# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
To become well-rounded individuals, children must learn these eight digital life skills Image: REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DQ Institute

Stay up to date:

Workforce and Employment

Follow

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

More on Workforce and Employment

See all

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 digital life skills all children need - and a plan for teaching them

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
To become well-rounded individuals, children must learn these eight digital life skills Image: REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DQ Institute Stay up to date: Workforce and Employment Follow License and Republishing World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

# data[].attributes.headline
Best sites for teaching & learning - Am Asso Schl Librarians

# data[].attributes.subject
Best sites for teaching & learning - Am Asso Schl Librarians

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
American Association of School Librarians (AASL)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The 2017 Best Websites for Teaching & Learning foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

Buncee
Buncee is a presentation and digital storytelling tool great for creating interactive multimedia presentations. Students, educators, and teacher librarians can integrate content using a wealth of sources as well as create within the program directly on each slide. An easy to use toolbar within the program provides ease of accessibility and preview without the user ever navigating away from the slide or program. Available via multiple platforms Buncee is appropriate for levels K-12. Use it with students in creating their own digital personal histories.

Gone but Not Forgotten

The following sites have closed, reorganized, or become pay-based since being recognized as an AASL Best Website:

The Learnia (Digital Storytelling)

2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Best Websites for Teaching & Learning 2017

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The 2017 Best Websites for Teaching & Learning foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover. Buncee Buncee is a presentation and digital storytelling tool great for creating interactive multimedia presentations.

# data[].attributes.headline
Global Competence added to 21st C skills

# data[].attributes.subject
Global Competence added to 21st C skills

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
College and career ready, 21st-century skills, flipping the classroom, problem-based learning and preparing students to work in a global world permeate the conversations about education in the United States. These discussions are often had with teachers and school leaders in meetings, professional learning opportunities and even in conversations with those outside school systems. These "catch phrases" are really about shifting the paradigm of the traditional classroom and curriculum to respond to the changing world facing today's students.

In 2005, Friedman published the book " The World is Flat. " Many of us read this book and had "aha" moments as we read. It was as though we hadn't really noticed that technology had allowed for a new way of working, communicating and sharing information in a micro-second with someone across the world.

While the book shares much more about the changes that come with a global economy, there is little doubt in anyone's mind in 2016 that the way in which we communicate, shop, learn and work, does not look much like what it did even a decade earlier. So, as educators, we have to make the paradigm shifts necessary to ensure we are bringing the needed skills to our students.

Let's take a closer look at those "catch phrases". The discussion on 21 st-century skills is often framed into four categories: Collaboration and teamwork, creativity and imagination, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Often, educators think in terms of how to use technology to support these skills within our current classroom paradigms.

Yet, if we are to isolate 21 st-century skills to just reframing our current classroom paradigms, we will have missed out on responding to the globalization of the world that our students are destined to work in. The work of TeachThought has offered 4 categories that seem to make it easier to see how to shift the paradigm of classrooms to respond to the needs of a global world: Self-knowledge, human citizenship, critical literacy and transitional literacy.

Self-Knowledge

In order to shift the paradigm, it is important that we offer educators the opportunity to assess their own knowledge of the culturally diversified classrooms of schools today. Once educators are given the opportunity to self-reflect on their own knowledge, schools must then be willing to allow educators the time and the training to fill in those learning gaps. The old adage "You can't teach what you don't know" is often forgotten in the quest to shift the paradigm more quickly. This often leads to the resistance that makes changing the curriculum and classrooms almost impossible.

Realization of the need to change most often occurs when someone is allowed time to self- reflect. Therefore, the first step in shifting the paradigm is to allow educators to analyze where they are on a global competency continuum. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has developed a simple tool for doing just that. The Globally Competent Teaching Continuum allows for individuals to gauge their own global competence through self-assessing in 12 categories.

Included in these categories is reflecting on one's own knowledge of how to assess students in the area of global competence. Once this assessment is completed, an educator can then begin to look for opportunities to close those identified gaps through research, professional learning and sharing with other educators. There are many resources available to support educators from organizations such as the Asia Society, National Educators Association and World Savvy.

