You might be thinking, "A citation site? Really?" I know, but EasyBib is great for those of us teaching older students to properly identify sources in papers and projects. I made an interesting discovery this year, most middle school kids don't have a clue about what a citation is and why they need one. I don't mean to say this is a new discovery for me. I've taught long enough to have more than one student copy something and present it as his or her own work. The reason I say it is an interesting discovery is that I had never asked the KIDS what they thought was right and wrong when using outside sources.
In the "old days," when we talked about plagiarism and documenting sources, we emphasize how copying something from a book or encyclopedia was wrong and why we needed to give credit to the authors. I still talk about those things, but now I'm talking about it in relation to web pages, online images, and video. The Internet age has changed the dynamics of how information is shared and used and also how people think about that sharing. In a graduate course I took this fall, we discussed digital citizenship and how we talk to students about intellectual property rights. So, I asked my kids, "How many of you download images from Google and use them in personal projects and school work? Do you ever think about who owns that image?" Most kids, of course, said they did it all the time and never thought about it. I asked if they were familiar with terms like "Creative Commons" or "copyright licenses." Again, big blank stares and the sound of crickets chirping in the background. So, teaching good digital citizenship skills became one of my goals this year and EasyBib was a great tool for helping kids keep track of their resources.
In the "old days," when we talked about plagiarism and documenting sources, we emphasize how copying something from a book or encyclopedia was wrong and why we needed to give credit to the authors. I still talk about those things, but now I'm talking about it in relation to web pages, online images, and video. The Internet age has changed the dynamics of how information is shared and used and also how people think about that sharing. In a graduate course I took this fall, we discussed digital citizenship and how we talk to students about intellectual property rights. So, I asked my kids, "How many of you download images from Google and use them in personal projects and school work? Do you ever think about who owns that image?" Most kids, of course, said they did it all the time and never thought about it. I asked if they were familiar with terms like "Creative Commons" or "copyright licenses." Again, big blank stares and the sound of crickets chirping in the background. So, teaching good digital citizenship skills became one of my goals this year and EasyBib was a great tool for helping kids keep track of their resources.