Blog Post 13

Back to the Future is a presentation by an elementary school teacher named Brian Crosby that explains the methods of teaching and learning that occur in his classroom. His classroom is essentially a perfect example of a class that uses all the principle ideas of EDM 310. His fourth graders all have a laptop that they use in class to blog, research and perform almost all of their actual "classwork." His class seems to be one giant "head fake" after another. One particular project had his students participate in creating a balloon that would rise high into the atmosphere. The balloon had cameras on it, so students could view the flight through the layers of the atmosphere. When the balloon rose out beyond sightline, the students were able to track the path of the balloon through google maps. This entire project was obviously a fun way for students to learn about the layers of the atmosphere and the properties of gases, but Mr. Crosby took the learning experience a step further by having the students blog a narrative from the balloon's perspective. This is the activity that interests me because it is so reliant on language and writing skills. Mr. Crosby was able to take a fun activity and turn it into a real learning experience that helps students develop their writing skills as well.

Listening to a teacher like Brian Cosby is inspirational, but in a strange way it can also be intimidating. He has created an incredibly successful classroom that actually makes a significant difference in kids' lives. An incredible amount of work and thought goes into creating these assignments, and I hope that one day I can create some similar activities. The great thing about seeing all the videos throughout EDM 310 is that I can take little pieces from many of them and use them in my future classroom.

A Vision of Students Today is a video created at Kansas State University that shows the situations that many modern college students face. From high amounts of debt, to ridiculously high costs of textbooks, modern college students do face some difficult situations. Many of these problems are familiar to me, while some seem almost too outlandish to be true (500 emails a semester?!). The issues also deal with things outside of monetary problems and things of that nature. They also deal with the way many classes are still set up. The video takes issue with the fact a great number of college classes are still taught at the chalkboard. While it may be true that many modern classes could be enhanced by some technology being input into them, the college classes that rely on technology are often a complete waste of time. EDM 310 has been the only online class that was different from the norm. The online work in most classes is often busy work where no learning takes place. This is not to say that technology is bad for classes, but the way it is often used in the college classroom is unsuccessful.

I've had many great college classes where the chalkboard and lecture was the main focus of the classroom, and almost all of the technology based classes I've had (EDM 310 notwithstanding) have been a waste of time. I believe this is because many teachers rely on the technology to do their work for them instead of using it to enhance the learning experience. Technology is a great thing for education on all levels, but at its core it is simply a tool. A tool can only do so much in the hands of a teacher who is unwilling to use it to its full capabilities.