Becoming an OER member has numerous benefits, the first and most important one being that it is FREE to register! On top of the wonderful price, by registering and becoming a member, you have the privilege of contributing resources, or putting together a portfolio full of all the resources you have found on this website. As a member of the OER community, you can look up news stories, articles, reports, tools, technology, organizations and associations, conferences and workshops, discussion forums and blogs and wikis. On top of that, you can also search each of these community topics by your choice of subject area, grade level or special interest.

After reviewing all of the recommended resources, the first one that caught my eye was of course the “Art as Inquiry” resource. I was ecstatic to find so many different art resources for all different grade levels. The summary statement alone was enough to make me more than intrigued. “Delve into visualization, creative thinking, and more artistic habits of the mind for arts-integrated learning across disciplines.” That summary basically sums up what I’ve been shooting for this entire semester with each of my lesson plans. Once I clicked on this resource, an insane amount of resources came up, including collections from science, history, mathematics, social studies and more. I was also pleased to see the “Refine your search” categories on the side so that I could narrow my findings to only those that pertained to my specific interests.

After this class, I believe I could become involved in numerous topics within the OER community. The blog and wiki section. This class has taught me so much about the technology world, and I would be able to dedicate much more knowledge to this website because of it.

I really enjoyed the helpful search features of this website. Anytime a website is full of vast amounts of information, a good search function is always key in the success of the site. I was able to refine my search by grade level, subject area, special interest etc. and it made finding the resources that fit my line of work the best that much easier. I was able to narrow down a large amount of information without feeling overwhelmed and hesitant about continuing. I thought the website layout was very nice, especially for this type of resource center.

If I become a teacher, I don’t know what way this website wouldn’t be helpful. Teachers have a tough job, and any open resource that is not only free, but easy to use is a lifesaver. I think the greatest part about the open resource is that teachers are able to contribute, so in a way, every teacher that visits this site is being helped by teachers all over the country, and I think there is something sort of wonderful about that link between teachers. Teachers have a ton of great resources in front of them, and this website makes it that much easier to find them.

When I was in high school, I received my A.A. degree at the same time I finished my high school academics. With classes during the summer and at night, online classes really saved me a few times, and without online classes, I don’t know if graduating from both junior college and high school would have been possible. The convenience factor is something that I think is hard for any student to pass up, especially when they are trying to stay involved with sports, extracurriculars or a part-time job.

Another point I really liked from the first article was the discussion about the variety of courses students are able to take with virtual classrooms. I know when I was trying to graduate from junior college during high school, I would get really aggravated when my high school didn’t offer any classes that would help me gain college credit, if more online classes were available, it definitely would have helped ease the way. I like the idea of virtual schooling, but I don’t believe it should be the only form of learning. I think there are too many things students learn through social interaction and in-person learning that would be lost if virtual schooling was the way of the world. I think this is an innovative technology that can only help further education, but must be incorporated in such a way that other types of learning are not lost.

A few questions I have for virtual learning are:

1. Do you believe there is a kind of learning that takes place in schools that can’t be taught by teachers, and if students are virtually learning, that could lead to the potential of them missing out on these life lessons?

2. How will virtual learning effect the teacher’s presence in the classroom?

3. How will student-teacher interaction change?

4. How will students gain the responsibility of showing up to school on-time and ready to work if virtual schooling takes over?

