Blog Post #8

This Is How We Dream


Richard Miller's lectures, This is How We Dream Part 1 & 2, were preaching a lesson in 2008 that is now the 'norm', and that is learning instantly, on the internet. Our knowledge updates at the time it happens. There is no printed documents that take months to get released. There is no longer traveling all over to do research for your topic. You have everything you need at your fingertips. Limits are now something that only we can put on ourselves.
I loved that Richard Miller's lectures took place in 2008, and now we are taking courses like EDM 310 in college, preparing us how to teach our future students to be self-learners. The students we teach will grow up doing what we are just now uncovering with the internet, and that is that they can share knowledge with other people all over the world. That will allow them to research anything that interests them.
I loved when he discussed how the internet allows all of the information to be updated immediately. He used the example of voting records and patterns. You can see the reaction of Americans about a political decision as it is happening. It no longer takes weeks, months, or years for information to be published. Even then it only reaches certain people that have access to libraries or subscribe via the mail. I remember when I was growing up I had to get subscriptions to Sports Illustrated, and other sports magazines to keep up with my favorite teams. Today, I turn on my computer when I wake up and every score is right there for me. Even as a coach, we are using an iPhone App to update our high school scores and I can follow any other high school team in Alabama that I would like. The beautiful thing about technology is that is never going to stop growing.


Blog Post #12 by Carly Pugh

Carly's Blog Post #12 was most inspiring to me because it was brutally honest. It's very hard to allow yourself to be open and honest on the INTERNET where everyone in the world can see it. She used her indecision as her strength, not her weakness. That was very inspiring to me because I tend to doubt my creativity all the time. I need to just be me and know that is enough. I loved her idea for an assignment and see how it has a little head fake in it...by putting together YouTube videos that she loves, she has created her own teaching philosophy.
I am also able to see Dr. Miller's use of multi-media teaching because she collaborates videos from all over the web, and world, and puts them together to create a different and unique message. She has a mass of information in her blog post, and she ties it all together to mean something, to show her philosophy. It was a very cool idea, and again, I loved that she didn't fight her indecisiveness, she used it! Awesome!!!

EDM 310 is Different

Let's see, a video that I would like to help create would be one showing how much faster younger students can learn with technology. I would show students learning through books, and chalkboards, and compare students learning through the internet, and SmartBoards. The video would also touch on lecturing in front of a class, and compare that to network learning. Its point would be to show how students can learn at different speeds, knowledge is at their fingertips, and they are capable of being self-learners.
The videos were great, really creative and funny. The message was to challenge yourself to be a self-learner, and that is what EDM 310 is teaching us. Learning new ways of learning can be frustrating at times, but that is because it causes you to grow. Growth is a process, and change is hard but it's the only way to keep learning. Edm for dummies was really cute, acting like it was a book was hilarious...nice touch!

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

WOW!!! This video was amazing! I honestly agree with all of the arguments made in this video. My Dad has always said that school shouldn't feel like jail. Since I've been taking this course, things in schools I've subbed in have really stood out to me. The main one is taking students cell phones...they live on these things, why not make them a part of learning? Use it in a positive way. Another disturbing observation I've noticed is teachers literally chasing a child who was trying to cut school. Seriously, I want to be a teacher, not a juvenile detention officer. This observation (in my personal opinion) is a reflection of the teacher, not the student. The classroom should be a place the student can grow and explore, they should never feel like they are forced to be there. I believe giving them a sense of freedom to learn on their own, and at the pace that suits them is the way to go. We are not there to control kids, and force feed information to them. The video made a great point...today it does not matter IF you know the information, but it does matter if you know how to use it. Thanks to EDM 310 we are getting the tools needed to help future students be self-learners.

Scavenger Hunt



Edmodo
I chose to join Edmodo because my younger sister, who is a 5th grade teacher loves it, and always talks about it. It has tons of different uses that can help teachers. One cool feature is to use it to give assignments- start by giving reading assignments to your students. After they complete their readings they can go to their computers and complete conclusion questions on Edmodo. Another useful feature of Edmodo is a portal for communicating with parents. You can also do polls on Edmodo. Setting up quizzes and other assignments for students seems to be a very useful way to use the network.

Make Belief Comix is what I used to make my comic. I got impatient and couldn't figure out how to put a picture of it on my blog. I'm also irritated because I'm very late getting this done. Being behind is awful and causes too many sleepless nights. This will be the last incomplete and/or late assignment I turn in for EDM 310. Hard lesson, but learned.