Blog Assignment 8

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

This video definitely raises some good points and makes you think a lot about education. When I was watching it, I kept comparing education of the future to the education I received growing up. In the video, it is said that the workspace is now the desktop. My generation grew up with paper and pencil so the next generation will obviously have a very different education with technology and computers.

I am mentally willing to learn much more about writing with multimedia. Am I totally competent and have I mastered the art of writing with multimedia? Of coarse not. I would not say that I am very interested though and see the value in it as an educator. In the video, it was said that our information won’t be stored in a place like a library, information will be readily available on the web and shared infinitely. Because of this, I am hopefully becoming more and more prepared to write with multimedia to share my ideas and to have the knowledge to gather other ideas.

Students of the next generation will definitely be able to write with multimedia. It will come more naturally to them. As educators, we must give them the tools to learn to collaborate with others and write with multimedia. Students will be able to express their creativity through collaboration with other students and the use of images, films and other media. I definitely think there will be less of a learning curve with the technology for the students of the next generation, therefore we as educators must work hard to keep up and learn to learn the way our students will learn.

The Chipper Series

EDM 310 for Dummies

These two videos are great examples of student made videos with great messages and lessons. The first, The Chipper Series, Chipper redefines procrastination and hard work. Through a little skit with Dr. Strange, she grows as an individual from a procrastinating student to a drop out with many failing jobs, finally to a hard working student. Her primary message is that we must be timely, hard working individuals in all aspects of our life. We must accept responsibility and not make excuses for ourselves. EDM 310 for Dummies is another example of a great student video. In it, students market a EDM 310 handbook with tips and tools to “keep an A” in the class. The primary message of this video is to not get frustrated with the class and to use all resources possible to succeed.

Some videos that I would like to create would probably be based around continuing education for educators already in the field. I think it would be a great way to teach myself some things as well as benefit the educators in our schools who are struggling with technology. I always learn the best when I am teaching others something.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

This is a great video that will really make you think! Some of the ideas seem radical, but they are all very practical and true if you let them sink in for a minute. It is suggested that our schools today are very much run like factories with control and order being the priority. Also, we are taking away the student’s world and creativity by banning technology and really doing our students a disservice.

If we want our students to succeed we must make them at the center of their own education. I definitely agree that we must allow students to use their own tools outside of the traditional classroom if they are going to learn and reach their potential. The time of the traditional classroom that we grew up in is over! Students have to use the web, the community, and other resources to gain knowledge and the classroom and school as a meeting place to collaborate and share ideas.

Also, the argument about standardized tests made a lot of sense to me. I always have the concern in the back of my head about traditionally meeting state standards and objectives. In the video, however, it is stated that jobs don’t call on the knowledge of standardized tests. Jobs call for students to be able to work as teams, to find information in context, to synthesize, and think critically. I definitely think those things are more important and more valuable than teaching to any test.

The Secret Powers of Time by Philip Zambardo

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by David Pink

In ‘The Secret Powers of Time”, Philip Zambardo discusses the concept of time and time zones such as the past, present, and future. He claims that the pace of life and duration vary by culture and can explain actions and personality. For example, all people begin life in a present hedonistic state, meaning we all have the desire to meet our more immediate and basic needs. However, depending on culture, maturity, and a number of other factors, our states change. The example given in the video was of teenage boys who play video games. These video games cater primarily to immediate gratification and re-wire the brain to think that way. Therefore, when they go to school, which is primary centered around delayed gratification, their brains will consider it boring and not be interested. I think this applies to the growth of people’s education and their drive for success because we must give our student’s something to control in their education. We are moving more and more toward an immediately controlled present time culture so we must adapt to that.

In “The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us” David Pink discusses rewards and punishments. He mainly focuses on reward though and challenges some of the previously claimed ideas. His research proves that rewards are successful when the work is basic and mechanical. However, when it requires even a small amount of cognitive ability, a reward doesn’t work and gives poor performance. Basically, they found that higher incentives yield worse results, except for simple and straightforward tasks. The video also discusses three factors for better performance: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. It is claimed that humans all have a desire for self-direction (autonomy), the urge to get better (mastery), and purpose. I think this is something we should think about when we have our own students and our own classrooms. Because we know that students need autonomy, we should give them projects to work on themselves and the freedom to be creative. Because we know they have the urge to get better, we should let them have their sense of purpose and start treating our students like humans instead of animals. We all have a natural urge to succeed so we shouldn’t rely solely on extrinsic motivation for our students.