Schools that have forged ahead in valuing the idea of creating globally competent students have found their success heightened when they work with problem- or project-based learning. When working with students across all age groups, engaging them in solving a world problem or a globally minded project that involves a place other than the United States forces them to expand their knowledge of other countries beyond "food, flags and festivals."

Bringing Global Competence to the Classrooms

Let's think about changing the design of the traditional fourth-grade science unit on weather. Applying the backward planning model to the lesson includes adding a new outcome: Developing the basic global knowledge of students. Once educators determine that this is an essential outcome of the lesson, it can become as important to the learning as the current objectives of the unit. As the primary instruction on cloud formations is completed, the modified lesson includes a new way to assess student learning. Students are to work in groups to look at the cloud formations in different parts of the world through the use of online weather applications.

Once the students have begun to better understand what different types of clouds mean for the upcoming weather, you can have students predict the weather in those regions. Once they have a prediction, students engage in a discussion on the implications for the industries that dominate those countries or regions. While this activity may be considered to be at the global exposure level, you are moving students on a continuum of broadening their knowledge of the world around them. The foundation is being set. The classroom paradigm is beginning to change.

If we think about developing global competence on a continuum, educators can then expand how they work with students across the grade levels and subject areas. As school systems become more globally competent and teachers become more knowledgeable and gain comfort with infusing global competence into the classrooms, students are expected to expand their knowledge incrementally as well.

Engaging high school students in discussions on world historical events can sometimes be difficult. It might be interesting in a high school history class to take textbooks or news articles from both the United States and from other countries to see how they report on an event in history such as the end of World War I, World War II, the resignation of Richard Nixon or the events of 9/11.

From these textbooks/articles, educators can begin to explore the cultural differences between the United States and other countries along with examining how patriotism influences textbooks and articles. The students are charged with becoming investigative reporters, and are asked to determine the accuracy of the texts or articles and discuss what in their background and knowledge is bringing them to their conclusion.

From these textbooks/articles, educators can begin to explore the cultural differences between the United States and other countries along with examining how patriotism influences textbooks and articles. The students are charged with becoming investigative reporters and are asked to determine the accuracy of the texts or articles and discuss what in their background and knowledge is bringing them to their conclusion. Depending on how far you take this assignment, you just might cover all four of the TeachThought components.

The Shift Takes Time

In the end, the shift of a paradigm begins with small changes. Embracing the need to develop a globally competent curriculum and classroom begins with minor adaptations to existing lessons by expanding the countries/regions assigned in existing projects, bringing in articles and source documents from other countries and using available videos and applications that bring the world into the classroom and engage students in global problem solving and expanded discussions. For those who want to see how your own skills and knowledge are changing, commit to taking the self-assessment each semester.

As you see how quickly small changes demonstrate marked improvement in your own journey to become globally competent, you will also see the paradigm of the classroom changing and expanding. That is what we call success!

For more, see:
This post was originally published on EdCircuit. Dr. Margy Jones-Carey is an Assistant Professor and Program Director for the Educational Leadership Program at St. Bonaventure University. She has been a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, chief academic officer and more. Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update

Dr. Margy Jones-Carey is an Assistant Professor and Program Director for the Educational Leadership Program at St. Bonaventure University. Follow her on Twitter: @DrMargy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shifting Paradigms to Respond to the Demands of a Global World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
College and career ready, 21st-century skills, flipping the classroom, problem-based learning and preparing students to work in a global world permeate the conversations about education in the United States.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
by TeachThought Staff
You can get a ready-for-the-classroom version of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy for $6.95.
At TeachThought, we're enthusiastic supporters of any learning taxonomy. (We even created our own, the TeachThought Learning Taxonomy.)

Put simply, learning taxonomies help us think about how learning happens. Even if they're 'not good' as we've often seen the DOK framework described, they still highlight that there are many ways to frame thinking and give us practice in realizing that potential.

This means that we can have taxonomies for differentiation and taxonomies for thinking and taxonomies for tasks and assessment-so many possibilities for examining the actual process of thinking, learning, and the application of each.

This leads to cool visuals-Bloom's Taxonomy posters, for example.

It can lead to tools that help to design lessons, units, and assessments-Bloom's Taxonomy power verbs work well here.

