Let me know if you need more help! 🙂
Thank you so much, Kathleen!
You are not “jumping”, you are really welcome. I also think that you “fly “from comment to comment and that’s amazing.
I would like that the video doesn’t go public except in our blog. If I verify that it’s not possible, I’ll ask my student’s Parents if I may upload the movie to youtube or to Teacher Tube. Google Drive will be a good option if it doesn’t get too heavy.
I’ll tell you how it went. Thank you again for your kind help.
Ines
Hi Ines,
Flying from comment to comments sounds about right. I just worry that I miss people’s questions!
Oh good point about keeping the video private. Perhaps you could password protect that blog post? Do tell me how you go and if you need more help I can check with Sue etc too for ideas.
Kathleen
Can you explain what the difference is in creating an avatar and just using a picture?
Thanks
Lisa Meyer
Hi Lisa!
I would say that creating an Avatar just personalizes a bit more how young students can show themselves when posting articles or comments, instead of using the “predesigned” avatars the Blogs offer. I love Edublogs Avatars, but I remember that when Sue Wyatt taught us how to make Avatars in safe sites, my kids enjoyed it a lot. I use an Avatar for Google, Gmail, youtube – it comes from these days – 2008 – and my students used to say it looked like me.
As for pictures, – if you include photos – we also learned, in these old days, that kids under 13 should use Avatars instead of Pictures, but that is a decision the Schools themselves are called to make. I see there are plenty of Schools, today, that show photos of their students.
Thank you for asking. I hope to have been useful.
Ines
Thank you, thank you, for this weeks topic! It’s been on my mind all along but I haven’t taken the time to investigate. I’m still sifting through all the the information and it’s excellent to now have it at my fingertips. I’m prepping for a lesson with my students on use of images and so forth. This will be quite helpful!
What about YouTube videos. How do we know about the copyright and if you can use them?
Good question, Tricia!
You can embed YouTube videos (or videos from other sharing sites like Vimeo etc) without worrying about copyright. This is because embedding is different to copying.
What you do have to worry about it:
– Uploading your own video to YouTube that has copyright material (eg. if you use copyright music it will probably be taken down)
– Downloading and remixing a video you found on YouTube. Not a good idea.
I’m not expert but this is my general understanding. I hope someone else will chime in if they know more!
Hi Tricia,
You asked a good question that a lot of us have wondered about. But ‘use’ is a bit broad to cover, so let me focus on YouTube embedding, as I recently had to look into it for one of my students.
As Kathleen wrote, embedding is different from copying. However, it is a bit of a gray zone; not all legal authorities agree whether it would violate copyright to embed without the copyright holder’s permission. For this reason, YouTube has built a kind of permission statement into their terms of service (TOS).
(Excuse the legalese in the quotes below, but I also explain the relevant part in ‘normal English’.)
Section 4.A. of the TOS says that “you agree not to distribute in any medium any part of the Service or the Content without YouTube’s prior written authorization, unless YouTube makes available the means for such distribution through functionality offered by the Service (such as the Embeddable Player)”. In other words, the embeddable player is amongst the means for distribution YouTube can provide , and if they provide a link to it for a video, you may embed that video.
Section 6.C. (middle) says that you “grant each user of the Service a non-exclusive license to access your Content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such Content as permitted through the functionality of the Service and under these Terms of Service.” In other words, uploaders agree that, if YouTube gives users a means to embed the uploaded video, users may embed that video.
But how does YouTube decide whether or not to provide an embed link? YouTube allows uploaders to restrict embedding. If an uploader opts to block embedding for a video, YouTube does not provide an embed link for that video, and since they have not provided a means (link), you cannot legally embed it. But if uploaders do not request any restriction, YouTube allows embedding as part of their service & provides a link so that you can embed.
And how can you check whether embedding is possible for the video you want? Simply click the share link under the video. When the box opens up, look at the very bottom of the box. If embedding is allowed, you will see an EMBED link. To use it, simply click on EMBED to get the html code you will eventually need to embed the video + player… but wait! First look at the options underneath (I like to unclick the show suggested videos afterwards option). If you change anything, it changes the code at the top, so opt first, then copy. HOWEVER, if you click on share and the box that opens has NO such link, it means the uploader opted to block embedding, so YouTube did not provide the means (link) for it, thus you cannot legally embed that video.
Hope this you feel more confident about when you can or can’t embed youTube videos. Kat
Hi Kat,
Thanks so much for this detailed information. I’m doing the finishing touches on our week eight post about videos so I’m going to include a link to this comment. 🙂
Hi Kathleen,
Glad you found it useful. However, as a disclaimer, I am not a legal authority and so people should understand that this is just a personal explanation (one I used to help my students understand what they agree to when they use YouTube).
It also does not mention illegally-uploaded videos, which would also be illegal to further distribute (including embed), even if YouTube provided an embed link – but that goes beyond the parts of YouTube’s TOS that I was trying to clarify.
Kat
Good point! I often forget to mention that I’m no legal expert when I talk about copyright issues. It’s definitely something I want to learn more about though. Thanks again, Kat. 🙂
I just went to the site you highlighted in your poster for under 13, Photos for Class, the site is currently down.
Oh how annoying, thanks so much for the heads up, Tricia. Let’s hope it gets back up as I know a lot of teachers find it useful. It says an update will be available 12th Feb so hopefully soon…?
I have learnt about Creative Commons and OER when I first did a course about how to create ebooks. Since then I have collected links to find resources and in particular about pictures which need to be given credit
Here is the link to my bookmarking Peartrees http://www.pearltrees.com/italianteacher/oer/id15570206
It is important to teach students that images are important but we should teach them how to give credits. Sometimes I suggest taking their pictures so that they can use them freely. I will check all the tips and interesting links you have provided for this week.
I would like to share this interesting post for finding images
http://www.authormedia.com/11-places-to-get-a-free-and-legal-photo-for-your-blog/
tiziana angiolini
Hi Tiziana, thank you for some amazing resources about finding and crediting images online. Your links were so helpful. I will be bookmarking your site for future reference.
Jen
You’re welcome. I always learnt with others and I have bookmarked what was worth checking.
I’m back! I wrote a blog post highlighting the amazing information that Kathleen shared! mrsjeff2u.com/2018/02/13/goodbye-google-photos/
I’ve sent the link out to my teachers and am encouraging them to share with me how they’re adjusting what they’re doing.
-Carla
Love it! Just commented.
Also to let everyone else know. I am waiting to see if Photos For Class will come back online. If not, I’ll update the task card! 🙂
I’ve posted an article just for kids under 13 and I used your Card. When you will update it, I’ll come back to pick it up again. https://cadescrita.edublogs.org/2018/02/14/uso-etico-de-imagens-menores-de-13/
I’ll write a post for older Students, Parents and Teachers using your card for more than 13, only tomorrow.
I’ve been trying to use Divi Builder for the first time and lost a lot time, but it didn’t work. I don’t know if I can use it in a page or if it must be just in posts. I followed part of the video tutorial: it seems difficult to use this fantastic plug in.
I rearranged the whole main header menu in order to gain more space for future items.
I couldn’t find any video in Portuguese about the legal use of images; I know how to add subtitles in Youtube, but it takes time to transcribe, I’ve done it.
Today, our Principal told me she is counting on me to translate and teach her how to blog along with us.
I’ve also finished my 53 reports for the Meetings where students get their grades, (I don’t know how to say that in English), and thus I’m getting free again to our blogging adventure.
Thank you for your reliable and generous support.
Ines
Great post, Ines! I love how you’ve made it really clear with they key points for students.
It must be so hard with so many people asking you to translate! What percentage of people in Portugal can use English?
Here we probably call those ‘parent-teacher interviews’ or ‘student-parent-teacher conferences’ or ‘student led conferences’. It’s becoming more popular here for students to lead the meetings with parents and teachers. However, here students often get their written reports then might have a teacher meeting shortly afterwards to discuss it with parents.
Regarding Photos for Class. This message was on their website today
“On Friday February 8th, through the morning of February 14th we made the decision to turn off Photos for Class while we investigated an issue with our safety filters not working correctly.
At of Feb 14th we are turning back on Photos for Class, with less photos, but we believe a working filter.”
I don’t know if it’s just me but the search results look pretty bad now??
Hi Kathleen,
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post. Today was too busy, after all, and I only could publish the post about free images for older Students, Parents and Educators.
http://cadescrita.edublogs.org/2018/02/15/uso-etico-de-imagens-maiores-de-13/
I chose to leave the access to compfight in this post, but I’m used to search there for an image with my younger kids.
As for English speaking Portuguese people, I would say that only adults are worried about writing; usually they can read and speak. If they are over forty they would have studied French for many years instead of English, as it is the case of our Principal and of the Teacher of Portuguese for 7th graders; she even studied French at Faculty.
On the other hand, Young people is really in love with English; my 5th, 6th, even 7th grade students don’t feel at ease to write, yet, but as they grow older they really are able to write in a blog. And of course there are excellent Students in English, in every grade, that will reveal themselves if our blogging project becomes reality.
I think that the perspective of having to learn technological topics written in English, is holding back some teachers and parents, but they are well aware that if the goal is to innovate, our School must enter into the adventure of Global Citizenship whose native language is English.
