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

I am not…I am not currently prepared to write with multimedia. But I’m getting there, and I recognize the potential and benefits of authoring in this way. It spoke to me when he talked about a text only document taking two years to distribute, while a multimedia presentation received 9,000 visits in such a short time. This IS how we will distribute and receive information to and from the masses.
The idea of information being owned not by the individual, but shared by all is a new one I am adjusting too. My initial reaction to so much of what I have been exposed to in EDM is “Why are they putting this out there for free, what do they want from me?” I am slowly realizing there has been a shift, and collaborating is the new norm in education. It is empowering and makes our jobs easier, and yet harder as we strain to contribute to this shared knowledge, not just absorb. I cannot ignore a slight uneasiness when I consider this vast worldwide network (Genesis 11).
My favorite part of the video was at the end of part two when he says “The goal of this technology is not the technology itself…”. That sums it all up. Technology is great, amazing, useful, spectacular, attention grabbing, but what will we do with it. We are educators, how will we EDUCATE with what we are learning. Even borrowing someone else’s spectacular lesson plan and implementing it will be worthless if we cannot analyze the needs and abilities of our own students and find ways to achieving learning outcomes, not just teaching goals.

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler
Does the networked student even need a teacher? Oh my goodness YES. Absolutely none of the network would exist and no learning would take place without a teacher there laying the foundation work. I am firming up my belief that a good teacher can teach anything, only they sometimes must learn it first. In this particular video, the Psychology teacher is no longer responsible for teaching psychology to this networked student, but instead, teaching the tools needed to allow the student to learn on his own. Many of my classmates commented that this video sounds a lot like EDM. I propose it is exactly like EDM. Dr. Strange is not trying to teach us how to teach; he is teaching us how to learn, so that we may in turn teach our students how to learn.
I watched this video with a small measure of pride, because 4 weeks ago I would not have understood much of what was being discussed. Now terms like PLN, wiki, iTunesU, skype/videoconferencing, and RSS feeds are not baffling or even intimidating. I am not an expert in any of these area, but I have dabbled to the point where I would be comfortable introducing them to my students. The networked student needs a teacher to point him in a direction, to steer him when he heads off course, and to give him an ultimate learning goal.
An enormous part of this networking process is communicating with others, and those others are frequently learned scholars and highly respected authors. Clear and polite communication is not a naturally occurring trait among most young people. A teacher models, corrects, and guides a student through interactions with the world of higher learning. A teacher helps protect a student from false information, inappropriate content, and in general, those who wish to harm rather than help the student. “Why does the networked student need a teacher?” The learning spark will never grow to a flame without an excellent teacher to fan it upward.

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity by Michael Wesch:

This was a very interesting discourse by Dr. Wesch. He and his students have spent an enormous amount of time analyzing Youtube and investigating phenomena and terms such as the progression of the word “Whatever”. He is obviously extremely intelligent and talented at analyzing and organizing information and creating new understanding. But I have to be honest, my reaction here is…Whatever.
Perhaps this is my natural cynicism when I stay up too late at night working, but I keep thinking, just because a thing can be studied, that doesn’t mean it should. Youtube is no doubt changing the world, just like the automobile and the microwave did, and it is fascinating to analyze those changes, but this did not seem to be the most earth shattering topic to which his sharp mind could be devoted. I may add more to this post later if I see it in a different light.