February 28, 2010

The Machine is Changing Us

Michael Wesch's video demonstrates the changing media, more specifically YouTube, and the effects it has on the population. The videos he discussed shows how we are making connections more than we ever have through this medium. He discussed how people can reach out to so many other people to express themselves in a variety of ways. Additionally, he discussed how people become more self reflective on YouTube and how this medium is changing how people express themselves. It reminds me of being a pre-teen and recording little skits on a tape recorder for fun, but they were only shared with friends. Now with YouTube kids share their videos and skits with the world.
We've come a long way from the tape recorder to the vast array of multimedia tools we can use to express ourselves today. I'm sure YouTube, or some form of it, will soon become commonplace in the typical classroom as a learning and teaching tool.



This is How We Dream
Dr. Miller's video spoke of the future of writing with the use various forms of multimedia and the internet. No longer do we have to wait for books to be published. Writings and multimedia can be published almost instantaneously through the internet. More people have access to information in a shorter amount of time. Publishers have more views of their works through the internet than they could in the more traditional means of bound books and print.
Richard Miller spoke of how documents go through incremental change. Where documents may be headline news on the web or news in an email, later, these older documents can still be found on the web as a web based document. Whereas, traditional books, papers, etc. may be out of print and hard to find, the out of date documents and news on the internet can still be found. It basically undergoes incremental change. The internet now makes researching materials much easier and convenient than the traditional library search.
He also spoke of how we, as educators need to be willing to share ideas freely and collaborate with other educators. What better way to do this than by the use of the internet where educators can meet and collaborate with a multitude of educators from around the world, thereby, gathering, sharing and implementing new ideas that would, likely be virtually impossible without the use of the internet. The internet and it's seamlessly endless possibilities in education are here to stay. Teachers need to grasp this concept and accept it as a part of our future and learn all they can on using the internet as a teaching and learning tool. Finally, if the future of writing consists of more digital composing, then it is in the best interests of teachers to jump on board and utilize as much of the technology they have and learn right along with the students.

The Networked Student

I found this video very enlightening. It allowed me to see visually how all of these networking projects are connected. I see now why it's called connectivism. This would be a wonderful video to present to all teachers and students as an introduction to teaching students these networking skills.
It was interesting to see the student actually created a virtual textbook of information that he found most useful in his learning through his bookmarking account and RSS feeder. Unlike a traditional textbook he was able to include only information that was pertinent to what he needed in his learning endeavor. To sum up his opinions and what he has learned he could create a video or voice thread. For the high school student this would have to make learning new information motivating, interesting and fun.
Most definitely the networked student needs a teacher. Just as the video stated, the teacher needs to be there to guide and teach him how to build a network, to model how to use these networks, and how to decipher good information from propaganda. With the completion of this course, EDM310, I feel I will be prepared to be a teacher of a networked student. I can see where networking can also be used at the elementary level, probably beginning with blogs, wikis and podcasts. Once the student moves up to middle and high school, he could then have a smooth transition into more networking activities.