Blog Post 8

1. This Is How We Dream
How We Dream Part 1, Richard E. Miller discuses the incremental changes in writing with multimedia. Mr. Miller stated that we are experiencing the greatest change in human communication, in human history. Mr. Miller is primarily talking about books and news articles, but the way we communicate on a daily basis has also changed drastically. I remember when leaving your house for the day meant not communicating with anyone that was not in the car with you. Now you can stay connected with the world all from a device that can fit in the palm of your hand.
Additionally, Mr. Miller discusses the ability to research right from the web. Before all of the advancements with the internet you could spend hours at the library looking up books and going through the pages searching for valuable information. Now, you can do all the research you need right from your own computer. Mr. Miller stated that a print document will eventually make its way to the trash, but a web document will be available forever. Within a matter of seconds anyone can find any information they need right from their own home. People can collaborate using networking, text, image, video, and sound. With all of these advancements, the way we read, write, and learn has changed drastically.



Part 2
Finally, in part 2 of This is How we Dream, Mr. Miller discusses the fundamental changes that are involved in writing with multimedia. Mr. Miller said, "ideas don't belong to us individually, but they belong to us as a culture". I thought this was a profound statement simply because, what good is an idea or knowledge if we keep it to ourselves and do not share it with the world. We, as educators are responsible for sharing our ideas and knowledge. Otherwise, we can not and will not grow. It's up to us to publish our ideas to the web so that it will be available to the world. We can easily compose with the web to produce different versions of information that already exists and make it appealing to a different audience.

2. Carly's Post
I think Carly's blog post 12 was exactly what Richard Miller was disusing in his video's This is How We Dream. Carly's assignment idea was to have her students create a YouTube play list that contained video's that would help and inspire them as teachers. Carly not only used text in her post, but she used video's to help get her message across. I think this is precisely what Mr. Miller had in mind when he disused the changes in communication. Carly did a fabulous job with her assignment and I think she has a very good understanding of how to mix text, image, video, and sound.

3. EDM 310 Videos
I loved The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies. The Chipper Series is a great example of what can happen in life if we try to take short cuts or find an easy way out. Chipper started off on the wrong foot by not keeping up with her assignments and she lost control once she got behind. EDM310 for Dummies is a great example of what it can feel like if you do not know what's going on and get behind. Everything can become overwhelming if you procrastinate and let everything pile up on you. The moral of these videos is, don't procrastinate and do your research so you will know what's going on. Additionally, if I had the opportunity to create or participate in a video for EDM310, I would probably want to make one on creating a podcast and utilizing the green screen. Now that I have done it, it doesn't seem so bad, but going into it I have to admit I was terrified.


4. Learn to Change, Change to Learn
I couldn't agree more with the points made in the video Learn to Change, Change to Learn. Schools and classrooms need to change the way they are teaching children. The video mentioned that students have a more stimulating environment outside of school. The reason for this is because many school systems have banned the use of networking and other technology in the classroom. Students today are not going to respond to the same methods that used to work ten years or even five years ago. Teachers also need to be equipped with the tools and connections to teach their students to make global connections. Teachers and students are still working within a system that is mostly concerned with standardized testing; when in fact,in the 21 century they need to be concerned with how to find information, how to validate it, communicate it, collaborate it, and problem solve with it. If students are not being stimulated in the class room they are going to tune out and they will be forever lost. We have to change the way students are being taught in the classroom.


5. Scavenger Hunt 2.0
This assignment was suggested by Justin Cometti in the fall semester of 2011 in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. Like mentioned previously in this post, he also had to come up with an assignment, like Carly's. Justin came up with the Scavenger Hunt 2.0 . In this assignment, we were given 5 things to look for, but were to only choose 3 assignments to do on our post. I first, located Edmodo.com . It is a website that is much like Twitter or Facebook, but for students and teachers to interact with one another. This is a great tool for the classroom. It is a space where students and teachers can communicate back and forth. It is especially useful for parents, too. The parents will be able to see some, if not most, of the work performed by their children online.
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