Blog Post #8

Dream on....

This week we viewed a video on Youtube called "This is How We Dream" by Dr. Richard Miller. The video was about how writing has changed due to new technology. No longer is writing just something to be done in MicroSoft Word, but it can now be done digitally. Images, film, and sound can be weaved into any document written today. We can also research anything we would want to write about immediately from our computer, without ever having to go to the library! In fact, people are composing with the web itself!

I found it interesting that Dr. Miller mentioned that a written article or paper in the past took about two years for it to get out and circulate in his field. However, today a written article can reach millions of people in just a few days. It really is impossible to understand and get a grasp on how quickly the world is changing around us.

As teachers, we need to inspire our students and collaborate with them. We need to be more in tune to teaching creativity and curiosity. The future of teaching is all about ideas, and not about teaching facts. When we teach children ideas, then we can inspire dreams!

We also viewed Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12.

http://pughcarlyedm310.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-post-12.html

She had her own idea for a new EDM310 assignment and shared it on her blog. I must say that I thought it was brilliant and it kind of brought all the ideas of the Edm310 class together in one nice little package. She suggested that our assignment would be for each of us to make our own "Youtube Playlist". We should have a minimum of ten videos that describe our teaching philosophy, ways to motivate our students, tips for classroom management, topics related to our particular field of study, current trends in education, etc.

She actually created the assignment in her blog because she had so many video sites for us to visit as she described the whole thing. We got to witness first hand her teaching philosophy as we clicked on each new link!

So.....I'm game! I'm ready!


We also got to view two more creations by former EDM310 students.
We watched "The Chipper Series"

http://gallery.me.com/jstrange#101120

and "EDM310 for Dummies"
both by Jamie Lynn Miller.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqhMRj-Ne38&feature=player_embedded

There was some wild and crazy acting going on as you watched a procrastinator at work in "The Chipper Series". There was also some wild frustration coming out in "EDM310 for Dummies". These were two cute videos making fun of keeping up with school work and being able to understand all this new technology. I will say...I would like to really, really buy that book called "EDM310 for Dummies"! I need all the help I can get!

Lastly, we viewed a video called "Learn to Change, Change to Learn"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHiby3m_RyM&feature=player_embedded%23!

This was a really good video about how learning needs to change in our school system.  In the video, they mentioned that the U.S. Department of Commerce did a study recently in the industry of IT intensiveness and measured 55 different industry sectors.  Sadly, education came in dead last.....they were even behind coal mining!  What a shame!  However, I am not surprised!  

The school systems don't have the money to have all the high tech equipment to compete with the private sector.....same old story!  Now that computers are more affordable, the schools are finally getting them and they are trying very hard to play catch up.  Most teachers are way behind also and they certainly don't know how to incorporate technology into the curriculum.  I feel it will take a good, long while for education to get back in the game.

The video also mentioned that all of these students today have very rich environments with social networking, media, electronics, gaming, etc.  However, when they come to school, they have a poor environment that has none of these things.  We really need to "have a death of education" for there to be a "dawn of learning".

Sad, but true..............