Blog Post #8

How We Learn: Part 1
           Dr. Richard Miller starts by talking about how writing in our culture has changed. He praises current technology by recognizing that we currently have the capability to communicate with people all over the world in literally a second. He also mentions the fate of Academic books, which I found interesting. He says most printed copies end up in the trash and on Amazon.com for fifty cents. Instead of having a pen and paper, we carry around our laptops and jump drives. This makes documents and personal media share ready with the click of a mouse.
          I find this observation interesting. On a personal note, I recently visited my Alma Mater of Foley High School and I found something rather odd. As I strolled nostalgically through the halls, I noticed outside of every classroom big metal hooks all over the wall. Each one holding one of the same black, BCBE (Baldwin County Board of Education) backpack. Every pack had a name tag on it complete with student barcode and  picture identification. To my utter shock, an old friend told me that within each one was a brand new Macbook Air with a barcode to match the student's. They have limited internet access, so no Facebook or Twitter in class. But this to me says a lot about the strides technology is taking in education.


How We Learn: Part 2
           Dr. Miller again starts by speaking on the new kind of teaching material we are faced with as educators. Technology makes everything an instantaneous share. "Material changes in front of our eyes." We can convey emotions and energy through podcasts or educational videos. Online information for teaching gives us the ability to see what is behind the information. It also allows us to give different versions of the same information.  He gives an example of the speed of sharing a video versus if he had just typed up an essay or paper. In 3 months his video received hundreds of thousands views and had been shared all over the world embedded in blogs everywhere. He feels as though his essay would have ended up in the trash, or only seen by a hand full of people. 


Blog Post 12: Carly Pugh

I really enjoyed Carly's blog post. I think she did an excellent job with connecting writing and multimedia. She showed her true creativity with this assignment. With such an unrestricted blog post, I hope my own will be as creative as hers. She makes a valid point that not everyone likes to read books. This is relevant, but until it was pointed out, It hadn't dawned on me. I love my books, but I know plenty of people who don't read. She taught me that providing images and videos can include more people. Maybe with this kind of media and writing collaboration we can spark creativity in someone else. This is also an important way to say that people learn in different ways, and we should consider this as educators. 



The Chipper Series

The Chipper series is a silly representation of the proper way to handle this class. I have to admit, they made me laugh. But they are true. Especially the episode where Chipper accuses Dr. Strange, of not doing his job. At first I felt this way about EDM310 but I have realized that it is all about self motivation and time management. I struggle with juggling classes and my two jobs, so I really have to push myself to meet the deadlines. There have been a few instances where I miss the deadline, but I still make myself do the work. 

EDM for dummies

I feel like this video is just telling us that there are ways to get help in this class. Which is encouraging at this point, because edm310 is a bipolar beast for me. There are weeks when I feel like I will definitely pass this class with an A or a B. And then there are weeks when I just hang my head and accept that I will probably fail edm. I'm really not sure how to handle the unknown aspect of the grade. Dr. Strange says he doesn't believe in grades, yet despite that awesome glimmer of hope, we still get graded. And we won't know how until everything is over. That point makes this class the most nerve destroying class I am taking.


Learn to Change, Change to Learn

I believe this is one of the most relevant videos we've seen. One person said, "As No Child Left Behind fades away, it enables local creativity and innovations." To me, this is pointing out the flaws in traditional education. As Dr. Esquith would say, some children should be left behind because they aren't ready...yet.  "It's the Death of education, but the Dawn of learning." What a powerful statement. How much clearer could the message be? Education is not teaching, it is directing. Directing students down a single path that only has a few outlets. To learn is to open a world of endless possibilities.

Web 2.0 Tools

1) I finally got myself a Prezi account. I have been using it for 15 minutes and I am already extremely pleased and impressed. It has easy to find and use features like other templates, frame styles and every image available and searchable through the Prezi website. My only regret is that I haven't been using Prezi presentations for years!

I couldn't figure out how to share the image of my Prezi.. So here is a link!!

5)This is my poll!