Blog Post # 8

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



I am going to be honest and say that I, personally, am not very keen on writing with multimedia. That is, of course, in the style of writing I most wish to produce. I'm currently working on a novel and, while I do use microsoft word to type it up (I loath with a passion writing by hand anything longer than a few pages), I am intending on publishing it (if I do get blessed enough to do so) the good old-fashioned way: a nice, hardcopy edition distributed into bookstores and the like. I would much prefer that than an entire novel of my own available only on the internet. I can't explain it to the degree with which you as readers of this blog post wish to understand, but I will say this: there will be nothing more satisfying than picking up a hardcopy of a book published by yours truly and gently turning each individual and touchable page. I'm not trying to be smug here at all; in fact, if I were to publish a book and become famous, I'd without a doubt hide from sight and wear sunglasses, hat and hoodie wherever I went. I'm just saying that I prefer reading entire novels in hardcopy form rather than on a screen. As you're reading this, you may think I missed the point of this presentation.


So allow me to switch gears. Writing a novel, that is, is something different. Let me talk about writing other things with multimedia. I love the idea! It's not just about text; visuals, audio and much more can be utilized when using multimedia. I really enjoy writing some of these blog posts; they're challenging, cause me to think and do research extensively. My personal opinion regarding writing with multimedia (other than a novel) is that it is a great experience and helps build the bridge from what we used to do to what we'll be able to do in the future.

 The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies


EDM310 for Dummies and (especially) The Chipper Series had me laughing. The Chipper Series is essentially about a girl (Chipper) who believes that by procrastinating she can still manage to pass Dr. Strange's Class. Dr. Strange explains that work can only be submitted on time if full credit is wished to be recieve, so Chipper does anything and everything in her power to do what she wants. She tries to re-invent the definition of procrastinate so that, instead of meaning waiting until the last minute, it means waiting until after the deadline. She even tries to persaude Dr. Strange that she can see the future! All of this is to no avail, for the only way life goes smoothly is to plan your time wisely so that you don't procrastinate or submit late work. EDM310 for dummies concerns the frustration that ensues when things like twitter, skype and google docs doesn't come easily to you. In this video there is a promotion for a book (unfortunately one you can't actually buy) that helps in aiding the wondering and clueless student.


A video that I would enjoy promoting or being a part of would be would be a step-by-step instructional how-to lecture for EDM310, but approached in the way the RSA Animate videos are. 


Learn to Change, Change to Learn


I like the music in this video. Alright let's get to what's more important.


At the very end, when the insightful fellow said "It's the death of education, but it's the dawn of learning" pulled at me in some way. By that I assume he meant that the traditional styles of teaching and administering knowledgeable information to students will, before long, be a relic of a time gone by. That will be replaced by what the people in this video are a vouching for: a community of individuals, both students and teachers, formulating together and giving and recieving knowledge. All of this is very insightful, and it really makes me wonder what schools will look like when my children are students, and when their children are students. Will we have schools anymore? Will the definition of 'school' be entirely re-invented? Will we have an actual 'building' where students come together to learn from teachers? I don't know, I don't know. We as a society are always apprehensive when it comes to change. But we need to embrace that change, and go where the wind takes us.

The Secret Powers of Time by Philip

Zambardo The surprising truth about what motivates us

The Secret Powers of Time instills within its audience the idea that time has changed, and with it, so should our take on how we aproach students with a particular form of education. Childrens' brains are being re-wired because of the re-wiring of technological media. There needs to be some re-wiring associated with our aproach as individuals, whether already a teacher or aspiring to be one.
The Surprising Truth About What Motivates us was extremely ensightful. The presentation explained that, if you have a high incentive for mechanical skills, performance increases, but a higher incentive for cognative skills results in a fall in performance, which I thought was particularly interesting. When people think something is work, no matter how much pay they recive, it's still work, so performance is naturally not going to be the best. That's why I didn't think it too odd when I found out, by this presentation, that people were willing to share their expertise, at perhaps even better performance than if they were working for money, for absolutely no pay. Sounds crazy, right? Not really. Because the idea is their own, they have control, therefore more incentive to creat something that exceeds our expectations, even if they aren't getting payed.