Wk 2 Wimba Archive comments

Wk 2 Wimba

The wimba gods have not been smiling on me this month. I had a bad reaction to something the night of the week 2 wimba and spent the night alternating between being sick and sleeping.

I look forward to attending in week 3. really!

I had watched all the copyright videos prior to the wimba session and prior to watching the archive, so this session felt much like a review.

I liked that there were intermediate polls to interact with the wimba session. Sometimes wimba sessions can be tedious and I like bits of interaction, even if they are simple polls. It was fun to test my own knowledge of copyright, taking the polls.

(I was pleased to see i got the first one "Copyright basics: Definition of Copyright" correct. )


It was good to see a discussion of copyright vs trademark vs patents. I know many people are often confused about the differences in these, and I frequently hear students make comments or assertions about copyright that really fall under trademark laws.


Again, much of what was covered in this session was review for me. It seemed that the wimba session mirrored/was a reiteration of the videos we were to have watched already.

I did enjoy the fair use section, as it was a good refresher, and i  think that is the one of the more important aspects of copyright, especially for educators.

 I was glad to hear the discussion about copyright and how the laws affect artists and education, in both positive and detrimental ways.
I liked the idea that was presented (I don't remember who said it) about creating/having a website to collect or act as resource to get "quotes" for using songs for educational use.

He had a good point about how sometimes it's not the cost, but the hoops one has to jump through to get permission to use a song that is the most difficult for students, educators and artists.

The entire discussion really highlighted how much copyright law needs to be revised, and I think, personally, that specific clauses/laws should be created for educational use. Yes, we have educational use under fair use, but as was discussed, the laws are unclear, and the process so difficult, that educators currently are left either 1. breaking the law, or 2. not teaching as effectively as they could.

It's a shame that so many educators struggle in the sea of laws of mis information. I think more educators need to have the kind of discussions that were held in wimba, and even asking for changes from our legislature.