Blog Assignment #8

Watch Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

In part 1, Mr. Miller talks about incremental change and I completely agree with that statement. Part one was about how the computer is an incremental change. That books are pretty much out, but if you want to find one most are published online as well and they will always remain there. It amazes me how much you can do if you find the right sources online. Mr. Miller’s Martin Luther King information sheet was very good. I liked how he incorporated the video onto his information. I also had never thought about being able to access government documents! But with the web just about anything is possible.

During part 2, one point that really stuck out was that ideas don’t belong to us individually they belong to us culturally and that is very true. With computers anyone and everyone can access information. Educators should share information and keep bringing new findings to that information. Mr. Miller is so right about the use of the technology he presented. It gets ideas out there immediately and that is great if it is good ideas, but an idea is going to appeal to at least one person and that’s all it takes for an idea to spread. We as teachers should push ideas to our culture and children! It’s our job! This video should interest us and we should carry what interest us to others. This video was really interesting to me.

I really enjoyed the two videos. I would like to go back now to the statement about incremental change. If you don’t know what that is here is a short definition: something added or gained; addition; increase. In my opinion, that is just what all this technology is as Mr. Miller had said. Its not fundamental because it’s not really apart of our former thoughts on education and learning. It is new and changing things. It’s added on to our ways of learning and helping us find new ways of sharing that information.

EDM310 is Different

I would like to participate in videos like these. They seem like they were fun to make and they are informative. I’d like to do one like the EDM310 for dummies on blogging or something like that. Doing a series on something informative would also be fun as well. The Chipper Series was cute and informative. I got a really big kick out of it. I’m sure there are actually students like this. The points Dr. Strange make are very good and informative. EDM310 for Dummies was also informative and probably helped some people out when they watched it.

Why Smartboards Are A Dumb Initiative & Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards

These two articles were different. I agreed with the first article more though. Smartboards are a good thing and they can help teach. If a teacher knows how to work it then it should be very interesting. The second article was right about teachers should learn how to work it. If a smart board just appears in a classroom and a teacher doesn’t know how to use it then it is a waste. I did like the quote from the second article. The quote was by Sylvia Martinez and said, “You can’t buy change. It’s a process, not a purchase. The right shopping list won’t change education”. As much as I agree with that I also disagree. She’s right you can’t buy change it is a process, but the right shopping list may help the process of education changing.
Here is an article that is the opposite of the others. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/06/67710