About this study:
I picked Fashion Wars because I had never heard of it before looking at the AppLeaderboard, I am a fan of fashion, and was immediately curious if it was related to Mafia Wars at all.
I created a search through Google to see if I could find more information about this game. I searched under “Fashion Wars application,” and Google immediately brought up Facebook, MySpace and Zynga sites as the first three hits. From there blog posts, recent news items and statistical information immediately followed.
I learned quickly from my search that Fashion Wars is a popular social networking game on Facebook from Zynga where users earn money, recruit friends to join their posse, and collect rare items in order to accomplish the main goal, which is to annihilate the competition. Fashion Wars, is a fun break from the popular testosterone-driven mob games, such as Mafia Wars and Mobsters. In Fashion Wars, fashionistas can buy designer hand bags, shoes, dresses, expensive cars and other luxury items, all of which are a welcome break from the Uzis and brass knuckles found in other games.
Fashion Wars game plot:
Diva time!  When you begin playing Fashion Wars, you have a choice of what type of diva you’d like to be. Your choices are between:
Party Queen: Replenish energy to attend more events every 3:20 minutes instead of 5 minutes.
Money Honey: Earn income quicker (every 54 minutes instead of 60 minutes)
Yoga Diva: Heal faster after a fight.

Once you have selected the proper Diva, the criteria of ranking depends on your popularity count. You could increase your popularity by attending events or battling with other fashionistas.

In order to have greater chance of earning more money in an event or winning a showdown, you must have the style and attitude. These two depend on the items you have: essentials, perks and vehicles. In attending events, some gives rare items from celebrities and which have high style and attitude level.

Earning money is as simple as A-B-C. You could be $100,000 richer per hour. You can earn money from events and showdowns.

Read more: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2307009/fashion_wars_on_facebook_faq_and_guide.html?cat=19
Fashion Wars data:
From AppData I learned that monthly active users (MAU) data suggests that over the last 89 days Fashion Wars has grown from just a little over 640,000 to almost to 1.6 million active monthly users. This game is tied to Facebook and MySpace–two hugely popular social networking sites/systems.

Read More:
http://www.appdata.com/facebook/apps/index/id/39183588571

Fashion Wars is just one of many that are considered highly addictive under a condition known as FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder.) At one time, different online activities required different sites. There were sites for pictures such as photobucket.com and flicker, video sharing sites such as YouTube.com and Veoh.com and many more. Facebook has quickly become the ultimate website that carries all these activities in one. You can update your profile, add pictures and videos, share your profile, album, videos with friends, answer surveys, and most importantly play games all on one site. Facebook is a carrier of two famous game providers: Zynga and Playfish.

Playfish’s most played games are Pet Society, Restaurant City, Bowling Buddies, Word Challenge, Geo Challenge and Country Story.

For Zynga, most played games are Mafia Wars, Street Wars, Vampire Wars, Fashion Wars, Yoville, Zynga Poker, Farmville, Dragon Wars, Pirates, Scramble, the newest game Cafe World, and more.

These are the games that reported to take up most of a Facebook users’ time which has led psychologists to probe into a new addiction, FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder.)

From recent studies, Facebook games have shown to cover ALL age groups and all genders.

So when do you know you are addicted to Facebook? According to Joanna Lipari, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, New York, the signs are:

• You lose sleep over Facebook. When using Facebook becomes a compulsion and you spend entire nights logged on to the site, causing you to become tired the next day.
• You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook.
• You become obsessed with old loves or exes you reconnect with on Facebook.
• You ignore work in favor of Facebook. This means you do not do your job in order to sneak time on Facebook.
• The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in cold sweat. If you try going a day without Facebook and it causes you stress and anxiety, this means you need help.
  With the growing trend of Facebook applications and games like Fashion Wars, which take up a large portion of a user’s time, FAD can be a likely outcome from too much game/application time. Facebook addiction is not yet an actual medical diagnosis, but understanding the five signs, given by Lipari, will help better guide any user who thinks maybe they are frequenting Facebook too much.

Read More:

http://itiswhatitis-sgtmackallen.blogspot.com/2009/10/facebook-addiction-disorder-fad-are-you.html

http://www.addictioninfo.org/articles/2171/1/Potential-Facebook-addiction/Page1.html

Educational value:
Fashion Wars for the most part was not created with the main benefit being education, however, like all things, there is always some educational value in everything. This game has certain adult content that I don’t think I’d feel comfortable with including in most classrooms; however, I do believe that if I was teaching at a trade school, one that included Fashion as a course, that Fashion Wars could be incorporated in some way. This game includes buying and selling, networking with other buyers and sellers, and judgment skills on when the market is best. As a teacher, I would take the advantages that Fashion Wars has to offer, and create my very own game used in the classroom with many similarities from the application itself.

