Blog Assignment #8: Video Responses

This is How We Dream: Part 1
This is How We Dream: Part 2
     In a video from December 2008, Robert E. Miller of Rutgers University presents viewers with insight of how to write using multimedia. Miller grew up loving everything about books and eventually went into a profession that is surrounded by books. But with all of the new technology, does the book have a place in today's classroom? In today's learning era, we rely on laptops and the internet and Microsoft Word. Our books lay inside our desktop. But not only can we read the text within our virtual books, but we can also collaborate through them and create our own documents for them that will live forever on the internet, if chosen to do so.
     I think this is very important for teachers in the future eras. With technology and the proper knowledge of how to use tools, we can create documents that include pictures, text, sound documents, charts, and infinitely so on. As teachers, we need to embrace our "digital environment" and learn all that we can in order to utilize it to the best of our ability. We must also be able to share our creations with the internet world so that others can also utilize them, because sharing is the basis for the internet world. By doing this, we are able to teach our students new ways to write -not with pen and paper, but rather with digital tools available to them. And I also think, along with Miller, that this will be the student's future of writing.

The Chipper Series & EDM310 for Dummies
     I actually liked the Chipper Series. Chipper wasn't exactly the most ideal student with her procrastination and tardy work (which is ironic considering that this post is also late). She made mention to the fact that she didn't want to learn how to do these things, but rather she wanted to be taught. But my feeling are that we are going to be teachers, so we have to be able to teach. And in order to teach, we must learn. Chipper went on to drop out of school and try her hand at various other jobs -all of which failed. With her newly found "mind cleansing" Chipper decides to return to school and do things differently. I believe that this video shows the importance of doing things how they are to be done and when they are to be done (again, ironic on my part). I think that this video project was very well put together and it relayed the information nicely.
     The EDM310 for Dummies video has more of a "what you're going to get out of the class" message. In the beginning, the students were frustrated with the fact that they had no idea as to what they were supposed to be doing in the class. But after reading the fictional book that was created, they had a better understanding of what it is that they are learning and creating. They realize that these tools being taught will be able to help them  in their future of teaching.
     If I were to be in a video for a project, I would be more apt into being in the first video, The Chipper Series. I like the way that the video was made better than I did the latter. Not to mention the fact, that I would probably be very knowledgeable about the aspects presented in the first video.

Smartboard Argument
     I believe that Smartboards are very beneficial in today's educational world. My roommate has personal experience using a Smartboard in a first grade classroom and she found it very beneficial to the student's willingness to learn. She said that it seemed like the students were more apt to learning if it were done on the Smartboard, because they liked the idea of going to the board and participating. I also found a website, Teachers Love Smartboards, where many interactive educational games are shown. This shows that the Smartboard can be useful in the classroom setting and personally, I think they will be the future of our classrooms all together.