Blog Post 8

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream
     We have the capability to communicate instantly around the world. We can get instant satisfaction using the internet. We now no longer have to take a step into a library. Using technology and the internet we can now see these books digitally that would be in a library as well as works that are strictly online. In this process of change, Mr. Miller believes in a fundamental and incremental change.
     Mr. Miller shows us the very complex yet useful concept of turning a reading and writing report into a document that is watched and listened to. This is a very neat concept to think about, we have the ability to put a full page of boring words into a presentation of videos, pictures and other things that we can interact with. Overall the things that we can and will be able to do are as endless as our imagination.
     I feel like I am becoming more prepared every day to write with multimedia. I am a firm believer that practice doesn’t make perfect, but it certainly prepares for the best outcome in the future. By using multimedia in my classes I think I am going to be pretty well prepared in the near future when I become a teacher.
     As far as my students knowing how to do this, I believe much of that is up to me. I will be teaching younger children (hopefully 1st grade), therefore it is important for me to set a good base of using multimedia. I realize there are certainly limits of how much a 1st grader can learn, but I so think that these children are capable of learning a good bit of things.


The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies
     These two videos showed me that yes, there is a lot involved with this class however; it can be done by following a few guidelines. The steps or guidelines are not hard if you stay on top of your work, and they are things that are important in all classes and places of work.
     Do not procrastinate! This is a very important step in being a good student. Procrastinating will ultimately lead to poor and sloppy work and bad grades. If you do not procrastinate then you will leave yourself with more time to get other things done as well. It is also important to leave yourself extra time in case of error. For example, if your computer decides to crash the night before your assignment is due and you have not completed it yet, then might be very stressful and difficult to find a way to get the assignment done on time. On the other hand if you left yourself with time then this would not be such a dilemma.
    Being on time and going to every class is very important. As the video showed, failing can all start with not being on time or lack of attendance. In the video, Chipper’s habits of not going to class lead to her being fired from her teaching position, then when her potential "nanny" employer contacted her references they were not impressed and Chipper did not get the job.
     Personally I have always had softball to teach me the importance of attendance as well as being on time. I have always been taught the phrase “5 minutes early is 15 minutes late”. This has always allowed me to be places in plenty of time. I also had to be responsible with my grades and class attendance or there were serious consequences.
     So as we see if Chipper had just stayed with the program by doing her work on time as well as went to class excited to learn, she would have been much more successful. She wouldn’t have had to go through the pain of applying to so many jobs and not performing well them and then being fired. In the end she finally realized that it was much more beneficial to go to class and stay in class with the right mindset as well as to do all of her work. She realizes she would have been done with school a long time ago.
     I thought this video was great and funny! I think the EDM book would be VERY beneficial for me!! In the EDM for Dummies book, we see that everything we are being assigned to join and do are all for our benefit in the longrun. We will be able to communicate with a larger group of people through the social networking sites. We will be able to be more productive with our lives through Google documents and blogger. And by writing down what we have learned and keeping it organized and ready, we will not be procrastinators and will be able to stay on time and on track throughout the year. We must also take these information to be used in the future.