Monday, October 11, 2010

Blog Assignment 8

This is How We Dream
Richard Miller is talking about how we have the ability to communicate instantly and globally. This is so important for literature and many other professions. This is the time to engage in literacy. It is so important for people who enjoy and take part in reading and writing.
Mr. Miller loves books and dreamed about a career that involved working with books. The end result is a book.
He believes there is a fundamental change and an incremental change. He talks about how he can figure out just by going on line and finding new information. He explains how this process only takes a few seconds.
It is pretty cool how he is showing how we can come from a reading/writing lifestyle to a watching/listening lifestyle. He shows us how to do so by making word documents into web documents which is really awesome. This could be really important and useful. He also show show a print document can be made into a web document.
I think this is a great idea and I believe that life will be like this shortly and is already on the way. Pretty soon we will be listen/watching our "books" and assignments. It will also be able to incorporate videos in learning instead of the pictures you see in text books.
Richard explains that we have found that as we work in this digital environment, there is  a new kind of material that changes before our eyes and is updated instantly. When it is said this way it really is an eye opener. If you think about it, the information we read on the web is updated all of the time and immediately. More information can be added as well. It is different in the books sake because once the book is printed there is not editing and going back. There are also visual aides.
You can view lectures online instead of sitting through one in a classroom and they can be edited as well.
This was a really interesting and informative video. It has two parts that both had great information and great ideas for technology in learning. The most interesting to me was making print and word documents into web documents. This is already happening and will continue to happen as time goes on. I enjoyed Mr. Miller's video! He had some excellent points!


Chipper
I thought this was entertaining because it shows the typical college student waits until the last minute to get their work done. Let's be honest, we have all been procrastinators at some point or another, some of us more than others! I thought Jamie Lynn and Dr. Strange did a good job in the video. It was cool how they show Chipper coming back and updating Dr. Strange with her life and what she has been doing. It is a good way to see how procrastinating now can affect your future. It can be carried with you and affect the jobs you get. It is an important to not procrastinate with work in any subject or in any work environment. This video was very important to me! This is the exact reason why I do my very best to not procrastinate!

EDM 310 for Dummies
This was not the first time I had watched this video but it was still just as entertaining! I thought Jamie Lynn and her partners did a great job on this video. I love the info-mercial take on the podcast. They were comical and informative. It is really funny because I am sure most of us have felt this way before! I will admit it, the first couple of weeks I was very confused and frustrated about some things, but after I got the hang of things it has been such a fun class and I am learning so much. This video gave me hope that I can learn lots of new things and its not as complicated or frustrating as it seems. This video was great!!


Why Smartboards are a Dumb Initiative
Just reading the title made me question what this article would be about. Personally, I love Smartboards and think they are great! I think there is so much you can do with them. I also think there are so many ways to learn with a Smartboard. I took a small class on Smartboards in my AED 301 class and I fell in love with all the ideas of Smartboard. After reading this article I must say that I disagree with most of Mr. Staton's arguments about the Smartboard. I think using a Smartboard is totally different than using the computer. Students enjoy seeing the information on a large screen better than on a small computer screen. I also think it keeps children more interested if the teacher is pointing and clicking with their finger on the Smartboard than clicking their mouse at their desk. I also think it is awesome to save or hide material on the Smartboard for teaching and learning. There are also many games you can play on the Smartboard to enhance student's learning as well. Yes, Smartboards are expensive but they are so much better than writing on a chalk board. It saves so much valued time because you don't have to erase and write something else on the chalk board. On the Smartboard you can already have what you need and just navigate to it when you are ready for it. Overall, I think Smartboards are a SMART initiative and I love using them! I hope when I am a teacher I am lucky enough to have one or something like it in my classroom.

Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards
I think that maybe a Smartboard is not for everyone but I believe I would make good use out of having a Smartboard in my classroom. He gave his away after a year because he said he couldn't find any use out of it but I know I could! He says Smartboards do not promote individual creativity but I believe they do.  I think a student could be creative by using a Smartboard for different projects or assignments. It could be  a really cool way to teach the classroom about something they are interested in. In general, I just see Smartboards a great learning and teaching tool. I think they are fabulous but possibly not for everyone. If you like it then great, if you don't then oh well!

Child with Smartboard

3 comments:

  1. Yes! This is for sure the typical student. Just yesterday I was a classmate's house helping her work on an assignment due this mornin. We all have some procrastination is us one way or the other. "Chipper" was very entertaining! It was a good video for many age groups. I think high school students should see this also. Procrastination defintely effects our future! It's good to know that as soon as we are students that have to make the decision on our own to study!

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  2. I like the way you can see both sides for the smartboards. It's true, some will like them and some will not.

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  3. Excellent post Leigh!

    My main position on the smartboard debate is that its just like anything else, everyone has an opinion and people will debate just about anything. But comparing the smartboard to the chalkboard is about like comparing picking cotton by hand to using the cotton gin, it defies common sense. The smartboard is a great tool and its effectiveness depends on the user. If the teacher has an open minded and creative attitude it will be extremely beneficial for all who are involved. If the teacher is not open minded and has a negative attitude about the smartboard it will be useless. It is as simple as that. SS

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