Controversies:
Martina Ballard from the Daily Helmsman discusses the possibility of Facebook addiction in her article entitled, “Chained to the Facebook Wall.”
As with any other social networking site where communication, personal information and gaming is concerned, there will always be those who cannot seem to keep a balance.
“For some people, the thought of having a Facebook addiction might seem laughable. According to statistics on the Facebook Web site, the average person spends at least 20 minutes on Facebook each day, but there are some members who spend more time on the site than what some people would consider normal.”

 There are many symptoms for Facebook addiction. The Daily Mind goes into detail about 5 popular signs that Facebook addiction is a problem:

1. You are late for meetings because you are on Facebook
If you ever late for a meeting or an appointment because you were checking your updates on Facebook or watching a related video on Youtube then you know you are addicted. This is classic addict behavior. It is time to get help.

2. You think about it when you are offline
I have several friends who struggle to get to sleep because they are thinking about the latest game or wondering how their website statistics are looking. If you do this then it could be a sign that you are heading towards a problem.

3. Your friends and family comment on your excessive internet use
When other people around you start to notice that you have a problem it is generally a pretty accurate indicator that you are losing it. If your mates, coworkers or family members have made comments about how much you use the net then you need to read the rest of this post.

4. You check your accounts from your Blackberry
A Blackberry is designed as a business tool. It is supposed to allow you to check your important emails and work materials without having to be in the office. It is not for checking Facebook or Myspace updates while you are having dinner with me. That is just not on. If you use your Blackberry for monitoring your social media accounts then you need help.

5. You get stressed when a Facebook “friend” doesn’t add you
Have you ever noticed yourself getting stressed over something that has happened on Facebook or MySpace? Do you ever feel like your online life is more real than your offline life? If you have been stressed about what rapper you turned out as or what magic egg someone sent you then it is time to open your eyes.

Rob Bedi, a registered psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Victoria, said that Internet addictions are common on university campuses, often helped by free Internet access, web-based assignments and unstructured blocks of time.

Bedi suggests keeping a log to track your Facebook usage. If you’re shocked by what you see, try the following: List your Facebook goals. Why did you originally sign up? Record what you actually do on Facebook. Make a Facebook schedule. Limit time to maintaining your original goals. Update your e-mail addresses to avoid relying on Facebook messages.

Read More:

http://www.dailyhelmsman.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=a7343a3d-5488-462d-8258-8badc97481bf

http://www.thedailymind.com/productivity/facebook-syndrome-8-ways-to-beat-your-facebook-addiction/ http://www.addictioninfo.org/articles/2171/1/Potential-Facebook-addiction/Page1.html

Watch More:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5KJNg4jkUI

Other Connections:
Parts of this game, Fashion Wars, remind me of the Sims, an American strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis. The Sims had sold more than 6.3 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling PC game in history.

Fashion Wars and the Sims connections:
    * Creation of Families vs. creation of Divas
    * Life stages vs. Diva rankings
    * Sims’ lives (including purchases) vs. Divas social events (including purchases)
    * Money management: the Sims must take on jobs to receive money to support      their families, just like divas must collect rare and limited items in order to gain profit.
Read more:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims

BOTTOM LINE:
You’re competing in a virtual world against other users, and even though it is through a social networking site, addiction is possible.

EDUCATIONAL IMPACT:
Games like Fashion Wars do have the ability to provide some educational value, if certain creative approaches are taken, but this game as a whole has a higher chance of creating a negative education impact than a positive one. Students who begin to play games hosted on social networking sites are more likely to invest a larger amount of time to their gaming lives, which will directly affect the amount of time they are or aren’t dedicating to school.

