Blog Assignment #7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

This video was about a man by the name of Randy Pausch, who believed in achieving his childhood dreams and enabling the dreams of others. Randy Pausch was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, and was told he only had around 3-6 months to live. Before he died on July 25th, 2008, he made this video. After doing a little research, I found that Randy was actually making this video for his small children to watch one day. This was the only way he would be able to encourage his children to pursue their dreams long after he is gone.

The first thing that Randy goes into is his childhood dreams. The dreams he mentions in this video are the following:

• Experiencing 0 gravity
• Being a part of the National Football League
• Being Captain Kirk
• Being an author in the World Book Encyclopedia
• Winning stuffed animals
• Being a Disney Imagineer

He goes on to explain that because he was so driven, he achieved all of his dream to some extent. He never joined the NFL but he had a wonderful coach that inspired him when he was younger. One thing that his coach said that really stuck with him was, "When your screwing up and nobody is saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up." He may not have been in the National Football League but he bettered himself in a different way. A mental way. He obviously never became Captain Kirk but he did meet him. Another great quote from Randy to go with that dream would be, "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

He and his co-workers accomplished many different things that they did not expect. The had the "worlds" that the students created. In this the students (50 of them) at Carnegie Mellon University were put in groups and assigned a project. Once they completed the project they were assigned to a different group and a new project. They created "virtual worlds". Randy was completely blown away by the capabilities of the students. He them told them they did good but encouraged them to do better and they did! The project exploded and many students, all the faculty, and even parents came to watch these students preform. Some more of the many groups he created was the ETC, Java Languages, The Alice Project, and movie scripts.

During about the last 15 minutes or so of the video, Randy talks about roles. He proceeds to talk about his parents and what an impact they had on his life. "If your kid's want to paint on the walls, it'll be okay." His parents encouraged him and with that he became the man he is today. He also talks about his bosses and how you should form relationships with them so that it makes working more fun, and you can talk to them on a personal level. Students were also part of Randy'l life. The role of students in his life left a great impact on him. The main point that Randy really wanted to portray was "Have fun, help others, loyalty is a two-way street, listen to feedback and use it, show gratitude, don't complain-just work harder, and find the best in everyone-maybe their good side will come out eventually."

C4T #2 summary

In the blog of the teacher (Beth Still) that I read, the teacher was discussing how our administrators today do not accept technology as much as they should. I believe that Principals in schools today should at least give it a shot and if it doesn't work out then so be it. By saying "No" to technology as an administrator you could be missing out on some great opportunities. Why would you risk losing an opportunity to advance in the educational field?

The second post by the teacher I was assigned was called "Laptop Initiative". I am a very compassionate person and I feel as though Beth Still is as well. She is doing a project in her community where students can work a certain to earn money for a laptop. The first 25 hours they work they get $100 off. Eventually by continually working and also by having good grades, the students can get up to $250 off of a $500 laptop. I really enjoyed Mrs.Still's post and am looking forward to seeing how she and her husband's project goes.

C4K summary

Comments For Kids



Anahi was the name of the student that I had for comments for kids. This student was a 13 year old girl who participates in many activities. We both have similar interests in athletics. First the young girl talked about how she enjoyed running cross country. When I was in high school I also ran cross country. I encouraged her to do what she enjoyed. She also stated that she liked to cheer-lead. When I was her age as well as in high school, I tumbled and I absolutely loved it. She had a few grammatical error as far as spelling and capitalization. I encouraged her to work on her grammar but that she was doing a wonderful job at blogging!

Blog assignment #6

The Networked Student



 I really enjoyed Ms. Drexler's video. The creativity was clever enough in itself to be an enjoyable video. Connectivism. A very different way of learning in the 21st Century may be through connectivism. What is connectivism? It is a theory that presumes learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties. In other words, a way for students, as well as teachers, to connect and share education via the web.

Ms. Drexler will be trying this new way of learning this fall with her middle school class. She will teach her class three days a week and two days online. The class will also have no textbook and very little lecture. Tell me that wasn't your dream in middle school! First, a student must form his or her own personal learning network. The student must find valid websites. A student will know if the website is valid through training by Ms.Drexler. Whatever the students topic is that he or she is researching, can be searched on Google Scholar. Once an appropriate article is found, the student will post it to the social bookmarking cite, which is a place others have also posted URL's on that particular topic.

The next step this student could take would be to search blogs from other students in reference to this subject that the student may be researching. When reading another persons blog he or she can either take facts from this blog or if the blog was formed through opinion, the student may then wish to discuss it with the blogger. In the end, the student creates a blog and posts what results and data were gathered. Therefore, all over the world, others who are researching this topic, may see this students work and gather information for themselves that he or she has provided.

I really think that making a student do the research, and being the one who could possibly be the source that someone uses when they research the same topic could be rewarding in itself. I would love to know that someone out there, was reading my blog and using the information from it to better themselves in a certain subject. I also think that once again it would save cost in books, printers, copiers, paper, ink, and other costly school supplies. I'm looking forward to seeing the results that Ms. Drexler brings us!

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment

Ms.Drexler has done it again! She has produced another video to show how well our Internet may be used. The first thing that came to my mind while watching this video was homeschooling. In the future we may have no need for homeschooling because we may have all the access to school in our home anyway. Even if we don't immediately get access to this connectivism right away, children and teenagers who are being home-schooled could use this sort of learning experience to help make their learning more enjoyable. Home-schooled students would also have better communication with other home-schooled students and would also be able to talk to teachers through skype if need be. I really enjoyed seeing this connectivism in action!

