Trung V. Nguyen EDM 310's Blog

Questionnaire Summary for Closing Thoughts

2010-07-29T22:56:00.003-05:00

Thank you all for the responses. The comments were constructive and informative. I hope you all have a great summer!

Final Post Reflection

2010-07-27T17:05:00.002-05:00

Below is my reflection upon this past semester:

Blog Post #5

2010-07-22T05:11:00.004-05:00

Smart Board or Dumb Board?
I have never used a Smart Board before, so it was interesting to hear arguments from both side of the issue. For example, Bill Ferriter writes in his blog,” that even with time and training, interactive whiteboards are an under-informed and irresponsible purchase. They do little more than reinforce a teacher-centric model of learning.” In addition, Michael Stanton boldly states in his blog, “Smartboards are an administrative cop out.” Both Ferriter and Stanton argue that the Smart Board is essentially all flash and no substance.
On the other hand, Amber Coggin and James Hollis both believe that Smart Board is an innovative tool in helping teachers in the classroom. Both Coggin’s and Hollis’s blogs contain an enormous amount of resources for those who are interested in learning about the many tools of the Smart Board. After reviewing these critiques of Smart Board, I am still debating on the usefulness of this new technology. I am not sure if I would invest 3-5 thousand dollars for a fancy “projector”. I have included links to the bloggers discussed in this post. In addition, I have also included a video of the Smart Board in action. Check it out!
Michael Stanton
Bill Ferriter
James Hollis
Amber Coggin

EDM310 for Dummies and the Chipper Series
Both of these videos made me laugh. I am sure that every student that has gone through this course has gone through the range of emotions experienced by the actors in the movie clips. I guess at the end of the day, it is good to not be so serious, even just for a moment. =)

Blog Post 7: The Last Lecture

2010-07-22T02:57:00.003-05:00

In this post, I watched a lecture made by Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. In this video, Randy states that he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a terminal disease; and thus, this will be the "last lecture" that he will give. It is interesting to note that in this lecture, Randy states that he will not talk about two things, cancer and religion. Despite his condition, Randy states that he is not at all upset or jealous that he is dying( he shows a picture of his beautiful home on the PPT presentation), and in fact, he feels more energetic than most of his audience(he starts to do push-ups off the ground).
In this lecture, Randy talks about three things one must accomplish to achieve any of our lifetime goals. First, the opportunity to "dream the dream" is very important because it sets up some of your goals;second, the ability to climb over " the brick wall" when you come to them; and thirdly, through hard work and some luck, the realization of your goals is attainable.
Also in this lecture is Randy Pausch's idea of the "head-fake" phenomenon in terms of education and how important that concept is to future instructors. Randy states that it is always important to have the ability to teach students one thing but make sure they are learning something completely different. For example, one of his student is taking the idea of "web-interface design" to girls in middle school by way of making the process into a fantasy game.
Watching the video gave me a new outlook on where my goals are and what I need to do in order to achieve them. I see Randy in this lecture, and I can tell that he really and truly is happy and content, despite his dire circumstances. From the lecture, you can tell that Randy not only achieved his lifetime goals but also much more. Rest in peace, Randy. Here is a link to his video:
The Last Lecture

Teach Someone Project: How to find prime numbers

2010-07-22T01:23:00.003-05:00

Below is my instructional video on how to find prime numbers using the Sieve of Eratosthenes. All information found in the recording can be found here on Wikipedia: Sieve of Eratosthenes

Personal Learning Network (PLN)

2010-07-21T07:50:00.004-05:00

Create your own PLN through Symbaloo Here!

Vocaroo recording

2010-07-21T07:35:00.004-05:00

Record your own Vocaroo!

Instructional Timeline

2010-07-08T11:27:00.007-05:00

Disclaimer: All dates are not exact, and they are at best the writer's interpretation of the preceding events.

The Major Wars of the United States

Questionnaire Summary

2010-07-08T02:13:00.002-05:00

Blog post 4

2010-07-08T01:10:00.007-05:00

In this series, I reviewed a series of websites that promotes and educates its readers on the use of a podcast listed here:

Judy Scharf Podcast Collection
I got very lucky to have chosen this link for my first article to review. This website was filled with tons of information on how to do a podcast, what is a “podcast”, how are podcasts used, and where to download it. Furthermore, the Judy Shcarf collection even had tutorials on Microsoft Word for further assistance. How incredible! After the quick download, I played around with it like it said in the tutorial, and I am pretty impressed. I am surprised at how easy it to adapt and to use. It’s sort of like having a mixer/keyboard all-in-one.

