DIY: Group Activity

Think of an activity that you like to use in one of your courses that involves small groups of students working to solve a problem or collaborate on a composition.  You may have a master of something that you've been photocopying for years.  Choose that one, since, after a few more generations, the print will be so faint that you won't be able to read it anyway.  This is a great chance to get digital and open.

Vet the material as previously outlined.  Then, go about digitizing it (using word processing software, for example).  Once you're done, include a license.

Here's an example:

Students in small groups analyze the rhetorical appeals in a print advertisement.

Old version: You've had these six great ads for years now.  They work very well as subjects for analysis, so you printed each out on a separate sheet of paper, accompanied by blank fields for the students to fill in (ethos, pathos, logos, author, audience, context, etc.)

New version: Because electronically reproducing the ads isn't okay, you have to remove them from the activity sheets that you pass around.  Instead, you will create a resource with the necessary "gaps" discussed earlier in the module.  If you are in a classroom equipped with web-ready devices, you can send the students links or ask the students to search for the images on their own.  If directing students to locate the specific ads online seems to you like it's going to be too time-consuming, consider asking them to search for "print ads" and select one of their choosing.  These days, students don't want to look at your old Crystal Pepsi ad, anyway (unless it's for ironic fun).  If you don't have web-ready devices in your classroom, you will want to locate print ads or use printouts of your old favorites in the classroom only.  This last suggestion is not recommended, as the reuse of the ads time after time could be considered outside of classroom "fair use."

Let the length of this last description serve as proof that there are a number of ways that we can safely navigate these digital waters.  Also remember that building this as an open resource means that you can share it electronically with students and peers without needing to worry at all about "fair use."