 HIDDEN AGENDA:
Too much of anything can have its consequences. The amount of time needed in order to be successful in social networking gaming, like Fashion Wars, only fuels the research behind problems like FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder.) If social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace provide every activity necessary for human interaction, what stops people from never leaving their computers?

My ideal school would have a very creative, unique and eclectic feel. Now, before we go any further, I think some clarification is in order. By ecclectic, I don’t mean only colors that burn your retinas are allowed. But I think it would be nice to walk into a school, your school, that didn’t mesh with the generic “school” mold. As the typical school stand, other than different team colors, the layout, furniture, setup, and overall look is pretty much the same. I think with every school, there are different students with different talents and that should be portrayed more. I think warmer colors, more unique displays of student triumphs and works and a more comfortable learning environment is in order. Not that those beautiful gangrene-colored chairs with the attachable desks aren’t just delicious, but after 30 seconds you can’t feel your lower half, and you are forced to learn at a 90 degree angle the entire time you are sitting in them.

Would your school have a specific focus like a magnet school? Who would be in charge of the school?

My school would focus on the creativity that so many times is lost in schools. Once again, let’s clarify. I am not for a school that has no rules, where we braid each other’s hair all day long and don’t believe in structure. I believe in structure, however, I do not believe in force feeding students a limited array of knowledge. From previous articles we’ve read in this class, I think we’ve established that not every little Billy or Susie is going to be an accountant or an engineer. There are other skills that students are not learning because they are deemed “less worthy.” For example, any time I ever watched a movie set up in a high school environment, there were always two things people talked about: Home Ec and Shop. I’m here to tell you that neither of those courses were ever offered to me my entire school life, and as a result, macaroni and cheese epitomizes fine dining for me. How is that possible? Although there are no cooking questions on the FCAT, I’m pretty sure I’m not cooking up differential equations for dinner. I think creativity and life long skills need to be brought back into the school world, and my school would definitely incorporate those features.
Is it big or small?

My ideal school would be a happy medium. I think students lose a crucial social aspect if the school is too small, but at the same time, I think it’s important for teachers and students to have a relationship that nurtures learning. If you don’t know your teacher from a stranger on the street, it will be difficult to foster a relationship that allows students to reach a comfort level important for development.
Would it be year-round?

This question is difficult. As a student I want to say no, but my gut feeling is that year round school really would help a child retain and learn more. As a college student, I know that by Christmas break, I am already burnt out, and we have more breaks than k-12 students do. As a college student, I am Dolly Parton. I am working for that weekend. I kill myself for 16 weeks so that I can relax for 2. There is a lot of pressure when school is concerned. It doesn’t let up just because you woke up sick or had a bad day. School doesn’t care. I think school should start caring. Ya know what? My school is going to care. With more frequent breaks, instead of a long summer, I believe a student’s equilibrium would level out. Instead of dreading 9, 12, 16 weeks at a time, there should be a decent break between each set of 9 weeks. Students would have a more stable schedule to spend time with family, run errands, relax or now hold on to your hat, accomplish other goals OUTSIDE of school. I know, things just got crazy.
What would a typical day for students be like?

I think students should still take all of their core classes, but I believe that electives or as I like to call them, life skills, should be mandatory and incorporated throughout the day. Like I said before, I believe structure is important, and I am not opposed to the way schools are run, however, instead of making creative or as public schools call them “elective” courses optional, there should be a mandatory amount of credits that must be fulfilled. I know there are electives in schools today, but usually the credit count is very small and students never choose the life skills courses.
Who would you hire to work with the students?

