Blog Post 8

1. Watching Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2 it was not what I expected. I am not sure what exactly I expected but it was not this. Richard talking while words were coming on the screen became a little difficult. He eventually used a program such a screener to help the audience follow along. He is on the right track about how we have to adapt to technology. It is constantly changing and we have to change with it.

I could tell Dr. Miller put a lot of time and work into these videos and preparing them. They were very well thought out and planned. We as educators will eventually need to build our cirriculum around technology/ multimedia one day I believe. The idea of sharing ideas freely is great if people used it for the right reasons and cited the work. Creating an educational system is key in the classroom. Teaching the fundamentals then excelling from there is key.

Writing with multimedia does not scare me. The part that scares me is that students will be looking up to me and watch how I do things to see how THEY should do things. Even if I make a simple mistake that could become a terrible habit for my students. I believe that my students could learn to write with multimedia. It is not about the age or the level of the skill the students are doing but it is about how well the students are progressing and understand the tools being used. It is all in how the students are taught and as long as they are taught the basics and how to explore then I see no reason as to why these students will not be able to excel with multimedia.


2. Carly's blog post #12 is VERY extensive and detailed. Carly is a very hard worker and excels in her blog and school in general. She is an overachiever which will get you far in life! I like the video at the end of her blog because it brings life to the post and is interactive. I like videos because they teach in a new way and are more useful than reading a paper or out of a textbook. I do agree that she comes close to Dr Miller's multimedia guide. I like how she gives tips for how to improve the assignment given. Assignments always have room for improvement or clarifications and Carly does just this. She included so many links in this post that are resourceful. The links are borderline overkill but are worth it. I am grateful to have her as a lab assistant to EDM 310!!


3. The first student video is interesting in the sense that many of these topics do not affect me personally. For example, I do not procrastinate. I can completely see where Chipper is coming from in the "Teach me so I don't have to learn" portion. Many people in EDM310 believe this work is filler and not teaching us anything. I on the other hand think these are great resources that we as future educators could use in the classroom. Whether we update weekly or monthly it does not matter as long as we are getting the students involved in technology. It is unfortunate that so many people actually have to go through a situation similar to Chipper's to realize they really do need school and a degree to get through life.

The second video EDM for Dummies would be a good resource closer to the beginning of the semester so that we as students could have a little bit more insight on the class and how to excel in it. I did not have that strong of negative feelings toward EDM310 but I was not ecstatic about the class. The class is not hard it is time consuming. You have to figure out a system and stick to the system. I was not able to send @jamielynn519 a tweet becuase the twitter account did not come up when I searched for it.


4. The Learn to Change, Change to Learn video gets straight to the point. The most shocking thing to me was that the U.S. Department of Commerce ranked 55 industry sectors and education was ranked 55. This is the lowest, even under coal mining. The control in order in the classroom is where many teachers are stuck. Students need technology to learn. Technology is not a choice in society today. Students are going to have the technology so why not teach them how to use it effectively and educationally? Technology can be such a great resource for social networking, connecting students to new opportunities, and so much more. I personally completely agree with this video. Teachers need to change and adapt to the new classroom today and possibly tomorrow. Technology is constantly changing. We may not always be able to keep up but we can surely try. Students may be fooling around on these sites but they may not know how to properly use them. I for myself am still trying to figure out how to use Twitter a a resource rather than a simple social media site to update my every move. If the teachers can get the students involved and excited about a simulated classroom in the beginning them the students are more likely to stick with it and grow.


5. Scavenger Hunt 2.0
-You are to locate 3 of the 5 items on the list and follow the instructions.
1.) Locate a tool that is similar to Twitter/Facebook and provides a social platform for teachers, parents, and students. Create an account as a Teacher and write a paragraph or two about how you could use this site in your classroom.
2.) Locate the tool that most likely created this presentation. Once you find the site, look at the top right and click Pricing. Write a paragraph about the nice deal they make for students/ teachers.
3.) Find a tool to make-your-own comic strip. Create a comic. Post a picture of it in your blog.
4.) Find a video tool that you have never used. Summarize some it's special features.
5.) Find a tool to create a poll anywhere and at anytime. Create your first poll and post it here.

I was very interested in this part of the post because it has tools that I know I will use one day. After looking through the tools I decided to find one for each of the five instead of one for three of the five.

1.) When I was looking for this tool I found edmodo and knew it would be perfect! Edmodo is like Facebook exactly but ALL educational resources. The teachers can create groups for the students. I would use this to separate my classes to keep my resources divided for each class if I needed to. Teachers can also post assignments or even take polls on this site. It is a site solely created for parents, teachers, and students.
2.) Prezi is by far my favorite presentation tool. This site is free for students and educators and is a great tool! It is an alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint. Prezi is like PowerPoint only more interactive and fun and it doesn't hurt that it is free.
3.) MakeBelifsComix is a site that you can make your own comics. I do not see this being a huge resource in my classroom but I would most likely use it for a project a few times throughout the year. One things I did like about this was that you could write in different languages. If the class was learning a foreign language or a student was in the class who did not speak English, this could be a communication tool.
4.) There as so many video tools out there. A Mac is an incredible video tool with iMovie if you have access to it but I understand not all schools do have access. animoto seems to be the most popular video sight. It is free to create an account and with an account you have access to additional resources. "Animoto provides an array of tools for creating videos in your classroom." I think this is great because animoto focuses completly and totally on the classroom and the teachers/ students in it. You can add these videos (that are simply to edit and create) to your class blog, facebook, or other websites.
5.) Poll Everywhere is a site that you can create real-time survey experiences at events using your mobile device. It's fun, fast, and an easy way to get live responses in any venue.