If you may take a look on my retweet from School, on Valentines Day, you will see a video with the little ones singing in English to the older Students in the classroom. As love it self, English is also “in the air”.
Ines
Hi Ines,
The Valentine video is really sweet! Thanks for sharing.
That’s really interesting about English language in Portugal. You’re doing a wonderful job of helping them learn English and so much more!
Another fabulous post too. I’m not sure how you keep up with everything!
Kathleen
Hi everyone,
This week’s contribution is a longer post in which I’ve tried to organise some ideas for myself and for all those who may access the blog in general, this post in particular. You may find it at http://teacheralexsoure.edublogs.org/2018/02/16/images-copyright/ and, as suggested, I included some other links and examples…not the best ones, I know.
Anyway, as always, I’m looking for some feedback 🙂
Thank you and greetings from Portugal,
Alexandra
Yes, I’ve been there and your great post is really detailed and clear at the same time. I left you a comment on the spot.
Today I took away an image I wasn’t sure if it was free. I’ll keep an eye on myself from now on. Learning from the Course – never too late!
Ines
Hi Alex, Love your post , I am working on my own series of posts for images and copyright concerns. I left you a comment on your blog with a link to Snappa, which is very similar to Canva but I find easier to use.
Enjoy,
Kae Cunningham
Hi Kae,
Many thanks for dropping past my blog, leaving a comment and sharing a fantastic link 🙂
Warm greetings from Portugal,
Alexandra
Hi Kathleen, thanks for allowing us to download and use your poster. I like that you can click on it to go to tje resources. I was wondering how you embedded the links to the actual sites? Also, the poster seems to scroll, up/down, within the post. Also a mystery…..is this a function of a widget?
Kae Cunningham
Hi Kae,
Because it’s not an interactive document, you can list the websites underneath the document in the same way that I did in this post.
Like this…
Links to sites listed are:
Unsplash
Pixabay
Photos For Class
Openclipart
Pics4Learning
You probably know how to add the links, if not here are the instructions.
1. Open up the websites in different tabs, eg. https://unsplash.com/
2. Copy the URL of the website you want to link to.
3. In your post you are writing highlight the text you want to link (eg. the word Unsplash)
4. Paste the URL you copied directly over the highlighted text using a keyboard shortcut like CTRL V (PC) or CMD V (Mac).
5. The link is automatically created The highlighted text now appears underlined and is blue to confirm it is linked.
If this makes no sense, there are visuals here that might help or feel free to ask me further questions!
https://help.edublogs.org/add-links/
You’re right about inserting the PDF in the document too. It will scroll up and down. Feel free to give me the URL of your post and I’ll see how it looks 🙂
Kathleen
I am so happy we are discussing this topic this week! When I started blogging, I didn’t know how to use images and for the first little while my focus was just on getting the kids writing. They were quick to figure out how to copy and paste pictures and I think for them, it has been an important part of their blog posts. I feel like I have been slow to figure out the copyright, creative commons element. I feel like this is something I will spend a lot of time on in the future, pre-blog, so that my students don’t get use to copying images from the web.
So my class and I explored “photosforclass” and “openclipart” this week. It was a lot of disappointed people to be honest. One in particular, has been blogging about his favourite football team and has included images from google searches. He hasn’t been able to find images (of his team) that fit the criteria that we’ve set for images.
Does anyone know if access safe images for sports teams is even available?
I want to keep the kids engaged, let the write about what they love, while teaching them about respecting images that don’t belong to them.
We are going to have to go back through a lot of posts and make the adjustment! I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed to be honest. It’s important step, any advice on how to handle going back through all these post? Did people do it themselves or get the kids to do it?
Thank you for these site and task cards! This has been a life-saver.
I hear ya, Mandy. It sure is disappointing and often shocking when people who have been happily using Google images realise they shouldn’t be doing that. Your story is a very common one. It’s hard enough worrying about the writing and everything else, so when students start finding their own images it’s so easy just to go with it.
Ideally it would be good if there was a school wide approach to teaching about copyright and Creative Commons so the ‘bad habits’ don’t start early. Easier said than done!
I agree that openclipart and Photos For Class aren’t the best. There is really a gap in the market for free images that under 13s can use.
To answer your question about using sportingimages, there is an option but it will require a little more teaching.
There are some sites where you can find a much broader range of images than the ones I listed, however, you must attribute them as their Creative Commons licences are a little stricter.
Try https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
and
http://flickrcc.net/
I made these instructions for my student bloggers years ago which I’m going to check and update soon. So I’ll let you know when I do! 🙂
http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2012/08/20/instructions-for-using-creative-commons-images-in-blog-posts/
Does that help at all?