The Machine is Changing Us

First, I must say that this video was hilarious! I really enjoyed Michael Wesch's humor. He definitely pointed out many aspects of http://www.youtube.com/ that you don't really think about, until someone brings it up. It is very true that you do not perceive yourself as others do. You do not hear yourself as others hear you. Making a video of yourself is much easier for people who are shy because then you don't have to worry about first impressions or messing up because you can always edit or start over. Editing and starting over in real life is not an option. YouTube gives the self-conscious a voice and the shy a personality. It makes hero's and heroine's of people and one of their videos can uplift or encourage others. I really hope that this up coming generation can be a "I'll do whatever it takes" generation as opposed to "whatever, I don't care" generation. 



Podcast Project # 8

Blog Post Assignment #5

Eagle Nest Radio & Class Blog

The Eagle Nest Radio podcasts were obviously very cute and creative. I really enjoyed listening to the kids sharing facts with me about various things. I noticed several things in their podcast that my group could use in ours. First, I noticed the way that the children used their voices. The voices of the children were never monotone or boring, they were constantly keeping your attention with an inviting excitement about the subject they were discussing. Secondly, there were sound effects to go with whatever they were talking about. For example, when they were discussing Rome, there was ancient Roman music playing behind the voice of the person speaking. Another example is the shark podcast. When listening to the 3rd graders podcast on sharks you could hear the sound effect of water in the background. If my group did voice only podcast, we would take some tips from these 3rd graders for sure!

Langwitches (Producing a Podcast)

In this blog, I read the many different ways that you can do a podcast. The following is a list of what was discussed:

• Individual recordings
• Small groups recordings
• Entire class recordings
• Portable MP3 recorder
• USB microphone attached to computer
• Use cell phone and specific number to record audio
• Scripted recordings
• Unscripted recordings

The writer of this blog also talks about how you should use enthusiasm in your voice. In doing so you will keep the listeners attention. Then, I learned several different topics that you can choose to produce a podcast. some of which were interviews, doing research on a topic and discussing it and documenting a trip or event that you attended. I also listened to some of the audio podcasts available at the bottom of the page. My favorite, was of the kindergartners talking about their favorite part of the rain forest due to the special effects on the voices of the children. My group will be doing an interview with a professor!

The benefits of podcasting in the classroom

This video was very helpful in identifying what the true benefits and purpose are for podcasting. One of the many benefits is that it lets students in the classroom express their creativity when they create one themselves. They use music, sound effects and integrate their own enthusiasm. Podcasts can be downloaded onto your ipod. If your teacher records their lecture and it is available for download you can put it on your ipod and listen to it for extra help. If you are a visual learner your teacher can do the same for you and you can see the lecture through video.These two types of podcasts, as shown in the video, are very helpful for a student who is sick and can't come to school. The part of the video that introduced Harry Dale was very interesting. The was he did stories with the podcasts made it much more interesting for the kids in his classroom. Not only is a podcast helpful for students but the parents of these students can get involved too by listening with their children or even hearing work that the children have done in the classroom. There are many benefits to podcasting, it's just a matter of using them! 

Blog Post Assignment #4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

I really loved this blog post by Scott McLeod, who is a professor with an education degree in Minneapolis, Minnesota! I mean let's be real, what parent in 2010 will be fully capable of keeping their child away from technology even though that's what they would want to do? A child, teenager, or young adult will use technology through friends or school at some given point. It is not a matter of if, but when will my child use technology. I really loved his sarcasm too because, it almost shows you how ignorant some parents sound when they say such things. I really liked the approach he used to get his point across. I'm sure if there was a study conducted, where identical twins were separated at birth and one was introduced to technology, and the other was not, I'm sure that the technologically advanced child would be more educated and prepared for the world we live in today as well as the future as opposed to the other child. Do you agree?

The iSchool Initiative

I thoroughly enjoyed Travis' perspective of the iSchool through the iTouch. I already have an iTouch and can see, just like Travis, all the opportunities available now without the iSchool even being established. I really think that this wonderful idea would be somewhat difficult in a way. If you are a student in a public school, you go to school for free. There are some small fee's to pay, but I never remember paying 600 dollars a year. If a public school student was required to buy this form of technology, would it be too much to  ask for a low income family? Would or should the school provide the iSchool for the students?

I think a lot of careful consideration should go into the cost of this product before requiring students to purchase it. Maybe there should be payment plans set up for families, or maybe the money a school would save in paper, ink, classroom supplies and computers cost should be saved and use that money to buy the iTouch. I still love the idea of the iSchool and I think it would be very convenient. It is also, as Travis said, a way to reduce our carbon footprint and go green! I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of the iSchool!

Lost Generation

The technique used in this video was very effective to me. It really made you listen and grasp the point. The producers of this video were very creative. I loved how when it reversed, you could could read the words from bottom to top and make a more hopeful story out of a once hopeless one. I really believe, if there would have been a true video about the point they were trying to get across, rather that a voice, then I would have been more distracted by what was going on in the video and I would have missed the urgancey of this message.

As far as the information provided in the video, I was terribly shocked! I really felt at certain points, that I was going to cry. It is so true, that unless our generation changes and teaches our children to be a certain way, that we are headed for disaster. Money should never outweigh the importance of a family. The love of money is the root of all evil. Money is not the root, but the love of it is. We need to learn in this society what are priorities are and what we love most and that should be our families.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

I never in a million years would have thought that a virtual choir would be possible. I'm not really sure, after reading the explination below the video, if the choir actually talked or communicated with Eric, but at the end of the video it does state that if you would like to join you can and it has contact information. I would love to learn more about this choir and how they made this possible. These are the days that i wish I were able to sing so that I could be involved in something so awesome!