Blog Post #8

....How We Dream

Dr. Richard Miller, from Rutgers University, delivers a lecture about the changes occurring in human communication.  He explains the beginning of his fascination as a child with written prose, even describing himself as "a person of the book".  Dr. Miller has since been teaching for 16 years at Rutgers, and during his time there he has witnessed the fundamental and incremental affects the web has levied on restrictions for gathering, displaying, editing, or even processing information.


                                                        Timeline of Internet History

I was born in 1986, and from the use of this timeline you can see that the infinite use of the web is beginning to be realized.  Two decades have almost passed and the use of the internet has grown exponentially from 5,000 users to over 3 billion.  Among those new users is my parents generation, my generation, and my children's generation.  We are all growing side-by-side with the use of technology that is connecting the globe.  That is bleeding over into every aspect of our personal, academic, and professional lives.  Even five years ago a person could certainly have gone through life without ever needing to touch a computer.  That has changed.

I am challenged now by students who are not even born yet.  How can I be a guide for children when I can't see the digital path?  This class has opened my eyes to a world beyond recreational computer use.  I can collaborate with peers from across the globe in the blink of an eye.  Through programs like Symbaloo, MindMeister, UTorrent, Blogger, diigo, Vimeo, dotSUB, etc. I can help students become an educated digital citizen.  I will know the tools that students need to become successful in the classroom whether it's with multimedia or with a pencil.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post

When I arrived on Carly's blog I immediately noticed how colorful it was (so, I had to adjust mine accordingly for the sake of competitiveness).  Dr. Miller spoke a great deal about the differences between a written text and its digital predecessor.  She followed the topic set forth by Miller by using multimedia as a tool of academic expression.  The first thing that came to mind was my ability to stay focused and energetic about reading the material on Carly's page.  It is not one-dimensional, it is multidimensional.  I am directed to webpage, after video, after blog that is all part of a collaborative essence.  She inspired me to think differently and diversify!


EDM 310 is Different

Former students in EDM 310 have published two videos that speak to the general class makeup.  In the Chipper Series a student has chosen procrastination as the flag pole for her war against learning to educate herself.  The student of tomorrow faces a road that is full of "learning" potholes.  Those places are going to be filled with knowledge they receive from their own accord and not from the teacher at the front of the classroom.  I would like to be part of a community inspired video project that celebrates the benefit technology gives to schools, businesses, parks, libraries, museums, gardens, etc.

            The Death of Education            -into-                 The Dawn of Learning

The U.S. Dept of Commerce ranked education below coal mining in a study done for technology intensiveness.  As an educator technology is no longer a choice, it has unveiled a new environment.  These children live in a different space now, and that space is ideal for learning.  My generation and the ones before me have been born into an era of testing, testing, and more testing so that we can learn to access the information that only we have the capability to possess.  That is the argument made in Learn to Change.  Information has a different model than what we are used to seeing, and children need to be taught how to synthesize, adapt, discover, collaborate with it, problem solve with it, and not memorizing a literacy.  I couldn't agree more with the speakers, and the belief that this system of educating our children must slowly fade away to something much bolder and brighter than anything before.


Scavenger Hunt

1.  I used Makebeliefescomix to create my own comic strip.  There is no embed code so you must go to the webpage it was created at.  This tool is used for educators all over the world (you can even write in other languages) to throw a fun spin on a lesson they may be creating or even something they can put on their classroom wall to show proper etiquette.

2.  I found a very useful site for younger students to create animated movies.  The site is called Kerpoof and you are able to create scenes of selected backgrounds and characters.  You can control what and when they say things.  Also, you can even control the environment around your characters.  Go to this link to watch my video!

3.  I created a poll using Polldaddy.  It was free and very simple to use.  Take my poll now!