I would hire people who not only show an incredible knack for teaching and explaining, but also people who have had professional experience in the curriculum they are teaching. If you interview for a math position, I want to know what experience you have with math. Were you an accountant? An engineer? How have you used math in daily life? How can you help me with math I will have to deal with in regular life? I only say this because I feel like after 12 years of schooling, there are so many DAILY challenges I experience that I was not ready for. I believe a child’s home life should help take on this responsibility, but at the same time, children are at school for 7 hrs. That’s a pretty large chunk of time. I don’t think it’s unfair to break a small piece of that off and dedicate it to personal skills.
Would you use grades like conventional schools?

I believe grading must differ within different curriculums. I don’t believe you can grade a math student the same way you grade a language arts student. In math, there are hard cold concepts, but in language arts, the area is more gray and in need of different guidelines. Most schools have a very standard grading process, my school would have an individualized grading system. Not by student, but by topic.
How would student work be assessed?

I know you probably think I hate standardized testing from my previous answers. Here’s the thing, I really don’t hate them, I just don’t believe they can be the only authority on learning. So here’s my suggestion. If we are going to have standardized testing, the test needs to be broadened. I know it’s hard to fathom that not every child is fantastic at multiple choice and fill in the blank, but let me fill in the blank…they aren’t. Whoever started the rumor that math, science and reading skills is all you need in life is seriously mistaken. There should be more subjects on a test and different methods of assessment, so that every student can find a section that they thrive in.
What role would digital media play in your school?

I am a pretty big fan of digital media when used properly. If you haven’t caught on to a general theme, it’s that I believe school should help better prepare students for life. I think digital media has a spot in that theme. Digital media is used everyday by millions of different facets. Teaching students how to use them in an educational manor, in my opinion, would only benefit their learning experience. I am going to throw structure back in here one time. I don’t believe students should have full range to facebook and twitter so that they can tweet all day about facebooking…but I do believe in using digital media in a positive way, instead of being scared of it because it does have a few disadvantages.
What role would parents and community members play?

Parents play a huge part in a child’s life, and since school is a child’s life for over a decade, I believe the two should be pretty cohesive. That goes for the community as well. I think it is important for the school to keep the parents as informed and as in tune with their children’s lives as they can be. Each child comes from a different home life, which is why schools do not leave it all up to the parents, and parents do not leave it all up to the schools. It must be cohesive in order for school to be a driving force.

My roommate is really my partner in crime. We shop like it’s a sport. Anytime we do poorly on a test, hear of a new event coming up or just to get out of the apartment on a Saturday afternoon…we shop. It started to get so bad that we had to start selling a lot of our older clothes to make room for the new items in our closets. I do not encourage this type of behavior. We are sick, and it’s definitely not getting any better. My roommate makes fun of me, but I swear I have dreams about items that I desperately want to purchase. I know it’s not that important if I haven’t had a dream about it yet. My roommate and I will go out shopping, and if we can’t find the right size or the right color we immediately head for the computer and look it up online. Sometimes we will go to all of our stores websites beforehand so that we have some idea of the amount of money will will be dropping that day. Like I said…sick. The employees are certain stores know us by name, and we’ve even had racks dedicated to us in the dressing room. We try on different outfits, different combinations and ALWAYS ask the other’s opinion on the matter. We are not afraid to tell each other that something looks stupid, and we are also not afraid to tell each other when something looks great.

The internet helps me in all facets of my addiction. I am somewhat obsessed with entertainment journalism, and it’s not really for the stories, it’s for the fashion! I am a pretty big follower of E! news on twitter, as well as their homepage, and I go there so that I can see outfits that professional stylists are piecing together. What trends do I like for fall? What would be the best pieces for winter with my budget? Magazines are the same way. I found a purse that I loved in Glamour about a month ago, and to my surprise it was from Target. The magazine told me where I could find it, and that weekend it was mine. The internet helps shopping tremendously. We won’t even get into Christmas time. This blog doesn’t have enough characters.

Like I said before, social media really has shaped numerous purchase decisions for me. I follow E! on Twitter, I love to look at all of my friend’s facebook albums online to see what cute outfits or adorable items they have. The internet just really helps the search party for that perfect pair of ANYTHING! Social media and shopping is definitely a growing trend, one I think will stay with us for quite some time.

