Sunday, October 21, 2012

Blog Assignment #8

A girl writers the word, dream, on the chalkboard.
How We Dream

In Richard Miller's videos, "This Is How We Dream Part 1 & 2", it makes you think about the advantages, the impacts of technology and how it changes society. Richard E. Miller is an English professor at Rutgers University. He believes that modern day technology is changing education and our privacy. In his video, he talks about how writing has changed in the academy and in culture. He believes that we are living in the greatest moments of change in history. He is talking about how technology is changing us. In the beginning of the video, he talks about his experience, time and effort he put into publishing a book. At the end of all the hard work, the book is being sold for less than a dollar. There is really no point in traditional publishing or having the need to go to a library anymore because of how technology transformed society.

We do not use paper and pencils anymore. Instead, we carry our laptops or use our computer as our work space. The web is like a limitless open-source compared to a library. Instead of publishing books, we can publish and share it on the web. It takes less time and work. He also speaks about his experience on using technology and the web to do his research on the VA massacre and other projects. He did not go to the library to gather sources. Instead, he used what was available and provided on the web. Instead of using paper, pens or pencil, he used a software such as word processor to type his work on his computer or laptop. The advantage of the web versus the library is that the information is limitless. You can gather more information from various sources than go to your local library to try to find a book or an article that can be related to the massacre. On the web, you can get access to the many sources and information that won't be in the library! Your sources and information from the library are limited.

Technology and the web also allow us to do collaborative work. People can put together a piece of work with the help of unlimited sources from the web and various software that can help stitch it together. A person can also use a software, such as Skype, to discuss ideas or problems with other people without having to physically meet. You can have a conference at any time of the day. Like the collaborative project he did on Martin Luther King Jr., he combined sources, used images, audio and then stitched it together to create an original video that can be shared to others. The ability to share our own work and sources adds on to the ones that already exist. This expands the amount of sources on the web.

I think Dr. Miller is right. Technology is changing us, our culture, education and society as a whole. It's a shame that he put so much effort in publishing a book and now it's worth less than a dollar. Because the book is also published online, people are more likely to read it online versus purchasing a physical book. Technology is also shifting us in a way that we don't really need paper and pencils anymore. Instead of writing our papers and going to the library to do our research, we rely on Microsoft Word and the web. We also do most of our work online. I think that this is a great change for society but on a personal level, I won't say it's an excellent change. I enjoy the constant updates and sources that are provided on the web. I also enjoy not having to spend more money on books, papers, pens, pencils and having to go to the library to save time to do something else. Even though I enjoy all of these, I won't call it an excellent change because we lose something for change. We always lose something. I personally enjoy writing than typing. I enjoy drawing traditionally than digitally. I enjoy reading a physical book than off the internet. I also learn more if I have to go through the longer process. I love technology but in terms of learning, I personally prefer to learn the traditional way. This doesn't mean I refuse to learn it the modern way. His video also reminded me about this class, EDM310. We are using technology to do collaborative projects, to communicate and to learn. We do not use paper and pencils. It's awesome to learn this way but it's something that I am learning to get accustomed to. I have never had a class like this or have to learn like I do in this class. On a person level, it's a different learning experience that will be beneficial in the future. On a society and educational level, I think this change is 100% beneficial.

A picture from the video asking the question: Are you are 100% in the moment and totally committed in all you do?
Carly's Blog Post

Carly Pugh is a great writer and her post really got me thinking about how I want to teach, what kind of teacher I want to be and what tools do I want to use in my future classroom. She gave out an assignment where you have to create your own playlist on YouTube with videos that reflects on what kind of teacher you want to be, what you want to teach and etc. You can also add videos that can help you in your future classroom. This assignment is excellent because it urges you to use a tool that you may be unfamiliar with. Because you are using the tool, you are learning something new that can be beneficial in your learning and teaching. YouTube is also a place where you can gather and save information for later use. It also contains audio and videos. This assignment also gets you to watch many videos that you may come across while finding the one that can complete each of her questions. For example, she asks you to find a video of what a good teacher and a bad teacher is. If you search on YouTube, you may get many different types of videos. While watching these videos, you may learn something for yourself. You may learn something you never thought of! It's all part of a learning process. You are exposed to new information as you are searching on the web. This is a superb way of learning. You are not only completing the task but learning something new in the process. This is also a very creative way of learning too!

In a way, this is what Dr. Miller is referring to when he talks about writing with multi-media. In her writing, she implemented visual aid and video references. She also urges usage of media. At the end of her post, she included a video that reflected the point of her post. The usage of multi-media in writing can change the way a reader thinks and feels. It also gives them a visual understanding of what the point of the writing was. At first, she places an image of someone slacking. She was writing about how she was distracted and procrastinating. The image has a relationship with what she was writing. The video at the end of the post sums up her entire post. The music and images along with the questions really got me thinking about me being a future educator. It is hard to explain the feeling I got after reading the post and watching the video. It was beautiful.

