Blog Assignment #8

This video that Dr. Miller made about incorporating multimedia applications as the future form of writing for students was pretty interesting. He mentions in part one of the video that he grew up loving books and reading and knew that he wanted to be associated with it when he grew up. However, he realizes that the world has evolved into something that has outgrown the library and the word processor. I have mentioned previously in other blogs of mine that education has got to reinvent itself. Dr. Miller said we need "fundamental changes." His idea is to teach students how to write with multimedia. The information is already there and there is an unlimited amount that we have access to.

Instead of barricading yourself away for hours or days to write reports, learn to collaborate with other students and educators from all over the world to produce these amazing multimedia projects that can cover any topic going on in the world from the past, present, or even the future!! Dr. Miller showed us in the video these amazing projects with videos, text, graphs, and webcast of people who all have insight of that particular topic. Instead of just watching teachers present them with information, help them research their questions, assignments, and projects online where the sky is the limit!

He mentions in the second part to the video a few ideas of where education can go. He has this vision of teachers that are inspired to the idea of new media composing and spaces that foster collaborative learning. He said there is ideas on this video that are not even possible yet; but, he believes that with the ever evolving improvements in technology, that the possibility will become reality. This will only happen when people like me and others coming up in education as principals, teachers, and school board members take a real deep look into what can make this field better. Because we are the ones who are going to shape our kids lives and your kids lives!

After reading Carly's blog, I am just blown away by her idea. I just got down watching all of her videos she created on her playlist. Every video tells a little bit about what her vision is of teaching. What is so amazing about this idea that she along with Dr. Miller are emphasizing is that we are all different in how we see the world. Yet, everybody brings something unique to the table. Everybody has heard the term "A picture says a thousand words." There are other ways to express our passions other than essays and word processor applications!! The world is a great big place just full of incredible people that want to tell you there hopes and dreams!! Help them make this a reality and we will all succeed in this crazy profession we all are inspired to do!!

I have been sitting here for the past hour trying to come up with an idea for a video that would help with this class. Well, I came up with absolutely nothing!! But wait, there is a reason for this. I am suffering from a new epidemic that is spreading all over the campus at the University of South Alabama. Students are going through these debilitating phases of depression and mass hysteria. This is followed by walking the streets aimlessly almost like a zombie. Eyewitnesses have said that when they approached these people to ask if they were okay, they only thing they could say was, "EEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDMMMMMMMMMMMM3333333333111111111000000000". It seems that all the students who have this problem have been linked to a class called EDM310. This class is taught by Dr. John Strange and requires students to learn how to do things on their own and utilize technology in their future classrooms. This idea of self learning has pushed them to the point of madness!! Somebody make it stop!!

Okay, I was just kidding!! It does make for a great video of the stages of self improvement that you go through in this class. It would be fun to film a student as they go from scared to frustrated and then watch them on their ascent up when they actually opened their minds and tried to learn something on their own!! What an amazing concept. Maybe we need Dr. Phil!!(For those of you that don't know what sarcasm is, you just read it in the previous paragraph as well as this one!!) That was for you Dr. Strange!

After watching the two videos, I can tell you that Chipper was related to procrastination and the notion that students still want to be force fed information. They don't want to learn. In fact, some would rather do something "easier" like serving or cleaning up garbage because you don't have to learn new skills. The key to this class is taking what you learn and continue to grow and expand your knowledge. This is a never ending process. The second video on EDM310 for Dummies was great!! The message I got from it is that if you take the time to read all the links that this class provides you, you can actually teach yourself a lot of the required programs that are in this class. What I can tell you is that if you make the effort to learn the tools of this class, the lab assistants are almost like the guides that we are learning to be as teachers. They won't do the work for you, but they will help fill in the blanks on what we don't quite grasp. Enjoyed the videos a lot!!

My stance on this video is mixed. I watched the educator and the student version of this so I could get a better perspective on what this new style of education is that they are pushing for in the classroom. I agree that technology is very important to education moving forward. My only objection is they were kind of unclear on how to do this. One of the professors mentioned that school should be a place for social media sharing and collaborative projects. I believe that could be a great addition but not the only forms of education. Don't get me wrong, the idea that most kids are probably learning more from researching on their own than they used to. That doesn't mean that education in the classroom is becoming obsolete. Maybe the whole brick and mortar idea is getting old. I am a huge fan of the ISchool approach that was mentioned in one of the earlier videos from the semester. A combination of the two is the direction I would like to see.