There are so many things that we can do to try and help close this gap, and social media is at the heart of each and every one of these ideas. The world is changing and the communication process is becoming more and more connected. We have to stay connected and do our best to make sure we find ways for those who are unable to find a connection.

When I was younger, I was very imaginative. Translation: I was completely obnoxious. We really didn’t even need a TV set growing up because I put on all the shows and acts any family could possibly need. My parents told me the entire vacation that Vegas was for me, and they made sure we drove into the strip at night so that I could see all of the hotels completely lit up. My parents told me we were staying in a castle and since I was a borderline princess already, I was clearly beyond hyperventilation at this point. Everything was over the top from the outfits the staff wore to the decor in our hotel rooms… it was an absolute dream. On top of all of that, my parents took me outside the hotel to see the water show where an actual dragon comes out of the water and a princess is saved by Merlin the wizard. My parents literally had to sedate me at this point. The Excalibur hotel experience in Vegas is something I’ll never forget because my parents molded that entire portion of the trip for me. It is something I’ll always remember and always love.

Moments like those only reaffirm my belief that creativity and imagination are so crucial in a child’s life. If my parents hadn’t given me the opportunity to experience all those different things I may not have gone into Advertising. I feel so lucky my parents believed in creativity not only when I was younger but even now because it has truly molded the person I am today.

I think those videos really hit the nail on the head. The way the education system is today, you are really educated out of creativity, which is terrible because creativity is the foundation for so many things. Without original ideas there is nothing. I really liked when Sir Ken Robinson said “if you are not prepared to be wrong, you can never be creative.” The education system molds students to think that getting an answer incorrect is the end of the world when really I learn much more when I get things wrong because it forces me to access the problem and see what I did incorrectly.

As a senior in college with two teachers for parents, I know how much the arts get the shaft when it comes to public education. I think the education system needs to realize that not every student is going to be a college professor or an accountant…there are endless possibilities out there that no one will get to see if creativity is thrown out the window.

1. My general reaction the video is, “yeah, that makes total sense.” The general pace in today’s society is much more quick than it was 20 years ago, and before it was the workplace asking consumers to use or be apart of certain technologies, and now the roles have reversed. I think my favorite topic in the video is when they talk about judgment. With the internet being as large and as popular as it is, it’s getting tougher and tougher to decipher what is reliable information and what is not. You can no longer say, “well, I found it on the internet so it must be true.”

2. After watching the video and reading the article, there was only one feature of Participatory Culture that was listed in the article that was not listed in the video. The video went through judgment, negotiation, appropriation, play, transmedia navigation, simulation, visualization, multitasking, collective intelligence, and distributed cognition, but the article talks about all those things plus networking. The capacity to network is such a vital skill and culture competency in today’s society. The definition of resourceful is completely transformed from networking. There was a time when a resourceful student was considered someone who personally possesses a wide array of resources and information from which to choose, but now, a resourceful student is someone who can navigate an already abundant and continually changing world of information. Students achieve this skill by tapping into a variety of popular sites (Google and Amazon are two examples.)

3. I think the experiences of the student look very similar to the experiences I have as a student. When I am unsure about a specific topic in class, there is a very at ease feeling knowing that I can simply type my question into Google, and someone out there will have an answer for me. I don’t feel so alone in my academic quest for success.

4. I want my future students to be able to bring new resources and information to the table on a daily basis. I believe the one-way road with teaching is over. Students are resourceful people, and they may have wonderful ideas about how to look up a certain topic, or what the best site or search engine is for a particular subject.

Media Literacy

1. My reaction to this video was pure agreement. I agree that media literacy is not used on an independent basis anymore, and it is not only used in the classroom, but incorporated for those who are citizens and workers of the future. They are truly skills that are connecting people at a larger level.