And it can lead to further splintering of the concept, like this graphic that merges 21st century learning, modern digital and social spaces, and Bloom's Taxonomy in one framework. This Teachthought graphic provides 126 power verbs for digital learning-a kind of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy that relies on the existing Remember-Understand-Apply-Analyze-Evaluate-Create and then provides common digital tasks like moderating, duplicating, blogging, wiki-building, podcasting, and more.

The result is a tool that can help teachers think about the levels of higher-order thinking that go into these kinds of activities and projects. To be clear, just because a verb is in one category doesn't mean it can't also be used at higher or lower levels of thinking (i.e., appear in other categories of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy).
See Also A Bloom's Digital Taxonomy For Evaluating Digital Tasks
In fact, there is a significant amount of subjectivity and editorializing that goes into any kind framework that purports to outline how thinking happens. It's not an exact science. Nonetheless, just the fact that we're exploring thinking and digital tasks and student work together is at least as valuable as any single framework in and of itself.

By doing this kind of work, we collectively-you, TeachThought, administrators, schools, researchers, universities, etc.-can develop 'fluency' in the murky and abstract field of applied neurology.

We can begin to understand how understanding happens.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Power Verbs

Hopefully you find the graphic useful to explore, discuss, plan, and otherwise participate in Bloom's Digital Taxonomy.

You can also find a classroom-ready version of our Bloom's Taxonomy Digital Planning Verbs & Cards to shorten prep time and focus on broader lesson and unit planning strategies for your students.

If you have any verbs you'd like to see added to the chart, let us know in the comments below.

126 Bloom's Taxonomy Verbs For Digital Learning

Remembering

Understanding

Applying

Analyzing

Evaluating

Creating

126 Bloom's Taxonomy Verbs For Digital Learning

report this ad

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
126 Bloom's Taxonomy Verbs For Digital Learning - TeachThought

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You can get a ready-for-the-classroom version of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy for $6.95. At TeachThought, we're enthusiastic supporters of any learning taxonomy. (We even created our own, the TeachThought Learning Taxonomy .) Put simply, learning taxonomies help us think about how learning happens.

# data[].attributes.headline
Media Literacy at the heart of Digital Citizenship

# data[].attributes.subject
Media Literacy at the heart of Digital Citizenship

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
One of the core principles of media literacy is that all media are trying to accomplish something, even those that seem to be "just entertainment." Helping students interpret what that something is when they watch a video will help them approach the video more critically. To do this, equip students with some essential q uestions they can use to . One way to facilitate this thinking is by using a tool like EdPuzzle to edit the videos you want students to watch by inserting these questions at particularly relevant points in the video. unpack the intentions of anything they encounter
2. Be Aware That the Web Is a Unique Beast
Compared to traditional media (like broadcast TV or movies), the web is the Wild West. There are massive amounts of content falling along a vast continuum of fact and fiction. This content feeds niche communities and echo chambers, some of which lead to dangerous conspiratorial or bigoted thinking. To analyze all this stuff, we can't just rely on the tried-and-true techniques of traditional media. We need new ways of thinking that are web-specific. Mike Caulfield's e-book is a great deep dive into this topic, but as an introduction to web literacy you might first dig into the notion of reading "around" as well as "down" media -- that is, encouraging students to not just analyze the specific video or site they're looking at but related content (e.g., where else an image appears using a reverse Google image search ).
3. Turn Active Viewing into Reactive Viewing
Active viewing -- engaging more thoughtfully and deeply with what you watch -- is a tried-and-true teaching strategy for making sure you don't just watch media but retain information. It's a great technique, but particularly for teacher-vetted materials that students are meant to learn from. But what about video that's not necessarily explicitly educational, like more commercial, popular or social media? For this content, students shouldn't just be working toward comprehension but critique ; they need to not just understand what they watch, but also have something to say about it. One of my favorite techniques for facilitating this more dialogic and critical mode of video viewing is by using a classroom backchannel, like TodaysMeet, during video viewings, so teachers and students can actively question and discuss .
4. Transform Students' Video Critiques into Creations
Digital citizenship should be participatory, meaning students need to be actively contributing to culture. Unfortunately, only 3 percent of the time tweens and teens spend using social media is focused on creation . It's important for students to create media, so that they can work through their perspectives and make the world more representative of their views. This is important for students from underrepresented backgrounds who have historically been shut out of or just ignored in dominant media. By encouraging all students to create media, we push toward a more equitable and just world, and by encouraging students to produce critical media -- that is, media that directly engage with other media -- we empower students to remake dominant culture. There are a ton of options out there for facilitating video creation and remix , but two of my favorites are MediaBreaker and . For middle school and l students, remix activities also present a great opportunity to talk about copyright and fair use.
5. Empower Students to Become Advocates
Citizenship is ultimately about being democratically engaged in a place, and working to make that place better. As the digital extension of one's citizenship to a place, digital citizenship must include advocacy. There's no question young people face a challenging and uncertain world, currently run by people who often do not share their views on key issues and thus do not advocate in their interests. As incubators of participatory civics, classrooms can build students' confidence and motivation. The Anti-Defamation League and Teaching Tolerance have lesson plans that connect to both past and present struggles, and one can also look to the co-created syllabi that have sprung up around Black Lives Matter , Charlottesville , and beyond. Pair these resources with video creation tools , and encourage students to create videos that advocate for causes important to them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Making Media Literacy Central to Digital Citizenship | KQED

