Blog Post 5

Dr. Mcleod

Dr. Scott Mcleod is an associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Kentucky. That's the first thing it says on his bio, and that's already more impressive than about 95 percent of people that I know. He is also the founding director of CASTLE, which is the nation's only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators, and co-creator of Did You Know? Dr. Mcleod, from what everyone can read on his bio, is one of the nation's leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues. To put his title in the context of EDM310, Dr. Mcleod is an innovator and one of the leaders in educational technology. He is a "doer" and one of the good guys that help teachers make learning easier and better for students.

Travis Allen

I have to say, I was not a big fan of this video. But, it was mainly just because I disagree with Travis Allen's points, not because I think he did a bad job. He had interesting, well thought out points that all made sense (sort of), and his videos looked very nice. But, that's where I think I take issue with his whole point. It just LOOKS nice. It SEEMS like a good idea, but I can't bring myself to believe that buying every student an iPad would SAVE money. Now I'm all for project based learning. In fact, I have already stated, or at least inferred, in earlier posts that I believe it is the best and most fun way to learn. Activity breeds activity, and that's why project based learning works so well. On this end, Travis Allen is right on the money.

I can't make a definite argument, I haven't looked into the total cost of everything, and I don't own an iPad. I have an iPod touch, and I like the interface, but I can't say that I would ever use it for learning as opposed to play. That's my first point: giving students access to something that is marketed for, one reason, fun and entertainment is taking a huge gamble on productivity. Textbooks aren't prisons, and someone who cares can make teaching from a textbook interesting. On the other hand, iPad could be great resources for learning, but are also one of the most fun things on the planet. If I had an iPad in high school, I would have been on Garage Band in every single class. My other point is that I don't believe that buying everyone an iPad would save money. Someone would have to literally show me the receipts and the difference in costs of an iPad and all of the apps that would be needed vs. Textbooks and pencils. If the cost difference isn't very significant, I can't see a reason to take the risk of buying iPads. iPads would cost way more to replace when they break anyway. You can always print out sheets of paper or make copies of a textbook, but you can't just make a copy of an iPad.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

I thought this video was very cool. Being involved in music, I'm always interested in how a group of people can come together and make something sound so great. I think the fact that this was done over the internet sheds further light on how far we as a civilization have progressed. I loved it.

Teaching in The 21st Century

Watching 21st Century Students is an important video and resource to all future, or even current, teachers. The more we know about younger generations and their interests and learning patterns, the better. Even as a young adult right now, I don't learn in the same way that even younger people do, and it is always important to understand differences in any way.

This video helps one to understand the fact that there is no shortage of technology that can be used for education. Probably the most important point this video made to me was that we live in an ever-changing society. Nobody knows what the "next big thing" will be, but we, as teachers, have to be ready to adapt to whatever change may come.

Reading Rockets

I really enjoyed previewing the reading rockets' website. I thought that they had a lot of good and fun information to share. As an English major and future English teacher, I really liked the fact that this website had tons of English resources. I really liked the fact that they had Free Reading Guides.

Another thing I thought was cool was that they had shows on PBS. I have been watching PBS since I was born (probably, I don't remember because I was really young when I was born), and I am a big fan of the educational aspect of the network.