Blog Assignment 8

This is How We Dream Part 1 and Part 2

Dr. Richard Miller is very informed and passionate about the infinite uses for technology. In his lecture he states,"We are living at the moment of the greatest change in human communication in human history". He believes it is a great age for reading and writing. We have access to almost anything we can think of right at our fingertips. We no longer have to go to the library to find a book or do research. Everything is available to us online.
Many people are embracing the use of technology in the classroom. Technology is advancing more and more everyday and students need to know how to use it productively. Dr. Miller feels we should prepare for a world where everything is done digitally. He even discusses how people are discovering how to compose things digitally without the need for word processors. Although this technique is new and not fully understood, people are figuring out how to do it and I'm sure that one day we will hopefully be teaching our students how to.
As a future teacher, I am excited about all the advances in technology. I want my students to embrace and enjoy learning and I know technology will help immensely. Teachers need to try and be on their students' level and teach them in a way they will understand and can relate to. For digital learning to work and be successful, Dr. Miller explains that educators must come together and share ideas and help to develop a pedagogy for this type of learning. The fact is that technology is not going anywhere so we might as well embrace it and use it to enhance our lives and learning experience.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12

I really enjoyed reading Carly's post. It's obvious she put a lot of time, thought, and creativity into it. She seemed to really embrace the ideas of Dr. Miller. She thought of a way to use digital learning to express what she wanted to say. She made use of text, audio, video, and images in her post for a full digital experience. I loved her idea of the You Tube playlist. What a wonderful, creative, innovative way to express yourself and your teaching philosophy. I enjoyed reading her different ideas for her future students in her English class. She showed that there are many ways to get your point across without explicitly using the written text. I know she will be a fantastic teacher one day and her future students are in for a great learning experience!

The Chipper Series and EDM 310 for Dummies

I enjoyed watching these two student made videos. I really related to The Chipper Series because I am ,unfortunately, behind in EDM 310 and it was extremely hard to catch up. I am learning how important it is to be on time and meet deadlines. As a future teacher, my students will depend on me to be prepared and organized so I can teach them in the best way possible. EDM 310 for Dummies was great. It was nice to see that everyone has trouble with this class at the beginning but that Dr. Strange provides us with everything we need to be successful in this class. It's important to learn to do things on your own. If I were to create a video for this class it would be along the same lines as these two videos. I would hope to show future EDM 310 students that everyone will have some form of difficulty in this class but that it is possible to do well and there is ample help available. I still struggle with procrastination but this class is definitely helping me to overcome the trait.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

This video was very thought provoking. I think teachers forget sometimes that students don't solely learn from their teaching in the classroom. Students are constantly learning from many different sources whether it be Twitter, Facebook, or other online sources. They are even learning from each other when they text message. The video states that "every turned off device is potentially a turned off child". If technology is what's keeping a child's attention, then shouldn't teachers want to use more technology in the classroom? Learning is about so much more than memorizing facts and taking tests. It's also about sharing, community, growing as individuals, expressing creativity, using the imagination, and having fun. The video says that students need to be able to synthesize and communicate the information they are being taught. What service are we performing for our students if they only learn information for a test then forget everything the minute the test is over. This is not learning. One person on the video described the changing system as, "the death of education but the dawn of learning". This is a powerful statement to make but it is true. Students are learning to enjoy learning. The education system is changing and we must all learn to change with it. This new frontier of education is an amazing thing but will only serve as a positive event if we come together and decide to finally give our students the education they want and deserve.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

#2- The tool that most likely created this presentation is, Prezi. Prezi offers a great package to students and educators and it is completely free! All you need to sign up for it is an educational e-mail address. The plan offers 500MB of storage space, the option to make your Prezi private, the ability to use your own logo/trademark and premium support. Prezi is a great tool for the classroom because it can make a lesson more engaging, interactive, and fun for the students. Prezi is also a great tool for students to use to make their assignments and projects more interesting and creative.

#3- I used Make Beliefs Comix to make my own comic strip. It was so much fun and would be a great way to make a lesson or presentation pop and keep the students interested. It is somewhat hard to read the comic so I also included a link to it. Epic Fail in EDM 310

#5 I created this poll usingPoll Everywhere. It would be a great tool to use in the classroom to further make learning fun and interactive for the student.

Make a live audience poll at Poll Everywhere