Blog Assignment #8

This is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

I enjoyed watching both of these videos. I found them to be very interesting and helpful. He did a great job at laying out the uses for all of this technology in the classroom. In his videos, Richard Miller points out that while people are working in the digital environment, people are now being faced with a new kind of material which changes before their eyes. The material and information is now updated instantly. We live in a world that is constantly changing, and we must be able to adapt and change with it.

Richard Miller put a lot of time into creating these videos. As a future educator, I need to be able to incorporate technology into my classroom. Richard Miller makes a very important point which is that we now have the capability to communicate with people instantly and with people all over the world. Just through taking EDM 310, I have had the opportunity to make connections all over the world. It is important that I use this concept in my classroom as I help my students create their own personal learning environment. He also discusses that now, we do not work with just pencil and paper in the library. However, we now carry our laptops with us and work with word processing. Now, students can access information from all over the world without ever going into the library. It is important that I teach my students how to properly use this technology and find credible information.

Richard Miller also discusses another important change in technology. Through the help of networking technology, it is possible to collaborate with other people and compose not only with text but with images and film as well. I could use this technology to allow my students to work together and create nontraditional projects. Richard Miller also said that as educators we should share our ideas freely. This is an important concept because as a future educator, I hope to gain knowledge and information from people who have been in the profession much longer than I have. As I gain experience and knowledge, I hope to share that information with others. Richard Miller sees a change coming where students will no longer work with word processors but with the technology and composing material that he is learning how to use. Am I prepared to write with multimedia? I still have a lot of work to do before I am fully prepared to teach my students how to write with multimedia. I am not concerned with learning how to write with multimedia. However, I am concerned about teaching my students how to write with multimedia. I hope that by the time I become an educator, I will effectively be able to teach my students how to write with multimedia.

Blog Post #12 by Carly Pugh

I enjoyed reading Carly Pugh's blog post and watching her playlist. She included so many links in her post, and I found them to be very resourceful. I liked how she put so much effort into creating this assignment and included so many videos that were very helpful to me as a future educator. Carly's assignment would allow students to think about what kind of teachers they want to be, ways to motivate their students, ways to improve modern education, and much more. Through this assignment, students would be using all of Richard Miller's multimedia components. They would be using the text, auditory, and visual components that Richard Miller described in his video. I think that Carly's post comes very close to meeting Richard Miller's hopes of writing with multimedia.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies

I thoroughly enjoyed watching both of these videos. They were very humorous, but at the same time, they had a very important message. The Chipper Series was an interesting video about a girl who is a procrastinator. However, she sees no problem with procrastination. She even made the claim that she was going to go to Wikipedia and change the definition of procrastination so that she could turn her work in late. One important message that should be learned from this video is that rewording a definition to meet your needs will not change how other people perceive the definition. Chipper thought that by changing the definition of procrastination in Wikipedia that she would be allowed to turn her work in late. However, Dr. Strange informed her that he was not going to accept her definition of procrastination. Another important lesson to be learned from this video is to not procrastinate. This is a problem that I struggle with. I always turn my work in on time. However, I sometimes wait until the very last minute to do it which causes me a lot of unnecessary stress. Chipper also made another interesting statement which was that she wanted Dr. Strange to teach her so that she did not have to learn. This was a statement that I did not completely comprehend. How can someone teach you if you are not willing to learn? Also, students will enter the work force one day. They will have to be independent learners because an employer does not want to hire someone who is not willing to work hard.

EDM310 for Dummies was a creative video that all students should watch coming into EDM310. I was nervous about entering this class because I had heard that it was hard. However, I have come to enjoy this class, and I learned that this class is not hard. EDM310 just requires a little more work than other classes; it has required me to become an independent learner. While this video was about a book called EDM310 for Dummies, I have similar feelings toward EDM310. I have learned so much about technology and plan on incorporating this knowledge into my future classroom. An idea that I would like to see made into a video is teaching students the importance of technology. Most students have a basic idea about how to use the internet, but most students are unaware of the abundance of resources that are available. For example, I considered myself technology literate coming into this class. However, I soon learned that I was very wrong. I am creating my own personal learning network that has allowed me access to many valuable resources and people who will be able to help me as I work toward becoming an educator. I think it would be important to have a video of this nature because students need to know that there are so many free resources available to them. They just have to know how to look for them.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

This video was very interesting. It begins with a very shocking statistic. The U.S. Department of Commerce ranked 55 industry sectors by the level of I.T. intensiveness. Education was ranked 55, below coal mining. One person in the video also made the statement that students are experiencing a more stimulating environment outside of school than they are in school. Technology is no longer an option, and it cannot be kept out of schools if we want our students to excel. Students need to be using technology in schools to create connections with people and opportunities all over the world. I personally agreed with a lot of what this video was saying. Technology is an important part of society and is constantly changing. As a future educator, I need to be able to adapt with technology and provide with my students with access to this technology in my classroom. Another statement made in the video was that we now have a classroom system when we should have a community system. Technology can help create this. I hope to create a community system in my classroom where my students work on group projects and make connections with people outside of the classroom that will provide a richer learning environment. Students do not need to be fed information in order to pass the class. However, students need to be taught how to find information and determine whether or not it is quality information.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

1. Poll

I created my poll at PollEverywhere.com. This is a site that allows you to easily create polls using your mobile device. Please take my poll here.

2. Video Tool

Animoto was an interesting video tool that I have never used before. This site allows you to create an account for free. Animoto allows you to create high definition videos. It also allows you to share the videos you create on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest, and you can even embed it into your blog. This tool also allows you to customize the video and has approximately 50 different styles to choose from. I could use this tool to allow my students to create videos, and they could then post those videos on the class blog.

3. Social Platform for Teachers

I created an account with Edmodo which is a social media site full of educational resources for teachers, parents, and students. I am following several different communities which involve math, computer technology, professional development, college readiness, and career and technology education. I definitely think this would be a beneficial resource for my classroom. I have already found several math websites through Edmodo which would help students with homework and would allow my students to participate in interactive math activities. I could also place assignments, quizzes, and polls on this site which would allow my students to access this information outside of the classroom. This would be a great way for my students to access homework and talk with other students outside of the classroom.