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One of the core principles of media literacy is that all media are trying to accomplish something, even those that seem to be "just entertainment." Helping students interpret what that something is when they watch a video will help them approach the video more critically.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Recently I shared a blog post on how to use Google Lit Trips in the new web-based Google Earth. Lit Trips are a great way to put students in a story, helping them see where the events took place, and bring the story to life.

In addition to just using Lit Trips, you (and your students) can also create your own tours for Google Earth. This can be a powerful learning tool, or a way for students to collect and share what they have read. Of course, beyond just Lit Trips, students can create Google Earth tours for any subject including documenting the key locations and details in a historical battle, visiting different biomes, a tour of geometric architecture, and more.

There are lots of tools that can be used to create a Lit Trip or other Google Earth tour. Whatever tool you use, the final product will need to be a .KML or .KMZ file that will then be opened in Google Earth. In my opinion, one of the best tools for creating Lit Trips (or other tours) is Google Tour Builder.

In this blog post we will take a look at how to use Google Tour Builder to create you own Lit Trip. See below for detailed directions on the process. Also, for a 1-hour recorded webinar demonstrating this process see my post " Google Tour Builder for any Subject".

Why Use Tour Builder?

As mentioned before, there are lots of tools that can be used to create .KML or .KMZ files, so you can make your own Google Earth Lit Trips. Google's Tour Builder is one of these tools, and is an excellent option for many reasons:

It is web-based, so nothing needs to be installed and it can be run on Chromebooks.

It is easy to use with little to no learning curve.

For each location you add to your tour, you can include images, videos, text, links, dates, and custom icons.

Locations can be put in order, and have their order changed as needed.

The final tour can be easily exported in .KML format.

Note: For resources on how to use other tools for creating Lit Trips, see the official Google Lit Trips website at: http://www.googlelittrips.org/gltStore/gltStore.php

For my example in this blog post, I have created a Lit Trip for the book " Small as an Elephant" using only Google Tour Builder.

The novel is about 11-year-old Jack Martel who gets abandoned by his mother while on a camping trip and has to try to find his way home, 240 miles away. "Small as an Elephant" was written by Jennifer Richard Jacobson, and was published in 2013.

You can download the final Google Lit Trip to open and play in Google Earth using the link below:

When the preview opens, click the download arrow in the top right corner to download the .KML file.

To create a new tour, or edit an existing one, with Google Tour Builder do the following:

Go to the Tour Builder website at: https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com

If you are not signed in yet, just click the "Sign In" button. You can log in with your normal Google account.

To make a new tour, click the "Create a Tour" button.

If you have existing tours to open and edit, you can click the "My Tours" button to access them.

When you create a new tour, you will need to give it a "Tour Name" and enter your "Author name".

The Introduction

A tour is made of an " Introduction" followed by a series of added locations. The Introduction itself does not have a specific location associated with it. Instead, when the tour is complete, the Introduction will show an overview of the entire route.

When creating your Introduction, your can edit the following items:

Tour Name - If you need to change it

Author Name - Again, if you need to change it

Introduction Picture - Click "Add a Photo" to add an image for the tour, such as the book cover if doing a Lit Trip. The picture can come from your Google Photos, an uploaded image, a Google Image Search, or an image URL.

Tell The Story - Here you can type up an introduction or summary of the story or tour. If doing a Lit Trip you may want to include the author's information and a link to their website.

Add a Location

After creating the Introduction, you will now want to start adding each of the locations for the tour.

Click the "Add Location" button to begin.

You can now type in an address or location to search for.

Alternately you can click the "Drop placemark" button to manually find a location.

When you have the spot you want, click the "Add to tour" button to put that location in your tour.

Editing a Location

After you add a location to your tour, you can add and edit information for that location. This is where you will share details about this place, provide links to related resources, pose questions, and more. Below are several items you can include:

Location Name - You can change this from the search result if you have a more appropriate name.

Add Photos and Videos - Here you can add up to 25 images and videos for the location. These can come from your Google Photos, an uploaded image or video, a Google search, a webcam snapshot, or a web address. The user will be able to scroll through these images and videos when viewing the tour later.

Start Date and End Date - If there are specific dates associated with this part of the story.

What It's About - Here you can type in text to tell about this location in the story, share resources, ask questions, and more. This text area includes the option for formatting and inserting links.

Location Icon - You can choose from a range of available icons, or even link to other icons online, if you prefer to choose something other than the default. This can help identify the location by the type of place it is.

Customize View - You can use the map tools to move around the map, zoom in and out, switch from overhead to tilted 3D view, and rotate the map. When happy with the view for the location, click the " Lock this view" button.

Copy and Paste from Google Docs

When editing the "What's It About" text box for the location, by default you are limited to adding text, links, and some formatting (bullets, bold, etc). However, with a simple hack, you are able to add images into the text.

The trick is to use Google Docs to type up the text and insert the images, and then simply copy and paste the content into Tour Builder. Although there is no option in Tour Builder to add images inside of the text area, this trick will let you do that.

Because the text box is somewhat small, and because you want it to fit well when displayed in Google Earth, you will want to limit the amount of text and images used. To help with this I have created a Google Docs template you can use to keep your content to a reasonable size. To get your own copy, just click the link below.

As long as you keep you text and images within the margins of the first page of the template, your content should typically fit well when displayed in Google Earth for that location.

Note: If you also decide to use the " Add Photos & Videos" tool in Tour Builder to include a photo/video slideshow, you will want to shorten your content a bit more to leave room for that.

Note: When you insert an image in the Google Doc template, you may also want to add a hyperlink to the image to jump out to the full sized version of the picture online. That way users will be able to click the image when in Google Earth to be able to see the larger, original version. Simply click on the image in Docs and the click " Insert" and " Link".

Whatever the case, when done adding your text, images, and links to the Google Docs template, simply copy and paste the content into Tour Builder.

Exporting the Tour

After you are done adding all of the locations you need to your tour, you can export the Tour as a .KML file which can be opened and played inside of Google Earth.

Click the "Done Editing" button.

Click the menu drop-down in the top right corner (button with three horizontal lines).

Choose "Export" from the menu.

From the pop-up window, choose "Download KML".

You will now have a .KML file that can be opened in Google Earth. For full details on how to open and play a .KML file in Google Earth, see my earlier blog post here: Lit Trips on Chromebooks with the New Google Earth

Final Editing in Google Earth

Although you can pretty much create the entire Lit Trip, or other tour, inside of Google Tour Builder, there are actually a few small final clean up edits you can do after opening the tour in Google Earth.

Launch Google Earth as normal at https://earth.google.com

On the left side of Google Earth, click the icon for "My Places".

Click the "Import KML file" menu and choose the .KML file for your tour that you created and downloaded.

In the location list down the left-hand side, you may want to rename the first and last entry.

The first entry will say something like "<a href="#tour">Play Tour</a>"

Click to select this entry, then right-click and choose "Rename".

You can now put in a more descriptive title such a "Introduction".

The last entry will be named "Resources".

You may want to rename this one as well to something like "Full Journey".

