Blog Assignment 8

This is How We Dream 
by Richard E. Miller


     Richard Miller points out some things that really show how our learning has changed. Quite often, we do not carry pens, pencils, books and paper to class; we simply carry a laptop. This video was made a few years ago and we can even assume now that iphones, ipods, and ipads (and other similar devices) have replaced some of the laptops carried to class. The devices we use to learn are forever changing and expanding, becoming more compact and easier to carry but able to do much, much more.
     We have the means to communicate "instantly and globally." You can easily do research for a paper or project without actually touching a book or stepping foot in a library. Libraries are becoming more and more available online. You can, virtually, "go" anywhere while, literally, going nowhere. You can learn from reading text about a specific historical "happening" or you can learn by visually viewing videos or images that you find on websites all over the internet.
     "Ideas do not belong to us individually but they belong to us as a culture. We as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely." This is such a powerful statement by Richard Miller. The internet, this virtual world, allows us to share our knowledge with people all over the world. As educators, if we are not sharing our ideas with other people, how can we even begin to say that we are doing our jobs?

EDM310 for Dummies and The Chipper Series

     I watched both of these videos at the beginning of the semester and they were a funny, but helpful, way to introduce us to EDM310 and how important our education is. EDM310 for Dummies gave good advice on how to stay SANE during this semester. It prepared you for what was to come during the semester and gave useful sites that would help along the way. The Chipper Series was a humorous way to show how important it is to go to school and get your education and the troubles you may experience if you do not.
     I would like to participate in an instructional video that more clearly explains to the students how to use Twitter. For the first few weeks of the semester I could not figure out Twitter to save my life. I had a friend, that is not in EDM310, show me how to use Twitter and now I understand. Had we been  provided an instructional video explaining these things to us more clearly, I would have used it and greatly appreciated it.

Learning to Change, Changing to Learn

     This video discusses the ways technology can enhance the education of our young people today and how many schools make them give up these ways during school hours. Texting, blogging, emailing, skyping, and so much more, are often banned when inside the walls of a school (where they could be most useful). These technologies and devices allow students to learn outside of the classroom; so why are we forbidding them INSIDE the classroom? I agree with everything said in this video. Allowing these things to be used in a classroom will allow students to learn on a much broader level. When we do not allow them to do these things, we are preventing them from learning to their full potential. I think teachers all over our country need to watch this video and think about the BENEFITS that cellphones and computers can provide for our students, our future.

The Secret Powers of Time
by Philip Zambardo

               and
Drive: The Truth About What Motivates Us 
by David Pink

   The video The Secret Powers of Time was very creatively made. I enjoyed watching it and was a little disappointed when it ended. In this video, Professor Philip Zimbardo discusses the different types of people in the world and the things that they focus on: the past, present, or the future. He discusses religion, family, education, success, and money. He uses statistics to show us how people's values and lifestyles have changed. When he mentioned the number of people who do not have sit-down family dinners, I thought about his statistically numbers. Twenty years ago, 60% of American families had sit-down family dinners. I was just being born twenty years ago but I remember having sit-down family dinners when I was younger. Now that I am older, my parent's are divorced, and my sister has moved out, it is normally only on holidays that we have sit-down family dinners. The number of people who sacrifice family time, sleep time, and friends to be successful is sad but impressive. It is unfortunate that success sometimes requires sacrificing all these things at some point in your life. I really enjoyed this video.
     David Pink tells us in the beginning of his video Drive: The Truth About What Motivates Us, that he wants to talk about how we are motivated and two specific studies: If you reward something do you get more of the behavior you want? If you punish something do you get less of the behavior you want? If you reward something you do not always get more of the behavior you want. If you offer really big rewards to people for certain challenges, sometimes they will try too hard, get frustrated and end up failing. When you ask someone to do something that requires creativity they do not do as well with monetary rewards. It makes sense to me! I enjoyed this video, as well, but not as much as I enjoyed the first video.