Kathleen
Hello,
I’ve written a post about finding images and correctly attributing them and will share it with my students this coming week. Given that I’ve linked to your blog post all about it, Kathleen, I confident at least that part is correct. 😉 Hopefully it will be helpful to my students. They are still only at the beginning stages of their personal blogs but at least this information will be there right from the beginning so they can start with good habits. http://mrshowellonline.edublogs.org/2018/02/17/finding-media-content/
Hi Mrs. Howell,
Loved your use of picture examples to illustrate each of the various ways to attribute ( or not) photos and the web source you used!
Great job,
Kae Cunningham
Hi Jen,
I love this post! I’ve just left a short comment.
I definitely love the idea of teaching them early on. It saves headaches down the track when you have to break to the news that they’ve been finding images the wrong way!
I hope your activity with your students goes well. 🙂
Hi Mrs Howell,
I thought your post was great and really helpful. I left you a comment.
Cheers
Kirsty
I have completed my First post with regard to this week’s task(s) on Image use and Copyright restrictions. My plan is to compose 2 additional posts to supplement this first one, which will all be sorted and grouped together with a Media category . I will then add a custom menu, for these posts to display on their own page. The 2 additional posts will be one on instruction for how to create student avatars and app links, and one on Free to use images and how modify images with all the links that have been provided / shared with us this week.
I had a blast using various photo editor tools and created at least 5 modified images using both Canva and Snappa. Definitely a teacher time waster- but fun nonetheless. I found these 2 editor sites to be very intuitive and easy to use. Lots of template options and great images to choose from. I have posted a few in this week’s post and around my blog. Also I found Pexels to be my personal favorite for CC0 ( non-licensed) images with many quality images to choose from.
https://cunninghamclass.edublogs.org/2018/02/17/images-copyright/
A very productive week!
Kae Cunningham
This week’s information about images was almost totally new to me! I knew about Creative Commons and licensed images but I’d never gone deep into this. It becomes really important for teachers and students as well because most blogs are public and most published images are not free. I will certainly teach my students about this.
However, I still don’t understand the attributions requirements when using images. I suppose that posting an image from a site that has attribution requirements is the best, like Photos for Class, so how do I give these attributions to images from the other pages?
In my blog, I usually post images by copying the image location. Is this a way of giving image attribution?
I need to go in deep into this for sure. Thanks for the information.
Hi Derly,
You’re not alone, I know there is a lack of understanding from many teachers and students. I’m not totally sure why this is. I guess it’s a topic that’s not talked about often? Hopefully now you’ll be able to share the information with some of your colleagues too 🙂
In regards to attribution, if you use an image from a site that has Creative Commons Zero or Royalty free images, you don’t have to put any attribution information at all. That is the beauty of them. These sites include Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, and openclipart.
There are some other sites with Creative Commons images but they’re not Creative Commons Zero. So they have a licence that requires attribution.
Examples of these sites are
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
and
http://flickrcc.net/
Basically, you shouldn’t just put a link back to the source. In fact, there seems to be a misconception out there that you can use any image (eg. one from Google images) as long as you link to the source. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
TASL is a handy acronym to remember. It reminds us to attribute:
Title
Author
Source
Licence
Sometimes we can’t find all that information but we should do the best we can. There’s some more info about TASL here https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Best_practices_for_attribution
Does that help?
Kathleen
Thank so much. It does help, a lot. 🙂
Understanding and honoring copyright is an important topic. In fact it is it’s own ISTE standard – 2c Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property. I find it interesting that we teachers invest a lot of time and effort battling student violations of intellectual property, but are notorious violators ourselves. I can’t tell you how often I see a badly scanned pdf of a text book posted in Schoology. If we expect students to “understand and respect” the property of others, we need to model this ourselves. Carrie Russell has a wonderfully engaging book entitled Complete Copyright for K-12 Librarians and Educators https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Copyright-K-12-Librarians-Educators/dp/0838910831/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1518964741&sr=8-3&keywords=copyright+for+librarians. Really, it is a very easy and entertaining read. I would suggest adding it to your “to-read” list.
Hi Tom,
This looks like a great read. I do find this topic very interesting and I would like to read more about it. I see this book is from 2012? I wonder if much has changed since then with the evolution of different platforms etc? An easy read sounds good though. This is a topic that can get complicated when you look into the legalities!
Thank you for pointing out the ISTE standard too!
I agree with you about (badly) scanned text books or worksheets etc. There’s really a need for more thought and discussion around this topic in the wider education community.
Kathleen
Very interesting topic, Kathleen!
So much information too, but very useful for us as teachers and for our students. I know about Creative Commons but not much about how to find free images.
I have created a post on Copyrights & Creative Commons for my students.