Langwitches Blog (The Magic of Learning)
I think the next website I visited was dedicated to Language Arts’ teachers (the name suggests so anyhow). After goofing off around the website for 20 minutes, I stumbled across this post entitled “Space Real Estate Agent” about the blogger, Silvia Tolisano, introducing a podcast to another classroom. In this post, Ms. Tolisano writes ecstatically about the joy and passion that these 4th graders underwent to produce an educational, collaborative podcast about our solar system. The idea was to use a podcast to either tell a story or to produce a scenario where a group of voices had to collaborate with one another. I just could not believe at some of the ideas that came from these students: they had stories ranging from a mishap at NASA, a dream sequence that journeys throughout our solar system, real estate agents selling the solar system, to a newscast about the solar system. I am just amazed by the students’ creativity in the classroom; in addition, Ms. Tolisano “booked” computer time so that the students could also learn about Garageband (an “audio mixer” much like Audacity). I have included a picture of the students' brainstorm on the Smart board. Look at how exciting it is to see use of 21st century technology in the classroom!

100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better
This week, I reviewed this website that lists many different ways to utilize an iPod for educational purposes. Although the information was new and instructional, I could not help but to think that it is a tad obsolete. With the advent of the iPad this past summer, professionals and students around the world are already enjoying the many advantages of the iPad that outweigh the benefits of the iPod listed here in this website, not to mention that an iPad costs only a little more than an iPod. With a bigger,better screen and processor than the iPod, the iPad is definitely on many people's wish list this coming winter.

Assignment 4

2010-07-08T01:05:00.003-05:00

Don’t teach your kids this stuff. Please?
Dr. McLeod is a professor at Iowa State University, and he holds a law degree. Since 2003, Dr. McLeod and his partner, Dr. Joan Hughes, have collaborated and created a national technology enrichment program aimed at secondary education as well as the university level. The program named CASTLE (Center for the Advanced Study if Technology in Education) aims at fulfilling technological needs of school administrators as well as the sharing of educational resources. I posted this comment on his blog:
“Dr. McLeod, I read your blog for an assignment for Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 Class at the University of South Alabama. You can check out my class blog at http://nguyentrungedm310.blogspot.com/. I enjoy your sarcastic take on the use of technology in the 21st century. I agree with your views, but I do think that there has to be some form of restrictions on students in schools. However, I do agree with you about the fact that the biggest waste would not be utilizing this technology and to not incorporate it into our lives.”

The iSchool initiative (Mobile Learning)
In this short movie by Travis Allen, a high school student, he attempts to convince viewers to revolutionize the school system by utilizing Apple’s iPhone as a learning platform where everything from assignments, emails, and even grades and homework will be digitally recorded in cyberspace. Travis argues that the overhead cost of the phone (roughly about $100) will outweigh the current spending on each student (about $600). Furthermore, Travis argues that this initiative will save money as well as the environment. Although this plan sounds terrific, I just have a few questions for this digital school. First, the cost of each phone is around $100, but what about the monthly fee from your respective phone provider, not including the unlimited data plan. Second, at what age should you give a child an iPhone to use in school? I mean does it matter if he/she is spilling ice cream and smothering peanut butter over the buttons or does it matter if he/she got robbed on his/her way to school by the locals because they can pawn his phone and make some money? Thirdly, what about the issue of care and maintenance? And I mean from dropping your iPhone off the bus or into the toilet or really anything. A normal textbook in Mobile Country School System gets recycled about after 5 years or so of use. Are you telling me an iPhone will last that long without any maintenance issue? And if the situation arises, who is to pay for it?
The Lost generation
In this video, the director cleverly produced a series of negative statements read aloud. However, when the statements are played backwards with some ad-libbing, the message becomes positive. The statements within the video are supposed to be comments demoralizing the culture of today as lazy, apathetic, and incompetent. Obviously, the maker of the video disagrees and makes a point to show it otherwise. Because I am product of this so called “Lost Generation”, I am inclined to agree with the producer of this video. I challenge people to think that my generation is somehow “lost” and incompetent. I believe the creation and utilization of the internet is the most influential milestone since Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable printing press.
Eric Whitatker’s Virtual Choir
In this video, Mr. Whitaker conducts a piece entitled “Lux Aurumque” sung by 185 voices from 12 different countries. Mr. Whitaker asks the participants to sing each parts respectively, alto, soprano, tenor, and bass. The magic happens when it is all cut and combined together to make one fantastic concert. I also read Jenifer Chamber’s comments for this post, and I was stunned the first time I heard it and saw it. Although the concert was not live, the magic is in the use of technology to make it seem like it was.