2. Media Literacy Education is the capacity to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate messages in a wide variety of forms. This expanded conceptualization of literacy responds to the demands of cultural participation in the twenty-first century. Media literacy education is important for students because it helps people of all ages to be critical thinkers, effective communicators, and active citizens.

3. Educational Fair Use is flexible. It is not uncertain and it is not unreliable. It does not go against copyright protection, but it does question certain technicalities that if we allowed copyright to completely take over everything would hinder generations of new culture. The law provides copyright protection to creative works in order to foster the creation of culture, but copying, quoting and generally re-using exiting cultural material can be, under some circumstances, a critically important part of generating new culture. There are six types of licenses.

• Attribution: This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.
• Attribution Share Alike: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.
• Attribution No Derivatives: This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.
• Attribution Non-Commercial: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
• Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.
• Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives: This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the “free advertising” license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

4. I thought Creative Commons was a great site. I like that there are enough options available to make sure that there was a license out there for any type of work. I also like that the licenses range on accessibility. There are very strict licenses and less harsh licenses. I think the site is very user-friendly, and very easy to navigate.

5. Flickr can be used in so many ways in the classroom. It gives teachers the abilities to use advance searches for very specific topics all with the understanding that they are licensed by Creative Commons. You can get very high quality search with the protection of the work incorporated too. Flickr can help teachers find photos for presentations, projects, templates etc. Flickr is a wonderful tool for teachers to be equipped with.

When you hear of online victimization, you have the same mindset every time. “Oh, it’s just another sexual predator tricking a young teen into vulnerable acts over the internet that lead to violent sex crimes.” I know that’s the impression I always got, but after listening to these videos, I found out I’m pretty off base. Although that situation can be the case, we are making safe the teens who get caught up in criminal seductions that take advantage  of common teen vulnerabilities. We are also making those who are harassed or bullied online feel more safe. In most cases, the harassment is laughed off as a joke, but sometimes it can go too far. Dr. Ybarra made a good point when she said that, “majority of young people who are meeting adults online are not deceived and instead, knowingly, at least as knowingly as a young person can, consent to this relationship. And we’re learning that it’s not the sending and posting of personal information that increases one’s risk for victimization online, but rather engaging in sexual conversations they know only online, harassing others online. These behaviors seem to be most strongly associated with increased risk of victimization.”

2. What are we making safe?

When someone is victimized online, parents are quick to blame the increased use of technology, but Danah Boyd makes a good point when she says, “what you see that happens online mirrors and magnifies what happens offline. That mirroring and magnification is actually really critical because it means that the good, the bad, the ugly that you see offline comes online.” We are making safe the use of technology, but not necessarily believing whole-heartedly that the problem stems from acts done online. Research indicates that teens go online to get away from the daily grind of their regular lives. Some teens have an abusive household, and a way to block out the bad is by going online and being surrounded by people who love a teen for who they are, and what they are about.

3. What are the consequences of such decisions?

The consequences for teens that are going online to relieve frustrations they have from their home lives, school lives and all the pressures that can go with that can blossom into a number of different problems. Danah Boyd said that “some of this we see as self-harm, things like cutting, anorexia, bulimia. Some of this is reaching out to people who have more freedom online.” And another interesting point she made was that teens are not really reaching out to older adults in their 40s, they are aiming for college seniors, who are 21 years old, with a car, and a way to get alcohol and who can get freedom. The consequences of these teens not having any freedom offline, is that they go online and use “risky” behavior to find it. Everyone always brings up the Dateline interviews when the topic of online victimization comes up, but the strange thing is that most teens are not trying to reach out for sexual solicitation, and they have a very different definition of what that is. Danah Boyd said she received a lot of feedback on Viagra ads when she gave teens examples f sexual solicitation at home. The truth of the matter is, teens do not think about sexual solicitation the same way adults do, so there is a gap between thinking patterns.