Blog Post #8

How We Dream
I just finished listening to Dr. Richard E. Miller's presentation titled This is How We Dream. I am fascinated by the use of technology for the presentation. Had I not already seen a previous presentation in class discussing the same idea about the changes being made in the areas of reading and writing and the way we can present ideas within a document, I might have thought it was just a dream.

In his presentation Dr. Miller discusses the changes that our society has undergone in the areas of research, composing, and publishing. He speaks about the incremental changes that have taken place. First, he expounds on the change in how we research. When researching a topic we no longer have to use the library, for example, but can research within our own homes using the internet. We are no longer composing the information with pencil and paper, but mainly our laptops; the same tool we are using to do our research on.

Second, he speaks about our abilities to compose not only with text, but now with images and video. Our research becomes part of the presentation in a whole new way. Also, no longer is there a wait time for the composer's information to get published before the ideas are released to the general public. Once the composer publishes the work it is out there on the internet instantaneously.
In order for this new form of research and composition to work fluently, Dr. Miller also stresses the importance of the idea of sharing. He says, "Ideas don’t belong to us individually, but they belong to us as a culture and that we as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely." Dr. Miller understands the simple value of sharing even as it pertains to the process of research, composing, and publishing.

Dr. Miller also discusses the fundamental change that has taken place in connection with the incremental changes in research,composition, and publishing. The finished product contains more than ideas in text form; its about writing to convey ideas in a detailed way that even includes audio. This makes for a more engaging and entertaining presentation that conveys the ideas in a more realistic way. This new form of composition and publishing allows for ideas to be quickly pushed into the culture. For example, when Dr. Miller published his presentation on YouTube, within 3 months it received 9,000 views, was embedded in blogs, and had started many discussions.

This use of technology is a bit intimidating for me. As I look forward to future planning, researching,and writing for my 21st century classroom I am overwhelmed by the possibilities. As I continue to work on my PLN, I will keep Dr. Miller's presentation in mind.

Carly's Post
I just realized that I missed the whole rest of blog post #8's assignment and would probably be in my happy little I did my blog post ahead of time world had I not been talking to one of my classmates in the lab yesterday. She mentioned how long the assignment had taken her and referred to Carly's Blog Post #12 and I was really confused because I hadn't done anything or read anything about this blog post. Sure enough, I missed it! So from now on I'm printing my assignments to complete them.

So you can imagine my surprise when I started reading Carly's blog post. I must admit. I did panic. I thought that we had to actually do the activity that Carly came up with. Now, don't get me wrong; it is a great assignment! But not one I want to be completing in less then 12 hours considering the thought that I like to put into my projects and other assignments. I tried to view Carly's playlist but unfortunately the video was no longer functional. So instead I watched and clicked the variety of links she had available in the order that they were written. She did a really great job using media to enhance her blog post. The idea was to convey to the reader what her teaching philosophy is. After reading her post I have gathered that Carly strives to create an atmosphere where her students are encouraged to: be inspired, think differently, be creative, and have fun.
Mr. Miller would be proud of the way that Carly used videos to convey her thoughts on her own teaching philosophy. By doing so my attention was kept, and I was able to more concretely grasp what her teaching philosophy was.

EDM 310 is Different
I really enjoyed watching the two videos EDM for Dummies and The Chipper Series. I had watched them at the beginning of the year, but after experiencing EDM 310 for myself for the past few weeks, I am able to appreciate them more. Both videos convey the importance of stepping outside of yourself and your own way of thinking and trying something new.
In the video EDM for Dummies Jennifer and Jamie both learned that by stepping back, taking a deep breath, and jumping out of their comfort zone they were able to explore new things and appreciate them. When they first began this class they were overwhelmed and felt crazy. But once they took the time to open themselves up to the new ideas they were learning in Dr. Strange's class they realized what a difference the information they learned in the class made in their lives.
In the presentation Chipper, Chipper also came to the same conclusions. At first, Chipper thought she could run away from the concepts that Dr. Strange was trying to teach her in her EDM 310 class. He was trying to teach her life skills such as meeting deadlines so unfortunately running away didn't work for Chipper. The more she tried to explore other things to avoid changing her way of thinking the more she failed. Eventually, Chipper had a change of heart and returned to get her Masters in Education. She realized that she couldn't continue to run from Dr. Strange and his life skills lessons.

Now that I have watched these videos again I can feel my creativity start to flow! It makes me want to make a movie playing off of a theme or certain message I would want to deliver to students taking this course. I could think of a few videos against this class I would like to make. For example, I would make one depicting technology being the center of our lives and everything else revolving around it. Or possibly a video about an EDM 310 Student who goes on a quest in search of more time to add hours to the day n order to complete an assignment. But since Dr. Strange stresses us to stay positive in this class,how about a video that depicts the lab assistants as our fairy God mothers? They would flutter around from screen to screen on our computers with their magic wands and diverse personalities and help us complete our many assignments. Well, my imagination is interfering with my non-managed time that is ticking away so I must move on.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
It was hard going from the fun videos to the more serious video. I have mixed feelings about the information that was presented in this video. I agree that the world is changing and that we has future educators are being called upon to prepare our students in a way that we were never prepared when we were young. I agree that "its about relationship, community..." as one person said in the video. I also agree that our classrooms are lacking a sense of community. I do not like the statement made that, "Every turned off device is potentially turned off child." It is sad to me that we think that technology is the only way to connecting with the next generation of children. It shouldn't be this way. God did not design us to be this way, in my opinion. The reality is that as we continue to push technology to be the center of our lives, the center of our classrooms, and the center of our relationships that our relationships are what will suffer in the end. Yes, technology aids in connecting people with people. But as one person stated on the video, "Technology has created a world...." In the minds of some people I fear that technology is their world. They no longer are able to relate to people outside of this world because they are not able to keep a balance between that world and the real world. Yes, we need to meet the needs of our students. I just hate to see our society and now our schools get sucked into being "plugged in" all the time and becoming dependent on technology to function both within the classroom and outside of it.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0
I was definitely not expecting anything like this! Now this is AWESOME. I just visited Justin Cometti's Blog and discovered Web 2.0.

1.I just located a site called Edmodo. It could be Facebook's long lost cousin it looks so similar to it. There are many neat features using this program. As a teacher with an account I can add my students in my classroom as a group. Once they are added I am able to post and keep track of their grades. I can also post assignments for them to complete. One of my favorite features is the calendar I can update with important test dates and other class related events. I would even use this to post birthdays. Also, when planning my lessons I can upload links to videos and other media as well as other notes, quizzes, and polls my students will be completing following the lesson.

2.There is a neat tool called Animoto This tool allows you to create a presentation using photos, videos, words, and music. To check out prices click here I was unable to find the nice deal they have for students and teachers but my fellow groupie Lindsay located a quote off the website: "Educators can apply for a free Animoto Plus account for use in the classroom...."

3. Comic Strip

4. Presenting my presentation by PhotoPeach!




This was my first time using this tool and it took me 10 minutes max to create this presentation from start to finish. It was an enjoyable trial run and I hope you enjoy the presentation!

5. I found a tool to create a poll at anytime and anywhere using Poll Everywhere