Blog Assignment #8

This is How We Dream Parts 1 & 2 by Richard Miller

Richard Miller is an English professor that teaches writing at the university level. These videos are about how writing has changed in so many ways in recent years. He recalls how it was we he came up, reading books, researching at the library and writing with a pencil and paper. More recently, writing was and is still done on word processors. He then goes on to talk about how writing has changed from libraries and pencil to laptops and a world library that is found on the world wide web.

There is almost no end to documents, books, and resources that can be found on the web. Also, in our world today of instant global communications, collaboration can be done between people who are far apart. Materials on the internet are updated constantly. Documents produced on the web feature text, visual and audio components. With these new avenues of composition, the restrictions are largely the ones we place on ourselves.

Even with all of these new possibilities, Dr Miller realizes that an educational system of this nature is not readily accessible to all. But, he does believe he can foresee when composing using today's digital resources will be used. Composition and production will be different, but he feels this is a way to push ideas into our culture and that educators should be at the front edge of it. To create this type of education we need inspiring teachers and spaces and pedagogies that foster creativity and collaboration. These objectives can only be reached by combining and sharing the best of the sciences and the best of the humanities. The goal is not the technologies but what the technologies make possible.

I actually enjoyed Dr Miller's video and talk. Maybe I should call it a digital book or a podcast. Anyway, I could relate to a lot of what he said. Neither of us grew up with this technology and we were both raised on books and libraries. I still go to the library and read books, but it's more for pleasure than for research. To find an answer or information it is so much easier and faster to go to the web library where there are countless resources to explore. I also appreciated that he acknowledged that education based on the digital age had not yet arrived but was possibly in the foreseeable future.

Blog Post #12 by Carly Pugh

I found this post interesting, creative, and very energetic. Some of the videos were inspiring, some were thought provoking, some were educational for me. I felt like "Creativity to the Rescue" was spot on because we need some creativity or something to fix our society and world; whatever is being done now is not working.

I think Carly's use of videos which had text, music, voices speaking, and images are exactly what Dr Miller had in mind. These types of tools would appeal to all the senses and all different types of learners. I would really like to try some of this in the classroom. Some of the stuff we heard about this semester I have difficulty seeing it work any time soon, but a YouTube video is something I know could be done in classrooms now.

The Chipper Series by Poppy Bednorz

I thought this video was entertaining and well put together. If I understood it correctly the moral of the story is nothing worthwhile comes easy. Chipper appears to be searching for the path of least resistance for the majority of the video, but nothing ever seems to work out. I would definitely side with Dr Strange about flying with a pilot with one month of simulation training. Finally, after all else fails, she has a cleansing of the mind and decides to go back to school. Whatever you do in life, to be successful at it you will have to be responsible enough to do what you need to do. There really are no shortcuts.

EDM310 for Dummies

I can totally relate to the first part of this video. For the first 2-3 weeks I was floundering big time. I was not being like Chipper; I was just lost every time I turned around. When I finally started getting the hang of some things, new things kept popping up. If the book was available, I would absolutely own one. I have not reached the point shown at the end of the video. I hope that I will. If I don't it won't be from lack of effort. I thought 16 hours a week was excessive the first day of class. Now I would feel like I was coasting if I only worked on this class 16 hours a week. Maybe it will all come together.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

I'm in agreement with pretty much every thing said in the video. Most of it we've heard before. The schools and the way we teach need to change. I wouldn't argue either of these points. Incorporating social networks into the learning process sounds like a great idea if someone can find a reasonable way to implement it. I'm sure it would work with the kids that try hard and can see a reason to learn. There is no doubt that the classroom is generally boring and the student's experiences outside the classroom are more exciting and entertaining. I agree that if these things could somehow merge with learning, our students would achieve more. Once again, I still think that the learning, no matter what the methods, is in large part dependent on the student's desire to work to learn.










The Chipper Series by Poppy Bednorz & Jamie Lynn Miller