Blog Post Assignment #8

                                                      This is How We Dream by Richard Miller

Richard E. Miller professor of English at Rutgers School of Arts and Science is the author of many articles that concern developing a philosophy of consciousness that promotes transformative teaching and writing practices. In the video This is How We Dream Part 1 and 2, he discusses how writing in the academics and culture has changed. He believes we are in the greatest moment of communication changes, since we have the ability to communicate instantly and globally. He discusses the importance of literacy and how we write, research, and publishes information. He believes there are two types of change incremental change and fundamental change.
One of the incremental changes he points out in the video is our workspace, where we work now. Students no longer use text only resources such as encyclopedias and libraries to gather information. They no longer use paper and pencil as writing tools to compose information. They are using laptops and word processors. This workspace allows researching information worldwide over the internet. It was not surprising to me that Dr. Miller composed an entire response on the Virginia Tech shooting without ever visiting the library. Just this semester, I had an article critique assignment, which I did all online. I composed it entirely on my pc without ever using paper and pencil. However, I did use the library resource available through the University of South Alabama, but access the library online from my home. It was much more convenient for me to have this available from the ease of my pc. I was able to access it on my own time, and my own pace. My workspace was my pc desktop just as Richard Miller talks about in the video.

Another type of incremental change Dr. Miller talks about is the possibility of collaborating using networking technology and how documents are compose with real time materials. Instead of using text only, multimedia tools allow us to compose with real time, up to date materials filled with images, film, sounds. The documents produced are both text and visual enhanced, making it much more interesting and engaging. We are living in a digital environment that makes it possible to bring collections of experiences together from the present instead of using information from the past. Incremental change in writing adds new functionality and new properties to how we write and research information. Since incremental change occurs over a period of time in incremental states if we are not careful, we will miss out.
Richard Miller believes the fundamental change is not technology itself, but what it makes possible; to change the underlying principal of how we work, write, research, and publish. As he states in the video these changes need to be beautiful and compelling so, it inspires curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. I think fundamental change means to stop focusing on individual parts but to start looking at it as a whole.
The video, along with the assignments in EDM310 have really opened my eyes to see how the use of multimedia tools can enhance and have a fundamental change in “writing”. I also think I am going to be more prepared after EDM310 to write and teach my students to write using multimedia tools throughout the curriculum. Projects, research papers, presentations, etc. can be enhanced using multimedia tools making them more interesting and compelling. Students become more focused on listening and watching rather than just reading and writing. Of course, students will still need reading and writing skills to be able to produce meaningful results, but with the use of all the latest and greatest multimedia tools students are allow to be themselves and be more creative. I think this creates a more beneficial learning environment. Students are more likely to learn from an experience in which they are interested and actively engaged. One can only reap the benefits of these things with the knowledge and understanding of how to use them. Literacy allows us to explore, learn, interpret and represent ideas in new, original, and powerful ways, as stated by Richard Miller. This is why it is extremely important for inspiring teachers to be prepared and become technology literate. As a teacher, I do not want to be left behind.

Carly Pugh’s Blog Post #12

I think Carly is a true inspiration to others. Her dedication and enthusiasm for education shines throughout the entire post. Her playlist assignment is just what Richard Miller is talking about in his video. It allows students to use multimedia tools like YouTube for more than entertainment, it allows them to use it to learn and become multimedia writers. I definitely believe students would benefit more from creating a playlist rather than looking and researching using text only documents and books. It allows them to become independent and creative while learning. I especially like the video embedded in her blog, Six Questions For Every Day. Wow, what if we all approach things in a childlike manner. The possibilities would be endless. Thanks Carly, you have inspired me to create my own playlist.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies were quite amusing to say the least. You would be surprised at how many students actually think this way. They want to do just enough to get by, and the least amount of effort that goes into the better. But I after this class I wonder if the attitudes of those students would change if their classroom was structured like EDM310. Would they be more engage and actually care about what they were learning?
I have never been one to procrastinate. I am much the opposite; I would rather start on things in advance. I do not like to wait until the last minute to do something. You never know when something may come up. Just seems like a lot of added stress waiting until the last minute to do things. I am wife, student, and mother, if I procrastinated, I could not image how crazy things in my life would be. It takes self-discipline and drive to be successful. I think if you want something bad, enough you put forth an honest effort not to procrastinate, not to make excuses, and you pursue it with determination. As a professional there is not going to be someone there holding your hand guiding you along the way. You will be responsibility for you.