When the tour is played, the user can double-click on the final entry to see the entire tour path.

When done making these few edits, click the "Save" button.

You can now right-click on the tour title and rename it as well with something such as the title of the book.

Finally, re-export the edited tour by clicking the "three dots" menu button and choosing "Export as KML file".

You will now have the final Lit Trip file that you can share with others for them to use.

You can now provide the .KML file to anyone, and they can open and play the tour in Google Earth. Again, see my earlier blog post for more details on playing tour in Google Earth.

When the tour is opened in Google Earth, the user will be able to double-click on each location to fly to those spots on the map.

When they click the "i" icon for each location they will be able to read all the information you added for that spot, as well as click on the links, scroll through the images, and play the videos.

To download the final Google Lit Trip I created use the link below:
When the preview opens, click the download arrow in the top right corner to download the .KML file.
Google Tour Builder is a simple but powerful tool that educators and students can use to create their own Lit Trips or other tours in Google Earth. This can be another excellent way for students to record information, demonstrate their understanding, and share what they have learned with others.

Post by Eric Curts. Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 50 PD sessions to choose from. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Create your own Lit Trips (and more) for Google Earth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Recently I shared a blog post on how to use Google Lit Trips in the new web-based Google Earth . Lit Trips are a great way to put studen...

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.flickr.com/
https://unsplash.com/
http://www.photosforclass.com/
https://stocksnap.io/
https://pixabay.com/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As our students create more and more digital products -blog posts, videos, podcasts, e-books-they should be using images to enhance them. Images grab an audience's attention, they can illustrate key concepts, set a certain tone, and present a more complete understanding of the ideas you're putting out there.

And the internet is absolutely teeming with images students can grab and use in a matter of seconds. But in most cases, they SHOULD NOT GRAB. Despite the fact that these images are easy to get, using them may be illegal.

Does this Matter at School?

Is legal image use really a big deal with school projects? If our students are just using images to enhance assignments for class, it might be easy to shrug off the technicalities, since most of these images will never be seen by audiences outside the classroom.

Two things to consider:

1. Even if your students are working within a tightly monitored, password-protected, closed online environment, there's no guarantee that the products they create will always remain private. Proud parents might share their child's work on social media, a student might place their work in a digital portfolio for future use, and household guests might ultimately view things inside that "closed" environment. So it makes sense to operate under the assumption that all digital products could eventually become public.

2. Why not prepare students for the day when these rules will carry more serious consequences? As students move out of school and into professional contexts, being trained in the proper, legal use of images will serve them well. And legal use of images is also closely tied to ethical habits and plagiarism.

So in the spirit of complying with the law and preparing the next generation to participate responsibly online, let's review the different approaches students can take to add images to their written work, blog posts, videos, presentations, and other digital products. We'll start with the safest, most affordable option.

Disclaimer: I am not a legal expert. My goal is to raise awareness of the complexities of online use of images and get teachers to pass on that awareness to their students. If you find inaccuracies, please point them out and I will make corrections.

Option 1: Make Your Own

If students create their own images, then they own the copyright and can use them without having to pay any money or get permission (unless the photos are of someone else...but we'll get to that).

ILLUSTRATIONS

When I first started this website, I couldn't afford to buy nice photos, and I didn't want to use the same free ones I saw everywhere else online, so despite the fact that my artistic skills are nothing special, I just created my own doodles in MS Paint, like the one shown above. This is a great route to take, because you can get started right away, it's free, and there's no copyright to worry about.

Students can create their own illustrations in two ways:

Handmade: Students can draw or paint an image on paper, create a paper collage, or even build something in 3D like a sculpture, then take a picture of it and use that photo for whatever digital product they are creating.

Digital: Using simple programs like MS Paint for Windows, Paper by 53 for iOS devices, or web-based tools like Google Drawings, Adobe Creative Cloud Express, Canva, Autodraw, Piktochart, and Sketchpad. On any of these platforms, students can create just about any illustration they can think of, save it as a PNG file, then add it wherever they like.

