Blog Post #8

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

Part 1 covers the basic things that we already know about technology. The video did not come as a shock to me because I am from a generation that uses technology in order to survive. It talks about how when students went to school in the past, they had to use the library in order to get the materials that they needed to class. They had to hand write papers and hand-write notes in class. In today’s classroom, we use computers to help us write our papers. When we take notes, we take them from our computer instead of with pen and paper. Technology has bettered our lives in many ways and this video just points the facts out.

Part 2 if the video covers how we use technology around the world. The video covered how technology is used everything from whale watching to nuclear scientists. Technology has made everything better by making life easier for people around the world. We can use technology for leisure purposes as well as using it to work. It is a great tool that we are fortunate to get to use.

EDM310 is Different:

We were asked to watch two videos made by students in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. This is to help us get ideas of what our own video may be about. We are asked to produce a video on anything that we like and then post it to Youtube. It can be something simple or it can be an elaborate project. It just depends on the students creativity and experience with using the technology that we are asked to use. The two videos that I watched from past students were really good. This makes me nervous now because mine will not be as good as theirs. My favorite was “The Chipper” series because it shows the typical college student trying to wait until the last minute to finish a project. The movie Titled “EDM310 for Dummies” was really good as well. It gives simple questions and answers that students have about this class. This is great because it can be overwhelming at first until you become more comfortable with the computer. They were both great movies and I hope mine will be half as good as theirs.

Critiques of SmartBoards

This was the first time that I had done any real research on different opinions of smartboards and my-oh-my have I been missing out! There are some heated arguments on the pros and cons of SmartBoards. Some teachers really like them; some could give or take them, while others demand that they be removed from their classroom. I do not have a real opinion on this because I have not used one to teach yet and honestly, I probably never will considering that I am a Physical Education major, but I am still interested in this topic.

One teacher that I found to be interesting loves SmartBoards. She has a blog set up to help teachers get the tools they need to better their SmartBoard experience. She has a ton of links to webpage’s that are set up specifically for the use of SmartBoards. She has made it easier for other teachers to learn to love their SmartBoard as much as she likes hers. The link to her blog is http://abunday-smartboard.blogspot.com/. It is a great blog for future teachers to look at so that they can get the information that they need to help them with their SmartBoard.

On the other hand, there are people who absolutely hate their SmartBoard. The hate comes from everything between not being comfortable with it to hating it because it isn’t mounted in a good spot in the classroom. The arguments that I have found on this topic do seem valid, but like I said, I really cannot pass judgment on this debate. One argument that I found to be interesting can be located on this link: http://smartboardchat.blogspot.com/2007/05/mobile-verses-mounting.html.