Blog Assignment 6

"The Networked Student" by Wendy Drexler

First of all, I loved this video! It was very creative in my opinion. The way it was written and the way they told the story kept my attention. Secondly, I believe this idea of "connectivism" is extremely helpful to students. The ideas that this video brings forth are really cool in the way that all students are there to help one another.

The example in the video shows a student who is almost self-reliant. His teacher almost never lectures and a lot of his work is online. He must be creative in the way he gets his information. Through the idea of connectivism, he learns of all these ways that he can learn. He learns from other students' opinions, through blogs, iTunesU, and numerous other resources.

Being a teacher of a networked student would probably be a little easier. The average student is dependent on the teacher for every single bit of information in the classroom. I liked the fact that this idea would almost make the student more independent. It would be up to them to reach out to others and look for ways to get information rather than being spoon fed. Students also improve relationships through this. They are able to bond with classmates, other professors, and sometimes even people from all over the world.


"A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)"
I thought this video was very interesting. I loved the organization that this girl had. For a 7th grader I thought it was pretty amazing actually. She seemed to have all her work together. I loved looking at her projects as well. I liked that the students had the freedom to go anywhere on the internet, and yet they still recognized the responsibility to get their work finished. I thought this approach was very interesting.


"The Machine is Changing Us" by Michael Wesch
In the beginning of this video Mr. Wesch begins by comparing George Orwell's book "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "A Brave New World". From the way Mr. Wesch describes "A Brave New World", I believe Huxley is dead on. We are becoming a trivial world. We don't necessarily have a need for books.

I definitely agree with Mr. Wesch when he says that media has changed and shaped our culture. I also like when he discusses Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death". I also believe these thought are right on as well. I found the quote from Henry Canby quite disturbing, especially since it was from 1926. I think people today do feel this way. It's has nothing to do with fame or be know around the world. It just has to do with be different. Look around on any college campus or for that matter any high school campus. Actually, just look any where in the world and you see so many people reaching out desperately to be noticed. They don't want to be another face in the crowd. They just want to stand out for one reason or another. I also agree with Mr. Wesch when he says that we, as a culture, have become rather indifferent. Think about how many times we use the word "whatever".
I liked when Mr. Wesch talked about the fact that when we use YouTube, Twitter, and others, we aren't talking to anyone in particular. We are more or less talking to ourselves. It does make you extremely self-conscious or it makes me anyway. For example, when we had to do our podcasts, I was so nervous about someone I didn't know seeing my work. I also found the Free Hugs Campaign interesting. I have a couple of friends that have shirts that have "Free Hugs" on it. I just never knew what it was about.

I really enjoyed this video. Looking around, I see so many of the things he talks about it his lecture, from people wanting desperately to be recognized to wanting to weep for the future from their spelling alone. As a future English teacher, that particularly upsets me. I'm kind of scared to know what kids of the next generation will be like. That's not to say that all will be bad. It just concerns me. I think our generation is becoming less authentic. We conform. No one has to be themselves due to things like Facebook or Myspace. Someone can be whoever they want and no one would ever know the difference. Overall though, this was an excellent video in my opinion.

C4K Summary

We recently had to read and comment on a student from Noel Elementary School. My student's name was Daniel L. Daniel is an active kid who loves soccer and other sports. In his about me he explained why Math wasn't his best subject, but that he knows that it's important because he uses it everyday. In Daniel's manifesto that Mr. Chamberlain had his students right, he said that he promised to go to bed earlier and to studied harder. He also promised to behave in class. What Mr. Chamberlain is doing with his students is wonderful and I believe it is really opening a whole new world to these kids.

Emily and Lynn EDM310 Podcast

Blog Assignment 5

Eagle Nest Radio and Class Blog
First of all these kids sound too adorable! I love how professional they sound in the podcast. The sound very well rehearsed also. It looks like they have a lot of fun in their class as well. They get to do a lot of cool things with technology. It seems to me that they have learned a lot in their class.It makes me feel better about doing my podcast to know that 3rd graders can do so well.

Langwitches
I just read their blog "Podcasting with First Grade". I loved these kids enthusiasm and how they wanted to "get into people's computers and iPods too". That's so awesome! I also like that the took one and story and could incorporate all the kids. It was a very cool idea.

100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better"
This was incredibly helpful. I never realized how many things there were to put on your iPod. The link to Learning Podcast was also very helpful. The links they list could also be helpful in our group podcasts.

Blog Assignment 4

"Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?"
I just read Mr. Scott McLeod's, who is the Associate Professor of Educational Administration at Iowa State University, blog post, "Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?". Mr. McLeod is also the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE) and the creator of the Did You Know videos.

I really enjoyed this post. It was very funny and well written. I enjoyed that he poked fun at the way a lot of parents think. We need to let kids have some internet freedom, but we definitely need to keep an eye on what they do. Technology is a good thing, in moderation, much like everything else.



"The iSchool Initiative"
I just watched this video on Youtube. While I admire this high school senior for coming up with this idea, I don't agree with it. In theory, it sounds like a wonderful idea. It would be useful and it would save a lot of time. I just don't think it's benefits out-weigh its cost.
Many students would not be able to afford this. I know he estimated the cost to be around $150, but let's face it, that's a lot for a parent to spend on one child, let alone more than one child. Secondly, technology has been know to let us down. They break, they get lost, they get destroyed. What happens if your iSchool crashes? Where does all your work go? That just adds to the cost if you're forced to buy another. Finally, I would hate to know that my kids one day wouldn't even pick up a book at all at school. When they have to read a classic piece of literature, I want to see them with that book in their hands. No distractions, just them and that book. I would also hate to know that they wouldn't know how to write an essay on a piece of paper. That's how they learn to write properly. There is no spell check, look-up, or thesaurus to get them through it, just them and their own creativity.

"The Lost Generation"
 I found this video terribly sad and terribly true! We are very much so a "quick fix society". We look for the fastest answers and we worry about the consequences later. I agree with this video. I loved the technique and I also agree with when it was read back. I loved the way the creator approached this. I do believe there is hope for our generation if we take control now.

Eric Whitaker's Virtual Choir
This video is awesome! Like Jennifer Chambers said, it's nothing special until you realize that these people have never met! I find it incredible that they were able to put something like this together. This is definitely one of the better uses of the internet. It's bringing people together for a common cause. They have their differences, but for six minutes, 185 people are working together.

Additional Assignment #1

I just watched Dr. Strange's video on Google Squared and Wolfram Alpha. Both I found very interesting! They both seem to be extremely helpful when it comes to searching for information. I like the format of both of them because they aren't very complicated. It is very easy to find exactly what you are looking for. I had never heard of either of the sites before this assignment, but I will have to use them in the future! Looking back to the video "Did You Know?", it puts all of that info into perspective. It's like we all know China and India have huge populations, but you don't really realize just how many people live there until you have the numbers lined up for you. It's crazy to think how many people live in just a square mile as well. I definitely enjoyed learning a little about these two sites.

The food for thought was amazing! I find it incredible that an illiterate six year could probably use in iPad better than I could. I guess it goes to show that some technology can reach all people.

Google Presentation