I used the blog for my project too, students voted for the best logo. It was very easy for them.
Cristina Elena Voicu
http://mrschristina2018.edublogs.org/2018/02/18/copyright-creative-commons/
Hello, Cristina Elena!
I visited your blog and i think your post about Copyrights and Creative Commons is great.
It is understandable, without too much information. I think i will create a post like yours too.
Have a great weekend
Hello,
In terms of creating images, there are a few very basic things that I use. I do the majority of my work and blogging on an iPad. I find it very user-friendly and fun. To make posts look more interesting, I often format text using Keynote and then post screenshots to my blog. The downside is that links are only live as captions rather than in the text, however, I am able to use existing slide templates to make my posts look more stylish. Layering different shapes and text boxes and experimenting with fill effects adds variety.
I also often use emojis as pictures to create borders, etc. They’re free, fun and easy for the children to use. Looking forward to the next iOS update for more options!
This sounds great, Brittany! Do you have an example post to show everyone? Keynote or PowerPoint can be really hand tools!
I am going to add this to my Digital Citizenship page on my blog! I think this is a very important topic to discuss with teachers.
I do have a question though (and I hope someone sees this as I am a week late in posting!):
What about screenshots? From what I can tell, screenshots used for education purposes are not copyright infringement. I have been putting screenshots to help my teachers get a feel for certain websites and programs. All of these websites are free and can be signed up for by anyone. I just want to make sure I practice what I preach!
Thank you!!
This is a great question about screenshots. From what I understand, screenshots are a bit of a grey area in general. I’ve heard to that be safe you should ask for permission when taking screenshots. But I find that concept confusing because what if someone has bought a stock photograph for their post and someone screenshots their blog? Is that copyright infringement?
Personally I don’t think most companies would want emails if you were talking about their product/service and including a screenshot on your blog. Especially when for educational purposes, as you say.
I hope someone else might be able to chime in here if they have any more information!
I never thought about screen shots. I have used them on handouts I have created for my staff, but never on my blog? Interesting question because eventually I will be doing that to show a user something. I just posted and I asked what about using logos about a specific tool we use, for example Britannica or the program FasttMath. Is it OK to use a picture of the software cover or a logo on my blog to show my users what they are going to read about and so they can recognize it. Thanks for the great question.
Thank you for this topic. I have always felt uncomfortable with the amount of images that students and teachers use from google. We have already had a discussion after a student used an image ( which I later searched to be not suitable as it was connected with horror movies) We discussed why it wasn’t suitable and how he could’ve made his own image. Now we have more tools to find and acknowledge the creator/owner. I have installed the compfight plugin and I have also planned to run lessons incorporating your poster for under 13s.
I found an image that supports some of the students discussions this week in the hope to create some more. http://msbspecihill.global2.vic.edu.au/2018/02/23/where-did-this-picture-come-from/
I often collect photos of interesting events and artefacts to use as writing seeds. I had found a couple of literacy web sites that also supply writing prompts free to use.
This task has also given me more inspiration to encourage children to use drawing apps, programs and tools.
I like to draw on my iPad using procreate. I will hope to whip something up over the weekend to share on my blog. There are many apps that kids can use to add drawings to animations like Toontastic or Scratch jr/Scratch. These can really bring their work to life and incorporate multi media, narration etc.
I think more thought needs to go into why we feel the need to quickly insert a picture that isn’t ours to support our idea? It has become such a routine in social media.
Now onto the week 6 task!
Have a great week end,
Felicity
Hi Felicity,
Thanks for such a thoughtful comment. You’re right that it has become such a routine in social media to quickly insert images. I see businesses do it all the time too. It’s unfortunate there isn’t more awareness around this topic.
I like the idea of students creating images themselves more. Maybe they could create a bank of images at some stage and share them amongst classmates so it doesn’t interrupt the lesson too much to have to stop and create pictures all the time.
I guess it’s about figuring out what works in your class and probably using a mix of options.
Great post too. I love the way you do your writing seeds in posts.
Kathleen
While taking the JumpStart course this summer with Jennifer Gonzalez, I was directed toward Pixaby. Most of the images from my blog are from Pixaby. I like the variety of different subjects and the quality of the images. I used to be a “clip art girl” in the early 2000’s. My mom ran a print shop when I was little so I know exactly why it is called clip art and copy and paste!
One thing that I and my students struggle with is how to cite an image. A lot of times with an image search, the location is not the original owner! Does anyone have any insight on how to consistently give credit to the correct source?
Hi Sara,
Isn’t Pixabay great? Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels are my favourites.
That’s amazing your mum ran a print shop. You would have learnt so much. How interesting. You should blog about that sometime. 😉
I know what you mean about citing images. Have you tried the google reverse image search? This is a tool I often use to check where an image has come from. https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808?hl=en
I teach an online class on Web Design and the one thing I stress to all of my students is that any pictures you use need to be cited. What I didn’t realize is how they need to be cited. Any pictures I use for my news feed in the online class, I search for using Google, but make sure to limit the pictures to those that are free to use, share or modify, even commercially. I then list the site where the picture was found under the picture it self. I thought I was modeling good behavior, now I have to change how I cite things. The problem with searching for images through Google in this way, really limits what you can use. Now I have a whole new repertoire of places to go and look for new images to use on my news feed and in my blogs. I wonder what the restrictions are for using a picture of a software or website for my teachers. For example, if I am showing them how to use the Britannica site we have access to, can I use the logo in my posting? That is something I need to do research on.
As a question for everyone, I am using the Free Edublog site and I cannot find the compfight plugin. When I go to plugins, it isn’t listed, when I search plugins, it doesn’t find it. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for your help…and have a great Friday!
Hi Vicki,
Unfortunately, the Compfight plugin isn’t available on free blogs. I wasn’t sure if it was but I just tested and it’s not there. So you’d have to go to http://compfight.com/ and find the images you want, save them, then upload them to your blog.
It’s not quite as easy as using the plugin but hopefully it’s still helpful.
That is a great question about using logos etc. I assume that surely you’d be able to do that? I’m really not sure though. If you find out anything please let me know and I’ll check with the Edublogs team next week and see if anyone knows anything too.
Thanks for some great questions! 🙂
I have really enjoyed reading people’s comments. I have learnt so much from everyone. My classroom Blog is nearly ready for my students and parents to access. I never knew about all the ways to check images and I will definitely be sharing this with my students. Thanks to everyone for sharing their ideas and blogs.
If you are looking for specific places or people, you may have trouble with the sources in the chart. I will give one example. A student wanted a color photo (public domain or Creative Commons) of Johnny Cash as her Google search “find” was copyrighted.
If we had searched the sites on the chart, we would have come up empty:
Unsplash: 123 hits > lots of cash (money), but no Johnny Cash
Pixabay: 2 hits > one JC museum, one Folsom Prison, but no JC (We have good luck with Pixabay for some things, but not people)
Pexels: number of hits not given, scrolled through and like Unsplash, lots of money, no JC
Photos for Class: 3 hits > the 2 from Pixabay and 1 black&white photo from Flickr
Openclipart: 1 hit > a crown of thorns (from a JC albumcover), but no JC
Pic4learning: 0 hits
I also searched two other sources that we use a lot:
Wikimedia Commons: > 7 hits, all JC-related, but no color portraits
Flickr (has age restrictions): The default “Any license” search had over 30000 hits, but most are copyrighted, so this is not what you want; use the drop-down menu.
“No known copyright restrictions” > 50 hits, only 1 relevant, but not color portrait.
“All creative commons”> 2757 hits, 2/3-3/4 irrelevant/other people, most of the rest just Cash-related (museum, album covers, etc) or black & white photos, BUT – finally – maybe a dozen color photos of Cash of which 4 were close enough to really see him. I can’t show you the student’s blog, but the chosen photo was Dan Shargel’s cash2which is licensed as CC BY 2.0
As a final note: Like many share (and social media) sites, Flickr has some members who upload materials they have no right to. So I like to have student doublecheck sources from such sites – via Google’s reverse image search. Google searches may not be the best source for finding photos, BUT their image search is a decent way for amateurs to go the other direction – to see whether the site of the photo found is plausibly the original source (or whether it clearly is not). Let’s take the Johnny Cash photo on Flickr as an example. I changed the file name to force Google to really look for all possibilities, then went to https://images.google.com/, clicked the camera icon and uploaded the renamed photo. I chose to include “other sizes” because, if there were another original, it would presumably be the same size or larger. There were 6 hits – two clearly cropped. Of the other 4, one was the same Flickr photo I used (Google did not show hits for the other size options on this site), one was the picssr.com (a Flickr searcher) page for danshargel (and its JC picture links to the same flickr page), one was a pastor’s blog (bobmmink.com) and his photo credit at the bottom cites the same ‘cash2’ and Flickr page, and the last was an Irish website (www.nova.ie), which did not have a proper photo credit, but on hover it says “flickr – johnny cash” and their file name for their upload photo ends with 5066198402_b1d40db5b5_z.jpg (the flickr photo’s download name). After all that, the student can be relatively certain that Shargel’s photo on Flickr is the original and thus that the CC license is legit. (With uncredited photos they find on blogs and other share sites, the result is often very different.) It’s a bit like a mystery hunt, but it can be fun – or at least useful.
