Second EASL Room in 2014

Auburn University is planning on a second EASL room for Fall 2014.  We are starting to plan how this room will be set up.  Chances are that we will not have different table shapes in it, as we have in the first space, but rather that we will be able to use the soon-to-com student and faculty feedback to make some decisions on what kinds of shapes are preferable.
Chances are also that the space will be quite a bit larger than what we currently have, possibly allowing for twice the number of students.  A great opportunity to rethink the way some of the natural sciences and math classes can be taught here.

Brandon Butler on Copyright and Fair use -- Challenging some Urban Myths

If you are one of the folks who has been concerned about fair use and what that means for your use of other folks' materials in your teaching, you may find Brandon Butler's reading of the law a breath of fresh air.

Butler, from the Association of Research Libraries, has worked with copyright and fair use for many years.  He came to Auburn University at the end of October to provide us with a new way of thinking about fair use.

Lesson 1:  Do not worry about percentages or how much you can take

These seemingly set in stone rules are simply special agreements that were created for particular cases and then got lives of their own.

Lesson 2:  Think about transformation and community practice.

So, instead of getting hung up on how many words, pages, or seconds you are using, think instead about
Is the use of the material transformative, that is, am I providing a new framework, or perspective for it that let's us experience the material in a new way, different from the original intent.  For example, if I take an image of an art work and add it to my web site for beautification, then I am not really changing the original intent of the art work.  However, if I am then discussing the image in the critical light of a social, cultural, historical context, the image is transformed.

And if you are a member of a community that does things in a certain way, has always done things in a certain way (eg, display multiple choices on a draft board) then moving this kind of display online does not change the community practice -- key is that the practice has to be accepted.

Some more Resources

Butler shared a couple of handouts with us
Infograph about Fair Use
Online Resources
Video of Butler's Talk

New web site for EASL

Last week saw some fun new developments for the active learning space(s) at Auburn University.

1.  A mini crowd sourcing, using facebook, yielded some potential new names for the space as incubator is just not quite cutting it for the long haul.  With EASL and EAGLE acronyms, we moved into a spirited email vote and discussion of what name we should adopt -- LEAP was added during that discussion, and after two rounds of voting the narrow winner emerged:  EASL aka Engaged Active Student Learning.
So, our EASL rooms and spaces can be seen as the connection to Canvas, and a scaffold for creation.

2.  We now have one Youtube video live, and some more in the works that showcase our first EASL space:



For more and continuing information about various aspects of EASL and future videos, go to http://auburn.edu/easl/

3.  Our joint proposal for a poster session at the next ELI (Educause Learning Initiative) conference in February 2014 was accepted, so hopefully we will have some more news by then about the results the classroom has yielded so far.  And yes, now waiting to hear the verdict on my IRB proposal.