PHOTOS

Students can take their own digital photos and upload them in a heartbeat, using sites like PicMonkey and Pixlr to edit or enhance them for free. When using photos they take themselves, students should keep the following rules in mind:

When You Do NOT Need Permission
Although it's always considerate to ask people permission before you use a photo of them online or in another public space, sometimes it's not possible, and in these cases, it's not legally necessary:

If you took the photo at a public event and the photo will be used for journalistic purposes (to simply describe the event, for example)

If the person is not recognizable in the photo (their face isn't showing, for example)

When You DO Need Permission
Have the subject sign aphoto release form in person or, if that's not possible, have them copy the language from a photo release form into an email. If the subject is a minor (under 18 in the U.S.), you need permission from their parent or guardian.

If you're going to use the photo for commercial purposes (to sell something) or promotional purposes (to promote a product, service, or idea), you need permission from the subject.

If the photo was taken on private property, even if it is not the subject's property, you must get permission from the subject to use that photo.

If you are holding an event, like a festival, party, or concert, and you plan to take photos that you might share with the public, you should get permission from attendees. Event organizers often use crowd release forms at the point of registration: They'll require attendees to check a box giving permission to use photos of them. Another approach is to hang up crowd release signs at the event itself. Learn more about event release forms in this post from SLR Lounge and this one from Mark Schaefer.

When You MIGHT Need Permission

If you are taking photos of students at school, it's likely that the parents or guardians of those students signed a media release form at the beginning of the school year, giving the school permission to use that student's image in various non-commercial publications throughout the year. These permissions may also extend to student photographers, as long as you are using the images for school-related projects. Students should check with their teacher and administrator to make sure.

If the photo contains an image of a store or business logo. Some businesses have rules about using images of their facilities or that prominently feature their logo, so if you are going to be taking photos that will include any kind of business logo or store, get written permission from the business owner first.

If the student has a job that includes taking photos, photos taken as part of the job may actually belong to the employer.

Option 2: Use Creative Commons Images

Creative Commons is an organization that has made it much easier for people to share artwork. They have established a set of licenses that artists can place on their work that automatically gives others permission to use that work in their own projects under specific terms and conditions.

A photographer, for example, might use a Creative Commons licenses on a collection of her photographs, so that anyone who finds them online can easily check the chosen license and follow the restrictions of use specified in that license.

If your students want to use images they find online, they should look for images that have Creative Commons licenses. You can learn about all of the licenses here, but the safest bet is to steer students toward pictures that have the two least restrictive licenses:

CC0: Creative Commons Zero
This is the least restrictive level, and the one students should look for first. Items marked as CC0 can be used by anyone, for any purpose without having to get permission or give credit to the artist. In other words, an image licensed with CC0 is the same copyright-wise as an image in the public domain .

CC BY: Attribution
Items with this license can be used for non-commercial OR commercial purposes, and all the user has to do is give credit to the original artist.

[Both license images above came from Creative Commons and are licensed under CC BY 4.0]

WHERE TO FIND CREATIVE COMMONS IMAGES

Free Stock Photo Sites
These fantastic sites curate free, high-quality images that are all CC0 licensed. Simply search for what you need, download the photos you like, and use them. Unfortunately, many free stock photo sites contain adult content, so unsupervised students should not use them, but if your students are working under adult supervision, they should try these sites. Here are a few good sites that don't appear to contain inappropriate content:
StockSnap
Good Free Photos
Foodiesfeed (all food-related)

Flickr Commons
Flickr is where thousands of photographers store their photography for public display, and many of these photos have CC0 and CC BY licenses.

Photos for Class
This is a handy search engine for finding school-appropriate images. My only hesitation with recommending this site is that it automatically adds attribution to each photo. Although this could be seen as a good feature, I feel it doesn't really teach students how to give appropriate attribution, because it does the work for them. Also, students may not always want the added black bar with the attribution information at the bottom of each image, and they may be tempted to simply crop it out, which would defeat the whole purpose.

Google Image Search
Although a Google search will pull up plenty of images students don't have permission to use, the search can be filtered so that the results only show images that are licensed for re-use. Just be sure to open up the Tools after you search, and check one of the options under "Usage rights" that will remove all of the photos that have not been labeled for some kind of reuse. Checking "Creative Commons Images" should give you images that have the least amount of restrictions.

