Saturday, March 24, 2012

Blog Assignment 8

Richard Miller: "This Is How We Dream"
After watching This Is How We Dream Parts One and Two, I immediately connected this video to other videos I have watched in this class.  Technology makes all (or most) things possible.  Who would have ever imagined that you could do so many different things at one time?  Multi-tasking is made possible with technology.  I cannot imagine how long it would take to do certain projects without smart phones, the internet, and computers.  With the internet, we have information at our fingertips.  You can google any question you can think of, and it will generate an answer.  With smart phones, we have information everywhere we go.  I have lived without a smart phone, but now that I've had one for a while, I would not WANT to live without it.  Richard Miller asks how we could not be interested in the movement towards using more technology.  It makes things so much easier.

I liked how this video connected Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream. . ." speech to the dream of using technology as a method of collaboration and learning.  It is intriguing to think how many things have changed since the Civil Rights Movement.  If people like Dr. King and other leaders would have had the use of technology at their fingertips, they probably could have made a more compelling point.  Also, the word would have traveled much faster.  People could have read about speeches or watched videos of speeches instead of having to endanger themselves by going to the actual speech location.  How nice is it that we now can view controversial material in the privacy of our own home without the possibility of violence?  We have everything at our fingertips.  Is this good or bad?  I think it is a little bit of both.  We are less social because of technology.  We would rather write to people through text or email than see them in person.  We are also probably less adventurous.  When people were bored before the internet, they had to go out and do something amongst other people if they wanted entertainment.  Now, we can just sit on the computer and have all the entertainment we want.  I guess everything has its pros and cons.

Am I prepared to write with multimedia?  I don't know.  I think I could figure it out, but what the video displayed looked complicated most of the time.  I sort of already write with multimedia because any research paper I have to do has sources that I found online, but this video was talking about a more advanced movement.  It does not matter whether or not I think I am ready for it; I still think this movement would revolutionize collaboration and presentations.  If you want to get your point across, you have to make your argument compelling.  With these tools, any argument could be compelling.  All a person has to do is be willing to learn how to use these tools.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12
In Blog Post #12, Carly Pugh comes up with her own assignment that she thinks would be a great assignment for Dr. Strange to use in EDM 310.  She comes up with the idea that it would be great to create a Youtube playlist of several different things that are important to you as a teacher and write about your philosophy as a teacher.  Carly does her project in her blog post.  She finds all kinds of great videos that interested her as a teacher.  I think this blog post was great.  What I liked about it the most was that it was written so well.  It just flowed like she was talking.  A lot of people try to write so "proper" that it sounds straight out of a textbook, but Carly really used her own words.  This made the post even better.  I love how Carly is devoted to creativity.  I am an English major as well, and that is what I love about English.  When you read something, your personal experiences influence the meaning you get out of it.  This is why it is so great to let kids do things like make a new ending to a book or story.  That requires actual thought and not just robot writing where they tell the teacher what they think the teacher thinks is important.  Also, this post is definitely an example of  writing with multi-media.  Carly connected so many different things in one place.  It is great.  It would have taken forever to have gone on Youtube and located those videos on your own, but she had them right there.  Having the links in her post really enhanced what she had to say because you had visual reassurance of what she was talking about.  This is a great example of being committed and creative.  All future teachers should learn by example.

EDM 310 Is Different
When I watched The Chipper Series, I could not help laughing out loud.  That video was hilarious.  Chipper had to do everything wrong before she realized that she could not procrastinate (her definition) on everything she did.  Originally, she thought everything should run on her time.  She thought she was so important that people like teachers and employers should work around her schedule.  After being fired from every job and finally having to become a garbage collector, Chipper realized that she needed to go back to school and do her work.

When I watched EDM 310 for Dummies, it reminded me of myself at the beginning of this class.  All the different projects thrown at you at one time will make you feel like you are going crazy.  After taking some time doing my work for this class, I have realized that it is not nearly as bad as I had thought it was going to be in the beginning.  I thought it was cute to use EDM 310 for Dummies as a resource for students in this class.  I bet a lot of people would want to get their hands on that book, but really all you need are the instruction manuals!