EDM310 for Dummies does an excellent job of portraying real attitudes of students in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. It does feel overwhelming at first and seems like a lot of work, but what you come to realize is, it is actually teaching you to teach yourself, to be self sufficient, and accountable for yourself. It teaches you how to stay focused and how to use your time wisely. It is teaching use how to become lifelong learners so we can be teachers of the future.

As I was thinking about creating my own video, I thought about one of the very first video’s we were assigned to watch, Mr. Winkle Wakes. I also thought about the Magic School Bus books and the ever popular role-playing games kids (adults, too) are playing now. I think it would be fun to create a video where a group of students from EDM310 and their teacher, Dr. Strange are transported into the future where technology has completely taken over. The classroom would be entirely virtual, kids could have avatars… the possibilities are endless.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

Is education really the lowest in IT intensiveness? I guess I can rather see this. It does seems like schools are more focused on standardized testing and scores rather than preparing students for the ever changing world of technology. In the video, there are many individuals discussing the need for change in the classroom. One statement that stood out to me was “The kids are having a much more stimulated and rich environment outside of school than they are inside of schools". How sad is this? School is where kids spend at least eight hours of their day, just think if this was the other way around. Students need meaningful experiences in school in order to have the skills they are going to need in tomorrow’s world, in life. I think it is important for teachers to recognize the interest of today’s children, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, video games and learn how to incorporate them throughout the curriculum in order to create a rich learning environment. Lift the ban! It seems like; while the world around us evolves with technology, our schools are not. I agree with the video, we have to find ways of keeping up with the world of technology and use it to help students find information, validate it, synthesize it, communicate it, collaborate and problem solve with it. This should be the goal of teaching.
                                                 “Death of education, the dawn of learning”

"Well...what are you willing to stop doing in order to do something better?"

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

A scavenger hunt is such a fun way to learn about technology!  The Discovery Education's WEB 20.12 site has some amazing technology available for students and teachers. I really enjoyed searching through site and exploring all the tools available. There were so many and most of them were free or cost little to nothing and to think the amount of money some people pay for the same type of software. This is great!






1.) Locate a tool that is similar to Twitter/Facebook and provides a social platform for teachers, parents, and students. Create an account as a Teacher and write a paragraph or two about how you could use this site in your classroom.

Edmodo, like Facebook allows you to share and collaborate. Edmodo provides teachers and students a secure place to do this. This is a great tool for class discussions, notifications, posting assignments, and anything else you can possibly think of. This is a great tool to stay connected with both students and parents. I also like the fact that you can sync your Google Docs with the Edmodo Library so you can easily access and share Google Docs with the groups. No more important papers getting lost! I will definitely use this in my classroom.


2.) Find a video tool that you have never used. Summarize some it's special features.

Photopeach is used by educators and students in hundreds of schools world wide, including schools in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden, England, Pakistan, Argentina,Thailand, and more. The combination of images, music, and text helps students learn about presentation, expression, writing, communication skills, art appreciation, and media literacy. The quality of the finished work is great and students will remember it forever. Start creating fun slideshows with captions, soundtracks, quizzes, and easy editing controls!


I love this! I created a slideshow using the pictures from my daughters field trip to the zoo on Tuesday, March 20,2012 and turned into and education slideshow. You actually have two options for embedding in your blog; spiral and story. I encluded both. 

The Little Zoo That Could on PhotoPeach




The Little Zoo That Could on PhotoPeach







3.) Find a tool to create a poll anywhere and at anytime. Create your first poll and post it here

Poll Everywhere replaces expensive proprietary audience response hardware with standard web technology. It's the easiest way to gather live responses in any venue: conferences, presentations, classrooms, radio, tv, print — anywhere. It can help you to raise money by letting people pledge via text messaging. And because it works internationally with texting, web, or Twitter, its simplicity and flexibility are earning rave reviews. I think this would be great to use in math.

Big benefits for teachers

• Absolutely free (plus affordable premium plans)
• Measurable increases in student achievement & engagement
• Save time with automatic grading & attendance tracking
• Encourage honest answers through anonymous response
• Use any cellphone (SMS), smartphone, laptop, desktop, or tablet
• Simple peer assessment
• Conduct real-time, in-the-moment formative assessment
• Enable students to review responses online

Create interactive meetings at Poll Everywhere