Thursday, March 22, 2012

Blog Assignment 8

This Is How We Dream by Richard Miller
Both of these videos, parts 1 and 2, by Richard Miller of Rutgers University are phenomenal! He describes how writing with multi-media can show how to change from a reading/writing culture to a listening/watching culture, and still have students contribute to what they are listening to and watching. Students can now write a whole research paper without ever even stepping foot into a library because they now have all the resources they need and many more right on their computers and the internet. They can find whatever information they need to support their thesis, and can also find websites to libraries not only in their town, but all over the word to help contribute to their paper. These library websites are capable of suppling books and articles on the web, so that students can find what they need easier and faster. Using multi-media, students would also be able to work on their assignments at any time, anywhere because one can access the internet from any computer that is available to them. Using the internet also allows for someones work to be shared to billions of people all around the world. Multimedia can be such a powerful tool!
all things multimedia

I think that using multimedia to better enhance one's education is a great idea. I feel that so many of us students are already using so much multimedia today. I rely on my computer almost 100 percent to get my assignments done. When I do not have my computer with me, I almost feel helpless and I can barely get anything accomplished for my classes. The EDM310 class we are taking now, heavily revolves around the use of technology, so everything we do for this class requires a computer and the internet. Writing with multi-media is something that I think most people would welcome, with very few people having regrets.

I would like to think that I am prepared for multimedia because, like I said earlier, I already use technology so much that I think this would only help my success even more. I also think that my students will be able to use this, probably even better than I will. Students these days use the internet for almost everything they do, and tend to be so tech savvy. By the time I begin to teach, the children will be so use to using multimedia that it will just come natural to them. So, let's embrace multimedia and writing with multi-media!

Blog Post #12 by Carly Pugh
Carly's post for her blog post #12 is suppose to be about making an assignment that is so good and creative that Dr. Strange should have made them do it themselves, or that he will possibly have his students do in the future. Her assignment that she made up is for everyone to make their own YouTube playlist that will describe their philosophies as a teacher. The playlist with videos should include things like: describe the kind of teacher you would like to be, offer tips on classroom management, find topics related to your field of study, and much more. She asked that the students include at least five of the topics she listed and a minimum of ten videos. Then, everyone should explain how these things that they have chosen contribute to their teacher philosophy and how they can use these in their teaching environment.
YouTube playlist logo

I think that a YouTube playlist is a great idea. Having a playlist would allow us to put all of the videos that we think are interesting into one place for fast and convenient access. These videos and topics would be useful for us in the beginning of our careers to serve as guidance, but they can also help us at any time in our careers and can give us fun and creative ideas for activities and projects that we can do with our students. I will have a YouTube playlist very soon! :)

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies
a green background with The Chipper Series written on it
The Chipper Series is about one of Dr. Strange's past students, named Chipper, who dropped out of school because she didn't want to have to learn. She told Dr. Strange that she wanted him to teach her so that she didn't have to learn. After quitting school, she had numerous jobs that she eventually got fired from. She then decided to start her own school called Timeline Pilot School, where the students could take a course for however long or short they wanted to and could show up for the class when they wanted. Needless to say, this school didn't last very long before it was shut down. Chipper finally had a mental cleansing after this where she learned the value of education, and decided that she wanted to go back to school. This time, she was determined to go to school everyday, do all of her assignments, and not procrastinate. She was ready to get the most out of her education experience.

In the video, EDM310 for Dummies, students illustrate their frustrations for their class, EDM310. They were going crazy over the assignments and projects that were due because they didn't understand or know how to do any of them. Then, finally, they came across a book titled EDM310 for Dummies. This book had everything one needs to know about this course, from every blog post assignment and project to how to operate all of the websites that were required. After these students started reading this book and looking to it for guidance, they actually started to really enjoy the class and all of the projects.
a book cover called EDM310 for Dummies

Before I even started this course and a few weeks into it, I was terrified and overwhelmed with everything that was required for us to do. So, I can definitely relate to these two videos. However, as the weeks progressed and I started to get the hang of things, I began to like it. I know that this course will have such a tremendous impact on my teaching career and how I incorporate technology and run things in my classroom.

Thinking about a video that I would like to create or participate in, I think I would want to reflect on the things that we have learned thus far in this class. We could be in a classroom setting, where we are teaching and using our past assignments to educate our students. A project like this would illustrate just how useful this class can be to our future careers.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
This video is basically attacking schooling as we think of it today. There was a poll taken of 55 industry sectors that were ranked by their level of IT intensiveness and education came in last at number 55, below coal mining. In one way, this is mind-boggling, but in another, I can totally see this. Everything around us is adapting and welcoming technology except for schools, which should be one of the top places that uses technology frequently. The guys in this video say that the new 21st century set of literacies are not how well you remember information, but rather, do you know how to find information, problem-solve, how to validate info, synthesize, collaborate, and communicate.
the word 'learn' spelt out with a computer mouse coming out of it

The idea of education is dying, but the idea of learning is just beginning. This video is so powerful and points out so many fascinating arguments. Students need to be taught and trained in a way that will prepare them for their future jobs, not the next test they will be taking. Standardized tests do nothing to help a student train for the future, they only cram information into their heads until the test is taken and then everything is forgotten. This shouldn't be how education is. It is our job as future educators to realize what it is that students need to learn, and the use of technology will help us out tremendously.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0
Web 2.0 is just fascinating! There are so many tools available for teachers and students for free or of very little cost and the tools are so broad. These tools allow one to collaborate, edit, and share content online. This will definitely be a site that I visit frequently when I begin teaching.

(1)  Edmodo looks almost identical to Facebook. It is a place where a teacher can turn his or her classroom into a community. Teachers can communicate with their students and parents, post grades, post assignments and tests, make calendars with upcoming events, and produce polls that students can take. I love this site and will be using it for my classroom. I've already made an account. :)

(2)  PhotoPeach is a fun video tool that would be great for teachers and students to use. One can combine images, music, and text into a presentation. It is pretty simple and students can have a great presentation ready within minutes. Teachers can use this as a way to have collaborative group work because there is a quiz feature that allows multiple-choice questions to be on all or some of the slides in the slideshow. There are so many possibilities with PhotoPeach.

(3)  Poll Everywhere is a website where people can make polls and respond to them using their mobile devices. It makes it easy to gather live responses from just about anywhere: conferences, presentations, classrooms, radio, tv, and print. It can also help people raise money by letting them pledge via text. I found this site to be fun! I could find a lot of use out of polls in my math classes, by making questions into a poll and having my students use mobile devises to answer.

Here's my first poll that I made:

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