After watching these two student produced videos, I think the video that I would like to do would involve multi-tasking and time management.  Have a student who takes a lot of different classes (including EDM 310), works, has a boyfriend/girlfriend, and tries to stay social.  Follow this student and his/her struggles to become a multi-tasker and a proper time manager.  First, make everything seem crazy and hard (which it is to start with).  Later, show that EDM 310 taught this student to multi-task and time manage so he/she could get his/her work done on time.  I would like to do a video like this because multi-tasking and time management are some of the main things that I have learned in this class.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
After watching Learn to Change, Change to Learn, I began thinking about the different structure of school that this video seemed to advocate.  I feel like these people were saying that students and teachers do not even have to meet in a classroom setting anymore.  They can learn through technology separately.  It reminded me a lot of how this class is structured.  The only problem I have with this concept is that when students are still in middle school or high school, they are not responsible enough to keep up with their work on their own.  This would end up being a parent project.  The parents who cared about their child's grades would take over and do the work for the child.  The other children would just not do well unless they were already mature enough to do their work.  Not many younger people are that mature though.  Also, students this age have not learned enough base knowledge in things like grammar to go out on their own and do work like we do in this class.  It is a good idea in theory, but I just don't see how it would work effectively.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0
For the Scavenger Hunt 2.0, first we had to watch Discovery Education Web 2.0 for 2011.  This video basically just describes what Web 2.0 is.  Web 2.0 is a center for learning that is based on three things.  The network has to be interactive, accessible, and collaborative.  After watching this video, we had to go on a scavenger hunt in Web 2.0 Tools.  We have to find three different things.

The first thing we had to find was a tool similar to Facebook that provides a social platform for teachers, parents, and students.  The tool I found is called Edmodo.  It is almost the same thing as Facebook; it is just a teacher version.  Instead of just being able to read posts and view pictures like Facebook, this site offers a lot of great tools for teachers.  It would be very useful because you can post grades on the site for students to see.  Also, you can post assignments and quizzes on the site.  This site was like a combination of USA online and Facebook.  It would be useful for a teacher because if a parent wanted to find out his/her child's grade or assignments, he/she could just go to this site, and he/she would know everything that was going on in the class.

The next thing I had to find was a video tool that I had never used before.  I chose Animoto.  This video tool is cool because, first, it  syncs with Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, and SmugMug to get your images in a snap. You can add text and emphasize specific images with the touch of a button.  Second, you can add your own music to Animoto to use in your videos.  Third, you can share your videos very easily with whoever you want.


The third thing I had to find was a tool that creates a poll. 


3 comments:

  1. Hi Susanelle, I am commenting on your blog post 8. I think that it was great. You had some really good ideas. I like what you posted about how technology is a good thing, but it can be a bad thing as well. I also think that things have changed so much even since I was a child and I am only 24. Instead of playing outside, now children want to sit inside in front of a computer, or play games on a phone(I'm guilty of using my iPod to keep my son entertained when we are out somewhere). The only thing I was wondering is are you putting everything together. I noticed that all of your assignments for the week are on one post. I don't think that this is the way we are supposed to do our posts. I'm not positive, but I have been doing mine differently. I put Blog Post 8 on one post. Then I create a new post and put my C4K for the month on it. Those are just examples. Maybe you should check me and make sure I am right before you do this! Other than that I thought it was a great post.

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  2. I just wanted to clarify on my last comment, I don't know what I was thinking, but I forgot that this last weeks post was really long and that everything that you had posted was under blog post #8. I guess I had a brain freeze! So just omit what I said about "all of your assignments for one week are on one post". I wasn't thinking! Great job!

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  3. Hey Susie,

    I'm so glad that you enjoyed Carly's post on writing with multimedia. I really is amazing what we can now do with technology as a student and as a teacher. Your thoughts are so fun and interesting to read.

    I too think that the Chipper Series is great!

    Great post Susie! Keep up the good work!

    Stephen Akins

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