HOW TO GIVE PROPER ATTRIBUTION

If students use an image that requires attribution, students should simply add a line of text underneath the image providing four pieces of information (Creative Commons recommends using the acronym TASL to remember these):

T = the title of the image
A = the author (or artist)
S = the source (or where it is located online)
L = the license for the image

Ideally, the attribution should be placed fairly close to the image, so that those who view it connect the information to the picture. Here are some examples of properly attributed images:

Online
If you use the image in a blog post or on a website, you can place the attribution in the caption or on a line of text below the image:

In the above attribution, I included the title, "Blood Orange Shine," the name of the author, Derek Gavey, and the code for the license. Because the image will be displayed online, I can include the location by just hyperlinking the title to URL of the site where the image is stored. I can also hyperlink the author's name to his page on Flickr, the photo sharing site where the photographer stores his photos, and the name of the license to the license page on the Creative Commons website.

In Print
Because print publications don't allow hyperlinking, I would need to add the URL information to the attribution:

Blood Orange Shine (https://www.flickr.com/photos/24931020@N02/14995800960/) by Derek Gavey is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

If doing this right by the photo would make my product look less attractive, I can add the photo credit to the bottom of the page or on a page of photo credits.

In a Video or Slide Presentation
Attribution can be placed in small print right on the slide or frame where the image appears. Because giving full attribution, including URLs, would take up a lot of space and could interfere with the enjoyment of the image, one solution is to place an abbreviated attribution where the image appears (giving the title, author, and license code), then add full credits on a slide or frame at the end.

Here's what an on-slide attribution could look like, using a simple black rectangle at the bottom with a white-font text box on top of it:

And here is what the photo credits page might look like at the end of the presentation or video:

Option 3: Buy Images

Although it's not necessarily within most students' budgets, they do have the option to actually purchase high-quality stock photography and illustrations. When making these purchases, students should read the licensing agreements carefully: In general, the more widely a user plans to distribute the product, the more the image will cost.

On graphic design sites like Canva, where users can create their own designs with drawing tools and free images, there's also the option to buy photos and illustrations to use in a single project for as little as $1. If the student wants to use the image in multiple projects, the fee for a single image can go as high as $100. Learn more about Canva licensing here.

Other sites, like iStock, sell the images without the graphic design tools. These images can be quite expensive depending on how they are going to be used and distributed. Learn more about iStock licenses here.

Don't Make This Rookie Mistake!
When doing general searches for images, paid items will come up in the results. The way to identify a paid image is if it has a watermark: a translucent design that covers the image but doesn't prevent you from seeing the picture behind it.

These watermarks are only removed after someone actually pays for the image, but it is possible to download a watermarked image, and people will sometimes do this without realizing that they are basically stealing the image AND broadcasting that fact to the world.

Teach your students not to do this.

Making a Good Effort

With all of this said, using images correctly can be an inexact science: Sometimes you can't always contact a person for permission. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to find the name of a photographer. The best rule of thumb is to make a good effort to give credit where it's due and ask for permission as much as possible. If we can build these habits in our students from an early age, we will be helping to make the internet a more respectful and cooperative place.

Want a Ready-Made Lesson on Image Use?

I've pulled the concepts from this post into a ready-to-use lesson you can teach tomorrow. Using Images Correctly includes a beautifully designed PowerPoint (also available in Google Slides), two student handouts that summarize the key points, and a Team Challenge students can take to test their knowledge of appropriate image use. Come check it out!

To Learn More

The Copyright Laws website is a great place to read more about these issues. They even have a course you can take on legally using images online.

All of the images in this post that have no attribution are licensed by CC0 or were created by the author.

There's more where this came from.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Come on in!!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teaching Students to Legally Use Images Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As our students use more and more images to enhance their digital products, they need to learn how to respect other people's creative ideas and privacy.

# data[].attributes.body
Teams, OneNote, Sway, Paint3D

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 skills your child needs to survive the changing world of work

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As your kids head back to school, can you be sure they're learning the right lessons?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What happens in an internet minute in 2017?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Created each year by Lori Lewis and Chadd Callahan of Cumulus Media, this graphic shows the incredible scale of e-commerce, social media, email, and other content creation that happens on the web.