Chipper and Dr. Strange are having a discussion.
Chipper & EDM for Dummies!

I loved these videos! In the "Chipper Series", it teaches us what not to be as a student, a learner, a future educator and an adult!! It is filled with sarcasm! I really enjoyed it and I found it funny because many students in the current semester are showing some of these "symptoms" such as procrastination, blaming the professor for not doing their job, using the excuse of life being too busy, claiming that they (the student) are not the problem and etc. Chipper avoids deadlines, have the wrong priorities, and thinks of excuses for her lack of responsibility. She gets fired from her jobs, fails at running her own school and etc. because she refused to learn the responsibilities and admit her faults. She fails to see where her problems are and learns it the hard way. Basically she wasted years and years of time. These are the things we should not do in life and in education. Especially as future educators, we have to be reasonable and responsible. We have to set our priorities straight and understand that there are deadlines! I understand people have their personal issues and events occur but it's our responsibility to inform our teacher or employer about this so they know. Like our assignments in EDM310, we have deadlines we have to meet! We signed up for this class and we should do what is necessary! I am guilty of procrastinating every week and I know it is wrong. I try to change it but it's a little hard. The point is that I admit to it whereas Chipper did not. I definitely need to stop procrastinating because it 's going to cost me. We also have to understand that time, patience and effort are important.

"EDM For Dummies" is hilarious too! A lot of the students act this way! I am laughing right now. Honestly, I don't understand how people have a problem with this class when Dr. Strange provides us all the instructions and we, as learners and future educators, should already know how to learn something new. We are adults and we did not come this far in life without learning the basics. We did not learn to walk on our own. Our parents guided us and we made the effort. It's similar to the class. Dr. Strange is guiding us and we need to put in the effort and try rather than ranting or complaining that the work is too hard. It's the same for new tools and softwares. If you don't understand something, search for a tutorial or read the instructions. This class is frustrating and the workload is more than normal but you get so much out of it! I think this class has more benefits than you think. I dislike the amount of work but I am learning a lot out of this class. I am learning about the many types of technological tools I can use in my future classroom, learning about how the technology can change our teaching and the change in education! I feel like I'm understanding the roles of a teacher even more.

A picture of the word, Change.
Learn to Change, Change to Learn The video, Learn to Change, Change to Learn, relays a powerful message about today's change in education and how many educators do not accept this change. I think their arguments are valid. It's absurd that we are not allowed to use our hand held devices, laptops and other technology tools in the classroom. I understand that many teachers prefer the traditional ways of teaching and learning but times have changed. Today, we use technology to learn. I understand that there are teachers who worry about students who will be distracted in class because they are texting their friend or tweeting but not all students will do that! I think it's the teacher's responsibility to teach their students what to do and what not to do during class. I am not saying it's entirely the teacher's responsibility but they need to set the rules and let the students know their consequences. That doesn't mean they should take away or eliminate technology in a classroom. When there's a change, other things need to change with it. With the burst of technology, society changes. When society changes, people change. When people change, I think education should change to cope with the other changes. In several of my classrooms, my professors tell us that we cannot use any electronics or laptops in the classroom. I understand why but I think that's not good. Sometimes changes will happen and we cannot do anything to stop it. Our way of learning has changed, therefore schools should accommodate. We are in the 21st century and I think we, as students, deserve a 21st century education.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

1) Social Platform - Edmodo

This is very useful site that I would use in my future classroom because it's paperless, you can input grades, add assignments and etc. It's kind of like the University of South Alabama's SAKAI system. We can also add polls and create quizzes! I think this will make it easier for the teacher and the student. Because it's on the web, it's paperless! Paperless is always a good thing. On Edmodo, we can also include other teachers into the classroom to view their work and grades. It's a neat tool. Teachers and their students can also have a forum conversation. This is good because that means the students can ask questions before the class.

2) Presentation Tool - PREZI

Prezi offers two exclusive deal for students and teachers! We get to create out own logo than use Prezi, 500mb of storage space and we can secure our content for free! Because you can store your presentations, Prezi can act as a back-up device. The other deal is we get more storage space (2GB), offered better and faster support, and we get to use a Prezi desktop for us to work offline. This deal costs less than $5 a month! Honestly, this is a really cheap deal especially for 2GB worth of storage space. Prezi also allows you to share your content as you please. You can access your presentations anywhere.

2) Poll - Poll Everywhere

3 comments:

  1. Anna,

    Fantastic post. "I enjoy reading a physical book than off the internet." I was actually thinking this when I was reading your post, and then you said it and I was like, "Well. We're on the same page!" I also like your attitude about learning and this class. It really isn't hard if you put in the effort. And once you get used to things, putting in the effort won't seem so daunting.

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  2. Just received a check for $500.

    Sometimes people don't believe me when I tell them about how much money you can get taking paid surveys online...

    So I took a video of myself getting paid $500 for filling paid surveys to set the record straight.

    ReplyDelete