Phew! What a journey you’ve been on.
I totally agree with you. Those sites are often great just to find a nice ‘general’ image for your blog post but it can be hard to find the specific thing you’re after. And there’s definitely going to be less chance of finding a Creative Commons Zero image if it’s something really specific you’re after. So what do you think the answer is? I guess if there is nothing out there you can only change your criteria of what sort of image you want? Or draw your own interpretation of it! What do you think?
Google reverse image is really handy. I use it a lot and I definitely think it’s great to teach older students about as you have.
Dear Kathleen,
Thank you for your thougtful comment, and I will try to answer your questions. What do I think the answer is when there is no CC0/public domain photo for what the student wants? We automatically search for other CC too, and students learn to give the proper credits. They also learn to read the license restrictions and often have to decide between a photo they cannot change (due tto CC restrictions) or a second-choice that allows adaptations. But what if there are no CCs at all? Students have no choice but to give up their first idea (unless they can take their own photos of whatever or whoever it is they wanted, but that is seldom the case). The solution then depends on the student and the topic. Some solutions (for blogs or e-journal articles, since my students illustrate both) have been to couple an available but less than ideal CC or PD with a caption that makes the link to the point they wanted, to photograph ticket stubs, publicity (e.g. a theater poster at the theater), etc. when they can’t photograph the play/actors, to use public domain clipart silhouettes as generic backgrounds for paragraphs rather than photos that have the wrong details (e.g. in a “how to get there section” when all legal photos show the wrong carriers), to find a relevant embeddable youTube video and write a lead-in that makes sure the reader notices the part/person that the student wants them to, or to create wordArt (word cloud) with key phrases to ‘illustrate’ the section. Whether I help a student find a solution or a student comes up with one on their own, I project and talk about the solution in the next class meeting, so that others are aware of that option, too. I have, of course, also suggested that students contact the photographer (esp. for local photos) to try to get permission for a copyrighted photo they really want, but so far none have been willing to (which is fine, as they then are more open to trying other alternatives in order not to have to email the photographer). Our last solution – when the student is unhappy with all compromises – is to ‘pull’ that photo completely and, if that leaves too much text, to illustrate something else. If you have come up with other ideas, I’d love to hear them.
Hi Kat,
Wow, you sure have a lot of great ideas! Perhaps you should write a post about!
Good point about asking photographers for permission. I’m surprised this hasn’t worked for you. I would have thought people would be okay with supporting students (with attribution of course) but I can understand it’s their livelihood too.
This issue might have some frustrations but it’s also probably a good learning experience. Problem solving and creative thinking are such valuable skills.
Thanks again, Kat.
Hi Kathleen,
Thanks for the support. You are right – I should think about doing a post on some of these things. As for the photographers, my gut feeling is that some would support the students (in return for attribution, of course). But they haven’t been given a chance because my students have all avoided that option at all costs; they even prefer dropping their planned photos when they find no CC alternative over emailing the photographer. I think part of the problem is pessimism – they know the photographer can say ‘no’ and assume that is their fate. But another – and probably the bigger part of the problem – is that they know they would be asking for legal permission under all the ins and outs of German law. After two semesters where no one at all (not even my MA students) has wanted to try that option, I am now thinking about requiring them (or at least the MA students) to TRY to get permission for at least one copyrighted photo for one of their articles… and if I require it, I would really also need to give them a sample request letter that met all the German legal requirements for requesting use of copyrighted materials. Students would get both yes’s and no’s from the photographers, but both would meet the course requirement – even though only those photos with positve replies could be used. This exercise wouldn’t lessen the disappointment of negative replies, but it would remove the fear of putting a wrong foot forward legally. But even as I write this, I can ‘feel’ their eyes beaming resistance… so I haven’t decided yet.
I like your thinking, Kat! I’d love to hear how that goes if you try it out. Simply asking can feel risky but perhaps is a skill we need these days? For example, in the past I’ve asked a variety of people to Skype with my class. And a lot of the time they say yes! Maybe as the world is becoming more connected and it’s more possible to reach out to others, we have to learn to do just that…but in the right way…?
Hi Kathleen,
I’m a bit behind but once again a terrific post! I have been thinking about the use of images in our school for some time; your post has cleared a few things up for me. Am I allowed to share this post with colleagues at my school who are not part of this blogging course?
I use Pixabay a lot but haven’t tried your other suggestions; I will do so for this week’s task!
