Blog Post # 8

1. Richard Miller gave me a major eye opening video to watch. This Is How We Dream was just a brief video that covered many inspiring information that our world is investigating. Richard said, he wants to push ideas into our culture that will help our world advance. In part 2, he showed a building in which he works at but used technology to view a new and improved vision of what can be possible. The fact that these video's were made in 2008 blows my mind. Many people are getting ahead with technology and the the world isn't going to wait for you.

I do not feel prepared at all to write with multimedia. I have multiple things to learn and investigate. Collaboration is a word that I continue to hear and see as a way of communicating with others mainly through intellectual ways. Technology allows material to last forever and to never be destroyed. Computers allow us to still use our imagination. Idea's and dreams are the most important aspects that should be taken to the next level through technology.

It is hard to say if my students will be able to use technology but I would like to think it is a major possibility. Richard Miller said, "Idea's don't belong to us individually but as a culture and as educators we need to share our idea's freely." I appreciated all the thoughts that Dr. Miller put in my head about why the world wouldn't want to use the web to improve our culture. It only makes sense that we use technology to educate not only ourselves but others. Schools is where we should begin, so our new generations won't fall behind.

2. Carly Pugh is indeed a very smart and creative girl. It is extremely difficult to create an assignment that Dr. Strange could possibly add to his class assignments. I think all the assignments so far have been well thought out and useful for me. Dr. Millers view on multimedia is similar to Carly's thought on her youtube project. As a future educator it is important to contribute ideas that will further the understanding of the internet. Videos and podcasts alone can be the new system of learning and developing our brains. I especially enjoyed the video's that Carly made a link to from a British boy under the name nunsrule. He is not only creative but has a sense of humor and great acting ability that he created through youtube videos.

3. I don't think I would be interested in preparing any videos for this class just because I don't like acting. I might consider doing an interview on what I've learned or an instructional video on what I thought was difficult. The most challenging thing in this class is to not get distracted and off track of your assignment. Although, I do think it is important to explore new things to find ideas and have a vision of what else is going on in the technological world. But since I usually procrastinate it leaves me with little time to search all the different links and blogs that I could find interesting.

4. I agree 100% with all the arguments in the video, Learn to Change, Change to Learn. Every thing these educators said made logical points. Today the children in our world are definitely living in a different accelerated world. So, these kids need to be taught differently in ways they can communicate and use social networks to improve their resources. Technology is an amazing opportunity and experience that teachers should want to give to their students. As an educator I hope to develop my classroom into a multimedia learning center that focuses on the importance of understand technology.

5. Discovery Education's Web 20.12 website is a must need to search and explore because it is full of tons of tools that can be useful. Ning is a great tool that resembles Facebook is many ways. It is a website that allows you to create your own social network with over 80 different designs for you to choose from. Unfortunately, Ning cost 25 dollars a month to maintain and use but it can be a better way for a teacher or student to control a private social network. The basic version still allows you to upload your own photos and videos. also, blogs and forums are available and can be great additions to your personal page.
I would consider using this site in my classroom with my students because it has a privacy control that I find important especially for younger students. The internet can be a dangerous place if you are not careful and take the right precautions. Also, the fact that each individual can create their own design will allow me as a teacher to see each students creativity and imagination. Lastly, I like the group and chat feature that can become a project for the students to communicate while at home and learn how to accomplish things together through technology.

Animoto is a fun way to make a video filled with pictures or even videos inside the video. Animoto has many special features that you can choose for whichever one fits your occasion. A quick and easy video can be created by the website. Simply just upload one to five pictures and they can make the video for you in minutes. Also, I find it a little refreshing to just upload what you want and what music and then the website will create it for you and email it to you. Although this website isn't free it is just five dollars a month, so if making video's is your hobby this could be your match maker. Later I found a free version of Animoto called Smilebox. It can be good for scrapbooking, invitations, or occasions, I would recommend downloading it.

Summer on PhotoPeach