Dear Kaia

I cant believe a child so young is already working on blogs, videos and taking pictures. That just really amazes me. I might have to take that quote from her dad when said "that sometimes if we look closely at things ,even if they are discarded and ugly, they can be beautiful. This is so true some people look at trash as trash and other people see art. I take it that Kaia and her dad spend a lot of time together.

If we get more students into the classrooms like Kaia i think the classroom would become very boring for them after a while. If they are learning by using computers at home then they get to the classroom and all we have is books i think this would be a very hard task for students to accomplish. As teachers we must show students how important education is and will be to them.

New Media Literacies

The new media skills coverd in the video I watch was judgement, negotiation, appropriation, play, transmedia navigation, simulation, collective intelligence, performance, distributed cognition, visualization, multitasking. I think these are most defintly some of the skills we will need in new media literacies. Yes, they are the skills atleast some of the skills we will need to be effective 21st century artist, citizens, and workers. I posses 8 of the 11 skills discussed in video which are judgement, negotiation, play, collective intelligence, performance, distributed cognition, visualization, multitasking.



Watch this video for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/user/NMLstaff08#p/a

The Networked Student

The networked student was a interesting video and I learned a new from it called connectivism. Connectivism was a very interesting concept that I have never really heard of. I think it would be great for a class like the one I am in. It is basically what my professor is trying to teach us. By expanding our personal learning network it will help us get closer to connectivism.

The teacher who is thinking about introducing this concept to her middle school classroom in the fall I think is on the right track. They may not be where she wants them to be when the class is over, but if done right they will have learned something from the class that will make them want to know more. The student has to be willing and ready to learn this new concept of connectivism for it to work because the student does most of the work with this concept.

When the question was asked why does the networked student even need a teacher I was thinking the same thing. To me it seemed like the only role the teacher could play was to guide the student but the teacher can be so much more than that. The teacher can be a learning architect, modeler, network sherpa, synthesizer and so much more. I don't think I am quite ready to be a teacher of a networked student but I most defiantly think that I am on my way.

Check out this video at http://is.gd/2cgBb

This is How We Dream

Dr. Miller who is very different from myself , when it comes to books, starts off by telling us about his love for books and how books were always available to him. While myself on the other hand hates to read and I don't do it very often, I think it is boring, but maybe I feel that way is because through out school I was made to read books that I didn't really want or enjoy reading. He shows how once a book is out of print it is no longer available to us anymore, through technology the book will always be available to anyone who wants to read it.

He shows us how so much information is available to us without having to step foot into a library. The best thing about it is that the information is sometimes available as it happens or soon after the event has passed. We are most defiantly moving from a reading, writing culture to a listing, watching culture. Everywhere you turn there is somebody with something stuck in there ears walking or jogging or riding looking like robots.

Multimedia is very important and everyday I am amazed by something new in technology. Now you can become best friends online without actually seeing that person in real life but via web cam. I think have to learn how to use multimedia to keep the interest of student now because it is such a big part of how students learn today. Students are always using different types of media at home so when they come to school they want to use different kinds of media, and I think if we cant provide it in the classroom we are going to have a hard time keeping students attention.
Check this video out for yourself at http://techliterateteacher.blogspot.com/2009/07/dr-richard-e-miller-discusses-writing.html

Ipods in Instruction

Duke university was one of the first universities to do an ipod experiment where they game the incoming freshman a 20GB ipod for there classes it also came with a program on the ipod so that the students could record lectures in the classroom which I am sure came be very useful dealing with all the different ways professors teach at universities.

One classroom I found that using the ipod in the classroom was Miss Kathryn Stanton classroom she used the ipod to let her students record their stories using the ipod and once recorded they were instantly able to here there stories. This helped they with their reading practice as well as learning more about technology. She also made a slide show of the their work to see it check it out at http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/katstaton/2008/01/

iTunes U

As a student iTunes U could be useful to me because with it I can see what is being taught in certain subjects at some of the major universities in the United States. I can see and hear the way other professors are teaching the information that I also might be learning at my very own school. And because it is on iTunes I can simply download it to my ipod and listen to it on my way to work or while I am exercising.

As a teacher I could use iTunes U as a learning device for myself. I could see how other teachers are teaching the same information that I might be teaching. By doing this I may notice thing i may need to change in my lesson to help my students grasp the information better. One of the best thing about iTunes U is that it is free to download the videocasts and podcasts.

Download itunes for yourself at www.apple.com/itunes

Dr. Christie’s site

A part of the site that I found that could be useful for teachers was the photography section this part included picture of things she had taken, mostly nature. I think a teacher could have a site like this as part of their classroom website but instead of picture that the teacher has took it can be pictures that students have took. You could give the students a assignment to only take picture of all the different animals or plants, or vegetables they see.

After the student have took the pictures and they are developed or saved on the computer then as a class everyone can learn more about the category they were assigned or they could learn more about some of the pictures they find interesting. Once they are put on the Internet the whole world can see what your classroom is learning about.

Visit this site at www.alicechristie.org