Cheers,
Kirsty
Hi Kirsty,
So happy to see you back! I’m so glad to hear the post helped too. Feel free to share it with anyone. I was actually thinking today I should tell you all you’re welcome to share posts with your colleagues. I might put that in tonight’s email actually. 🙂
Thanks, Kathleen! I’ll share with my colleagues tonight! 😊
Hi Everyone,
I have used Pixabay many times so I thought I’d try something new for this task. I started with pics4learning but I didn’t find the images particularly inspiring. So then I tried Unsplash, which was a very different story! I will definitely be using Unsplash again! Here is a link to the post I created: https://blog.seesaw.me/1n2018.
Cheers,
Kirsty
I will have to try Unsplash. I started with pics4learning since it was easy to use and explain to my students. However, after reading your post, Unsplash seems more interesting.
Hi everyone,
I notice some people not getting images they want when they search in the image URLs mentioned. Have a look at this link which includes tips for searching. https://www.lifewire.com/web-search-tricks-to-know-4046148 I often use quotes but not sure if they work when searching images via the tags.
Some of you may have heard of Larry Ferlazzo a blogger with hundreds of pages of resources one of which is images http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/10/11/the-best-online-sources-for-images/
He also has an All time best list for images http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2016/08/14/the-all-time-best-sources-of-online-images/
I chose to use pics4learning.com in my classroom. Since my blog is viewable only to my students, I have pasted the blog post below.
Hello class,
I know a lot of us are use to searching google images when completing classwork or projects. However, this is not safe as the images have copy right laws. Copy right laws gives the author of the image protection so that others cannot take it without permission.
Instead of using google images, we will begin using pics4learning.com. This is a free education website that provides different types of images. The website allows us to use these images for our classwork and projects. This will be an adjustment for all of us as I am also use to using google images. Below are some examples of photos that can be found on this website.
These are just a few images. The websites has lots of images and categories to choose from. Take the time to explore this free website and see what images you can find.
Have fun,
Mrs. Woods
For some reason the pictures did not post on here. The pictures on my blog include a saying about reading, a picture of a tiger, and a picture of strawberries.
Hello!
Here is my first try to put pictures in my posts from pixabay: http://anastasiakazanidi.edublogs.org/. I noticed that we can copy paste the pictures in the top row of results which have a Shutterstock watermark on them and we can insert them in blog without paying. Is it wrong?
Also, i cannot find the Compfight in the list of plugins and i cannot see the search box on the right hand side. Could you help me, please?
Thank you for all.
Hi there Anastasia,
Thanks for checking. I was pretty sure copyright laws still apply to watermarked images however, I contacted Shutterstock to double check. They said “Unfortunately, it is a breach of our terms of service to use the watermarked images. These are only made available for sampling purposes while comping a project. ”
Also, unfortunately, the Compfight plugin is not available on free blogs. You can still go to the Compfight website and download images to use on your blog.
Thank you very much for your reply!
I must say this week was more informative than I thought it would be. The information will be very helpful as I get more comfortable blogging and adding more feature to my site. It seems a bit intimidating to bring to the classroom but as usual there will be those bright sparks that will immediately get the concept and will help their classmates. So I will go in head first and see what happens. Thank you a for sharing.
Please feel free to check out my blog and leave a comment http://teachb1.edublogs.org/2018/03/13/image-copyright-licences-and-permission/
Sheryl
Hi Sheryl,
Thanks for sharing your post. This will be a nice start for people. Perhaps you could even add the links to the sites you mentioned in your post? (Pics4learning, Pixabay, or Openclipart)
I just love the way peer tutoring can happen with things like this. I hope your students enjoy supporting each other!
I explored how to add my own images and maintain copyright licensing correctly. I believe it is hard to do so, and unfortunately with the use of screen shotting an croping, I feel that should someone wish to copy my blog they could. I believe taking your own photos for blogs is beneficial to students and teachers in this and ensuring proper recognition for images is given.
I thank you for the links for creating your own pictures. I have many students that are fascinated by websites where they can try their own hand at creating. I will be sure to share these addition sites for them to try. Susan
That’s great to hear, Susan!
I am used to using images from Pixabay and I love them as I am free and do not have to give credits. I have also used CC licences but I prefer Public Domain images.
I have shared my Pearltree for most of the photos I need as more and more I can rely on free websites where people share IMAGES,MUSIC and more-
I usually keep files in folders with themes so that I can easily upload them in my lessons and posts.
I attempted the task cards with one group of my students. For a moment (….a rather long moment..) it was utter chaos. BUT as soon as my students grasped the logistics of following the directions on the cards, they were able to complete the tasks. This was particularly challenging for my third graders as many of them were unaware of what a “copyright” even was. Upon leaving this lesson, however, these students are now prepared to be compliant in terms of the use of images in their posts.
Well done hanging in there, Brittany! I’m so glad the task cards ended up helping a little bit in the end. I know it’s a huge concept for them to comprehend.