Podcast- Wikipedia

2010-07-08T00:40:00.001-05:00

Movie Project

2010-06-24T13:24:00.002-05:00

TimeToast Timeline

2010-06-24T12:47:00.001-05:00

Google Presentation

2010-06-24T11:01:00.003-05:00

This is a part of my life.

Assignment 3

2010-06-24T10:31:00.002-05:00

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
In this video, Michael Wesch presents some of the problems that college students are facing today in the classroom: From the inflated costs of books to the inefficient use of time by students, he poses these questions here to the viewers. Although he did not propose a solution, I am assuming that Mr. Wesch expects the viewers to reflect upon their past or current college classroom experiences and to propose one. Well, I do not have one, yet. However, what I do have is hope. In the last few years, I have seen more and more college instructors use their respective school’s resources (i.e. school webpage) to create a more “green” classroom. I know it is a small step, but can you imagine how many trees we can save by doing so. My hope is that if this is the first step into utilizing our resources more efficiently, then I know we will be closer to addressing the problems posed in this video.

"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines
In this post, Kelly Hines writes about the main problem with technology: People (educators) that do not know how to use them. Mrs. Hines argues that having a new, innovative teaching program will further facilitate the use of technology in the classroom. I like to focus on the first key characteristic in her criterion: Teachers must be learners. This concept must be learned by future teachers to ensure a successful future. Although the teacher is an authority figure and a role model at all times, he/she must be able to connect with his/her students at all times, and only then will there be learning. In her own words, Mrs. Hines writes: “Teachers who want to be truly successful must be voracious and self-motivated in their pursuit of evolving understanding.”

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
In this post, Karl Fisch battles for the war of more use of technology in the classroom. I made some comments on his post:
Mr. Fisch,

“I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM310 course at the University of South Alabama. I read your post and after wading through 2 years of comments, I think I finally begin to understand your original statement. I believe what you were noting was the fact that technology (in its many forms and facets) is a tool, and it is an "equalizer", and therefore it should be widely used. The fact that this "new tool" comes to us digitally and not physically should be irrelevant to educators; the main purpose here is education. As to the question of a "technologically illiterate teacher", I believe the great educator Horace Mann would argue that if you are not using the technology of today,you are behind. Thank you for starting an interesting thread.”
You may contact me at nguyentrungedm310.blogspot.com

Gary Hayes Social Media Count. CLICK HERE FOR AMAZING TECHNOLOGICAL STATISTICS!!!

Assignment 2

2010-06-24T10:16:00.001-05:00

This week I watched the following short movie clips: “Did You Know? 3.0”, “Mr. Winkle Wakes”, “Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity”, “Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts”. In “Did You Know? 3.0”, Karl Fisch collected various data from around the world from the past 60 years to show the viewers how rapidly our world is changing. Furthermore, he emphasizes the emergence of India and China in regards to their population boom as well as the emergence of a unified world through the use of technology. I still cannot believe how fast technology has grown in the last 10 years.
The next two videos I like to discuss are “Mr. Winkle Wakes” and “Harness Your Student’s Digital Smarts”. In the first video, Mr. Winkle wakes up from his 100 year slumber and explores our world. He is obviously shocked by the things he sees around him: computer, phones, ventilators, and other modern technology. However, when Mr. Winkle walks into the school, he is happy to find that children are still being educated just like in the past. To resolve this problem, Vicki Davis from Georgia has been a frontier in the goal for implementing new technology in the classroom. Mrs. Davis believes that every child learns differently, and thus she is determined to bring new innovations to the world of education.
The last video I watched is from the TED conference from 2006, and it is a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson. In this talk, he gives an incredible example of how a small in a child’s curriculum can have a huge impact on his/her future life. At the end of the talk, Sir Robinson wishes that the viewers find new ways to educate our children by inspiring their imagination and cultivating their creativity. Wow, what a wonderful concept! I agree with Sir Robinson: I believe that in order to have a productive learning environment, the educator must be willing to learn from his/her students as well as be able to teach. With this reciprocating relationship, the exchange of ideas can then freely flow. I have also included the following links to the videos discussed above.

Did You Know 3.0 by Karl Fisch

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needlemen

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity