Sunday, March 25, 2012

Blog Post 8

Technology at Our Fingertips

This Is How We Dream

In This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2, Richard Miller talks about how writing has changed in schools as well as the culture. In the beginning, he thought, like most educators probably do, that writing was something that should be a solitary activity. However, now how we write and research and where we work and publish, is changing. A book that used to only take place in print is now available on the web.

Where we work is no longer limited. The web is now our work space. We can explore the materials of the world on the web without being limited to what we have ourselves or to what libraries have. We can now share knowledge without limits. Now, most of the limits and restrictions that we face are the ones that we make for ourselves. Also, it's now possible to compose, not with text only, but with images, films, and whatever you can find on the web. We're now also faced with information that updates instantly, and educators can not only view the materials, but see how they're put together and if desired, produce alternate versions.

He lists these things that we need: "ubiquitous composing technology, pedagogies that foster creativity and collaboration, spaces that foster collaborative learning, and inspiring teachers of new media composing." The goals of this technology are so much bigger than just the technology itself. Technology will allow people to articulate their dreams and share them. It tackles the fundamental problem of making our work visible. I will leave you with a quote from this video. "How could we not be interested in this attempt to make sense of the world we live in?"

Carly Pugh's Blog Post

Carly's Post is definitely an interesting one. She has created an assignment that is useful and incorporates videos as well as text. I like the idea of the playlist because we do find so many great videos in this class and then probably forget about them the next day. Not only is the playlist she suggested useful, but we can use it store the videos we truly enjoy in this class into a useful playlist for our futures as educators. I think she has beautifully written using multi-media, and that her future classroom would be one that lives up to Dr. Miller's hopes.

The Chipper Series and EDM for Dummies

The Chipper Series and EDM for Dummies both address the issue of how to get through EDM 310. It requires time to do and figure everything out. For my video, I would want to show two students in the beginning, middle, and end of EDM 310. One student would start out enthusiastic then feel overwhelmed after seeing the amount of work that has to be done. This student would slowly stop doing their work and eventually fail EDM 310. The other student would use the lab and the lab assistants and all other resources they could think of which will enable them to pass the class. This video would be to show the importance of getting help when you need it, and taking advantage of all resources that are available to you.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

In Learn to Change, Change to Learn, they attack schooling, as we know it. They call for a more learning based environment. The world around us is changing. Children are living in technology. It's a great place for learning to occur, but in most cases, it isn't. School is just one of the laces where students will be learning. They have a variety of resources at their fingertips, and they should be using them in school as well. This will make them better prepared for the future that lies ahead of them. The video ends with this simple thought and so will I, "It's the death of education, but the dawn of learning."

Scavenger Hunt

1. Edmodo is a tool similar to Facebook and Twitter, but it is made for students and teachers. You can make notes, alerts, assignments, quizzes, and polls that are available to your students. There is a calender and a place to store grades, as well. It also gives you the option of connecting with other teachers. I'm still exploring it and getting my account the way I want it, but I think this is an excellent tool for teachers to connect with their students as well as other teachers

4. Photo Peach is a video tool that has many special features. It is actually a slideshow where you can add polls and quizzes. So it not only has text and pictures, but it adds an interactive aspect with polls and quizzes. It allows you to share, create, and embed these slideshows with other people so it would be easy to share the slideshow you used in class with your students.

5. Polleverywhere

3 comments:

  1. Your blog is excellent from top to bottom. Very through, grammatically excellent, and well developed.
    I agree, students in EDM310 need to take advantage of all of the great resources they have at their disposal. This includes the wonderful lab techs!
    Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete