In Dr. Strange's video a lot of statistics are shown to not only compare the United States to India and China but to also compare the way technology has changed from last semester to two years ago. It is amazing to think that English speaking Chinese will outnumber the entire world in English speaking. The video also makes you think what you can do once your an educator to make your students more tech savvy and hopefully bring numbers up across the board with being bilingual and raise IQs.
I enjoyed watching Dr. Strange's version, but I have to say the originalDid You Know? version had more facts I was interested in. The original also had several different ways of showing how technology has changed over the years. I had no idea that the population of India and China were so much greater than the United States. The information about how many babies were born during the span of the video is just extremely eye opening. How much has the data changed since the video was first made?
Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needleman
This video starts off with this old man who has been asleep for one hundred years finally waking up. He goes to explore the world and finds that a lot of things have changed since when he can remember. He sees big, tall buildings and goes in one. There he discovers the things that have changed with how businesses are run and the new inventions. He has no idea what a computer or printer is. He is amazed to see that the printer pops out a piece of paper with a picture on it. He also is bewildered by the fact that you can talk to a person through a computer and the person you are talking to be across the world.
He then ventures out to a nearby hospital to see if maybe he is sick. When he enters he again sees all these new machines. He sees people that are being kept alive by a machine that is making them breathe. He also notices the doctors using lazars and x-rays to perform surgeries on patients. He then leaves the hospital and walks till he finds a school and goes inside. Once inside he feels comfortable. He looks around and sees there are no changes.
This video really helps to show that several things have changed over the past one hundred years. Some of the things we are able to do now were not even thought possible a hundred years ago. However, I do disagree with the fact that the video thinks schools have not changed. I know going through middle and high school when teachers thought children were old enough to handle computers we did lessons and experiments on computers. A hundred years ago children were learning in classrooms with books and chalkboards.
The Importance of Creativity by Sir Ken Robinson
This video talks about the creativity of children in education. Mr. Robinson first starts off with how we as educators are here to educate children to be ready for the next five years when we ourselves do not know what will happen in those next five years. He believes that creativity is as important as literature now in education. He gives several examples of children and their own creative ways or looking at examples like God and the nativity story. He explains that these examples show children are not afraid of being wrong and that is a key thing is to not be afraid. However, by the time children grow up to become adults they somehow become frightened of being wrong. Mr. Robinson gives a reason why this is happening. He says that our schools are now being run to make it seem that a mistake is a bad thing which is leading to children losing their creativity.
After explaining a little about his topic he then goes into explain that every education system in the world has the same subjects and levels of importance for subjects. The subjects of most importance are math and languages, then humanities and the least important is the arts. Robinson believes the reason for public education is to produce university professors. I never knew that there was not a public education system till the 19th century. The one thing that worried me in the video is when he gave a statistic saying that in the next thirty years more people will graduate in education then ever recorded in history. We are already having a hard time with jobs, does this mean more types of teaching are going to become available?
A Vision for 21st Century Learning
The arguments made in this video have to do with changing the way children learn. The video suggests taking kids away from sitting passively in their chairs memorizing material from textbooks. The answer the video gives is to move to a technology that kids do not even realize is teaching them to help them feel empowered. I have to say i do not completely agree. I have learned over the years that everyone learns differently. Yes, some children might learn better through this new style of teaching, but what about the other children? I learn through hands on teaching. I also cannot watch a video or read something from a computer and truly learn something. I have to print out the text or stop a video throughout to write notes. I know I am not the only student that learns this way. I think the best thing would be to combine the two ways of learning. I think this would be the most beneficial to all children.
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis
In this video Vicki Davis is seen as a teacher that has done something incredible with her students through technology. She has created a classroom where the students are teaching her and teaching the rest of the class. She is the cofounder of several different blogs. Digiteen is a blog where students from around the world come together and learn new things about digital citizenship. The Flat Classroom project is where students can study different technology trends with other students around the world and collaborate through videos and presentations.
My favorite part of the video is when she said a child cannot learn with just paper and just pencil. I could not agree more with her statement. I think there are certain students who thrive in the paper and pencil atmosphere, but there are students who would better thrive in the technology atmosphere. I think by joining the two students will not only become more diverse learners but also be better prepared for jobs after college.
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ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteI found myself agreeing with a lot of your points. I loved when you said your favorite part of the last video was a child cannot learn with just paper and just pencil. This was probably my favorite. I think it is very important to be hands on in learning. Because people learn differently from others, it is important to have a classroom setting, but also make the students do more with the recourses they have. I think this is crucial for teachers.
I think you write very clearly and effectively. Even though I watched and wrote about the same videos, I found myself still thinking about what you had to say about them.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. You pointed out things that I did not necessarily point out in my post, and it was very good.
"We are already having a hard time with jobs, does this mean more types of teaching are going to become available?" In my most cynical moments I think we will only have baby sitters and wardens.
ReplyDelete"I have to print out the text or stop a video throughout to write notes." Really? In EDM310?
Thoughtful, well written. Keep it up!
Schools have certainly changed but don't assume every school in the country is like the one you went to.
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