Blog Post 8

This is How We Dream

     This video was, at first, somewhat confusing. However, Richard Miller was able to tie all of the loose ends together and even though I may not fully understand it, I have been able to grasp some of his concept. 

     To start, he discussed how writing has changed. We went from just a world of books. Books are what we learn out of, what we record ideas and factual content in, and where we do our research. Me, particularly, do not care for books. Yes, I think they come one handy when I am working on homework, homework for all my classes except EDM310, for we are a virtual class, in a sense. But the world has changed, as Miller has suggested in his video. The way we research and learn is on the web. The majority of written assignments due in schools today are to be typed. Hence, we are a technology based world. And classes like EDM310, we are a class to do work solely on the web. 

     Speaking of EDM310 being a web based course, I think it is becoming evident that Miller may have influenced this course. Our assignments in this course are fully accessible. Dr. Strange has mentioned numerous times that we are leaving an intellectual trail. He has made us fully aware, or at least those who read the class blog, that we will be searched, our ideas will be read, and we should keep that in mind when making our posts. As well as expressing our own thoughts.

     It is interesting to look at how much is available online, and at our disposal. We use other's thoughts, to form our own. And with them being available online, it is easier to access each other's thoughts. It would make formulating conclusions and our own ideas more difficult without the use of the web. I said difficult, not impossible, because obviously enough, we, as a human race, have been using the hard copy system for longer then the virtual system. It just takes the travel time out of the equation. I like that Miller suggests that ideas do not belong to an individual. We should share our thoughts and ideas with the entirety of the world. Sharing our thoughts can enable others to have thoughts, build upon our thoughts, and possibly even improve the world in which we live. It happens all the time. We should overcome our stupidity of being selfish. It is only slowing down the improvement and advances of the world. Share your thoughts and ideas with the world.. Especially those aspiring to be teachers. We must share our enthusiasm to dream and think with our students, for it will encourage them to do the same!
Chipper
     The message: you must follow your heart before you realize what the best course for you is. As chipper showed, although her priorities were a bit mixed up, no matter what aspect of interest she pursued, she came back for her education to get her master's degree in Education. She showed that procrastination, mixed-up priorities, and carelessness can get you no where in life. To get the things that you want, you must try your best, in a timely manner, handle priorities of importance first, and care about how you handle your professionalism. I think that this was a great project. From what we were told on the first day of class, this seems to have some personal experience, or maybe it all is. If I could be involved in a project, I would like to take a life lesson, that I learned the hard way, and share someone my story, in hopes to spare someone else the same hardship or mistake.
EDM310 for Dummies

     What a comical infomercial! It is funny to see Jamie Lynn portray a student of EDM310, although the temperament may have been a bit skewed. It showed factual content: students do get frustrated with the  class assignments. Students also get confused with some assignments. It is even funnier how the "EDM310 for Dummies" book is available to all students. It is called the Instruction Manual, people! It goes to show that if you take the time to read the assignments, and instructions, the frustration level drops tremendously.

 Why Smart Boards are a Dumb Initiative

This article is mainly discussing the opposition of the Smart Board. It is argued that even though it is a more appealing media for projecting ideas to the class, it only helps test scores by 1%. (Or at least that is the statistic provided in the article.) The author of the article says that the Smart Board is an acceptable way to spend money to try and help students stay engaged, but thinks that the money should be spent elsewhere. None-the-less, even though this author is a gadget-goo-roo, they are opposing Smart Boards for their lack of educational improvement and the fact that they are less cost-efficient.

   Why I Hate Interactive White Boards
      Bill Ferriter feels very adamant that interactive white boards(IWB) are a waste of financial resources. He argues that IWBs are discouraging the collaboration among students. He goes to quote Sylvia Martinez, who says, "You can't buy change. It is a process, not a purchase. The right shopping list won't change education." (I know Dr. Strange might want to give me a failing grade for my next statement, but to justify, I can sympathize with this statement, so hear me out.)
     In EDM310, we have an interactive white board. Frankly, I have seen it used twice. I come in the lab twice a week, at least, and to say the least, it has not helped me in the slightest. I have visited my old high school, spoken to one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Mallon. He is the drafting teacher at Theodore High School. He said that the Smart Boards are cool, but after visiting with him on a few occasions, I never saw him use it. And I visited during school hours. Maybe if I were to witness the capabilities of this new technology, I could come to the conclusion that they are valuable to the education process.

During research, I cam across an article that is in rebuttal to these two particular articles discussed above: 

The Interactive White Board Revolution 

This website offers testimonials of teachers around the world, and you will see the various ways that these teachers utilize their interactive white boards. Some, like Katie, show the various ways an IWB can be used. For one project, a news program, they can use the IWB to write, produce, edit, and film the entire production. That is kind of cool. I dare take back my opinion [above] about how i agreed with Mr. Fassiter. But it does take training, as it discusses further into this webpage, in order to be able to fully utilize its capabilities. But technology has yet to be widely accepted by all, and this piece of technology will suffer the same attitude. And what I mean about that is, people will be hesitant to using the Smart Boards, just like some people are hesitant to get computers, get cell phones, etc. Technology being accepted, is a matter of opinion. I think when people see the various attributes an IWB has, people will be more open to using one.