Images & Media

Preparing a Google Doc to Follow MLA Formatting Requirements

/ lymanmar / 3 Comments

I recently used Screencast-o-matic to create a short video to show my students how to prepare a Google Doc to follow the formatting requirements of the Modern Language Association (MLA).

I was inspired to create this video because I have students who struggle to properly format their documents year after year. As a Language Arts, I go over the MLA formatting requirements, but I have noticed that students are unaware of some of the features within Google Docs that would help them with these requirements. I’ve had students manually double space their documents before and even use the space bar to add indents or center align something. For some of my students, following the MLA requirements became such a hassle simply because they had never been shown the most efficient way.

I would share this video with my students on our Google Classroom page. This would allow students to go back and re-watch whenever needed. Students could follow along and pause the video as they complete each step. Having this video at the start of the school year would have saved all the time that was spent going over these features for a second or third time. I am looking forward to using this video in the future next school year!

Creative Commons to the Rescue

/ lymanmar / 1 Comment
Two letter Cs in a circle (Creative Commons logo) next to the word Creative Commons
“Creative Commons logo” by Peter Leth is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 

While I had heard of Creative Commons before, I had never used it before and was really unfamiliar with the specifics of its mission. This organization aims to create a community for users to legally share their creativity on a global scale.

Creative Commons provides free, easy-to-use copyright licenses to make a simple and standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work–on conditions of your choice.

About page of Creative Commons

Going forward, I think my search strategies for digital content will be forever changed. Like most people, I have been a loyal Google Images searcher, and I never really thought twice about if I was allowed to use the images I found–I just used them. I would never think about using someone’s written work without permission or a proper citation, but I never thought about images in that same way. Now that I am more aware of copyright and the purpose of Creative Commons, I have no reason to continue that habit. I can take advantage of all the images Creative Commons has to offer and feel confident that I am allowed to use them and can provide proper attribution. I can also maintain my loyalty to Google Images but use its search tools to be shown only the images I have a right to use.

“Google_Images_Search” by The Daring Librarian is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 

I would definitely be willing to share the work I create and use Creative Commons licensing. Although I wouldn’t really consider myself a creator, I understand how important both roles of Creative Commons users are. If people aren’t willing to share their own work, there will be nothing for users searching for images to find. Maintaining that balance between creators and users is extremely important for the success of the Creative Commons organization as a whole.