Sunday, October 17, 2010

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

In these videos Dr. Miller is discussing the future of writing. He is sharing how different the world will be for students and teachers by using the computer and internet world to do everything paper and pencil used to do. Downloading a book online is way cheaper than trying to buy a hard back from the store. Also, doing a research paper, having to view two different pages, is hard with hard copies. If you use e-books you can have them side by side and bookmark the pages you need instead of flipping all over the place looking for it. This leads me into the writing sense of things.

Using the computer as a writing tool in our future will save us money and time. If you need an assignment sent from one side of the country to the other, instead of writing it on paper and faxing it or scanning and e-mailing it, write it using a software program that is viewed by your teacher, boss, or employer. Dr. Miller said it best when he mentioned we currently don't have teachers to teach these programs. No one knows what the future hold but everyone seems to be contributing to what they feel the future should be.

With the ever growing world of technology, I feel that Dr. Miller is on the right path to creating a new and better way of learning. We need teachers to become students and learn the technology to incorporate with their knowledge in specific areas of study to pass down to future students. The world will change (is changing) the only thing we can do is prepare for it.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies

The point of both of these videos is to get the work done on time. If you do not understand what is going on get help from your classmates. If you still can not figure it out, try a lab assistant, THAT WILL HELP YOU, rather than the ones that won't.

Why Smartboards Are A Dumb Initiative

Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards

I agree with both of these critiques. Smart boards are good in elementary classrooms because they keep the students focused on the lesson by having interaction between them but for middle school and high school age students, a computer with a touch screen writting pad hooked up to a projector can be used to teach the same lessons. Too much money is being used to equip one classroom with this technology rather than dividing into more classrooms for a less expensive learning tools that do the same thing.

3 comments:

  1. I agree if we do not learn to use technology who are we to expect our future students to learn. Also if they would stop wasting money to equip one class room with expensive learning tools their would be more money to spend equipping more class rooms with cheaper just as effective learning tools.

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  2. Chris,

    I also agree that technology and the internet makes reading and writing easier and cheaper. The time it takes us to research and collaborate has greatly decreased. The internet gives us information instantaneously. While all of these things are true, I cannot give up my paper books. I love being able to hold a piece of paper, read it, and highlight it. I know I can do this on a computer, but it just does not feel the same to me. I will always cherish the pen and paper.

    I was also wondering what you meant by "If you still can not figure it out, try a lab assistant, THAT WILL HELP YOU, rather than the ones that won't."

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  3. I agree with the both of you, we need to stop spending the money that we could spend to better our students. We are spending it on big things such as smart boards in the classrooms that cost $5,000 or more. If you get computers for every classroom that has smartboards then even if two students have to share, everyone would be able to see what the teacher is lecturing and have a fair advantage of being able to see everything in the lecture rather than students with visual impairments trying to make out what the words are and missing half the lesson.

    Jamie Lynn, I agree with you that books are still very important in people from your generation and my generation along with older generations but with our students growing up in a more technological generation, books may not be as important. When I used to draw and write, I would love to have paper and pencil to write down my personal thoughts or escape into a different world with my drawing, now days it is hard to do any of that but if I wanted to there is at least one piece of software out there that could help me do anything I could imagine. To me there still isn't anything that can beat a paper and pencil sketch of a person you love.

    About the last sentence I wrote, I just meant get someone that can help not the ones that think they can help you but do not know what they are doing with their own work.

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