Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

I just finished watching Randy Pausch's Last Lecture , and it was a hilarious and moving speech about Pausch's accomplishments as a professor, childhood dreams, and various kinds of advice that he passes on to the people he leaves behind. Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who was given about nine months to live because of multiple tumors on his liver. He powerfully delivers his last lecture, titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", to a packed auditorium. In his lecture, Pausch proves to be intelligible, funny, witty, creative and beloved by most who knew him.

In the beginning of his speech, Pausch lists off numerous things that he dreamed of being when he was just a child. Some of his dreams included being an imagineer at Disney World, Being Captain Kirk from Star Trek, and even being a football player. At first glance, these seem like unreachable accomplishments, but the amazing thing about Randy Pausch is that he actually accomplished these dreams, for the most part. First, he never technically became Captain Kirk for obvious reasons and restrictions. However, he was able to meet him (William Shatner) when he came to visit Pausch to look at one of his Star Trek themed labs. Pausch was also asked to be an imagineer, (after many setbacks) and he even worked on the Aladdin themed ride at Disney World. Pausch proved that a dream, no matter how big, can be accomplished!

Randy Pausch also discusses some of his projects that he gave to students in his classes. The most amazing and creative one, though, involved assigning his students the task of designing their own virtual gaming world. He gave the students the assignment, which was to be due in just a couple weeks, and he admitted that he was absolutely stunned by the projects that the students came up with. He allowed the students to build on the projects for the remainder of the semester and the had a grand revealing of the virtual worlds when it was all over. Pausch said that the day of the revealing, he had a packed classroom filled with people that he had never even seen before. The project proved to be a success and was a great opportunity for the students to showcase their talents and bond with their project groups. The project became a huge event every year and was a great idea!

Another one of Randy Puasch's programs was called the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), which he and a colleague came up with. The ETC is a two year master's program where, basically, artists and technologists team up to create projects each semester. It is strictly project-based and involves no book learning. The ETC is a great learning program and bagan reaching places overseas such as Singapore. Pausch mentions that he had even had people from businesses calling and offering jobs to his students as soon as they graduate from the program. Pausch seemed to be a great professor and a wonderful man. His last lecture was an encouraging speech about how he made his dreams come true and how to make yours come true, too.

iPods in the Classroom

It is amazing how much technology is being integrated into classrooms, especially on college campuses. One thing that still blows my mind is how classes are using everyday devices like ipods in their lesson plans. Duke University is one such example. Duke University has begun distributing ipods to all incoming freshman who are taking classes that require the ipods. Who wouldnt want a free ipod? The free ipods, however, are not just for listening to music or downloading videos. Professors at Duke are using the ipods in the classroom for portable hardrives, podcasts, music and foreign language classes. The ipods can also be used to record lectures and is an easy way to look back at certain parts of lectures for reference.

Orange County, California is another example of schools that are starting to place ipods in the classroom. However, schools in this county are not just designating the ipods to one age group. They are using them in all grade levels. Some first grade students are able to use their ipods to listen to stories and record themselves retelling them, while other students are using this newly integrated technology to count the number of calories they burn during certain activities. Students in upper level classrooms may use their ipods to publish podcasts in which they discuss the material that they recently covered in class. The uses of the ipod have become more than I ever would have imagined. It has proven to be more than just another fun gift for listening to endless amounts of music. The ipod has become a teaching device that is both fun and educational. It has also opened the door for many other unimaginable types of technology to be used in the classroom. I never would have thought that I would be allowed to bring an ipod into any of my classes, much less use them to learn. The only question I can think of now is what could possibly be next?

Dr. Alice Christie

Dr. Alice Christie's website is used by her to share what she has learned about teaching over her career. It is a great resource for teahcers to see how an experienced educator has learned from changing technology, and how new teachers can incorporate that into their classrooms. Her website has several sections which provide teachers with advice on how to use technology in the classroom. She has a collection of different resources that they can use, and she even has a section dedicated to her photography over the years.

One of the pages that I liked best was the one about using GPS in the classroom. Dr. Christie uses this page to eductate teachers about how you can incorporate GPS into your lesson to teach students in an exciting an informative way. One such teacher planned a project for her students to research and plan a vacation for their families to national parks. The students researched the parks and integrated GPS into their projects. This is a fun and educational tool for both teahers and students.

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Wikipedia

How many times have you had to find information on a subject and gone straight to the computer to look it up on Wikipedia? I wont lie, even I am guilty of lazily looking for information on sites like Wikipedia. As I have found out, however, Wikipedia is not exactly the credible source that it may seem to be. Wikipedia is an online search engine, which sounds appealing at first. However, the kicker is that anyone at anytime can edit the information on the site. This means that the information you are relying on for a big-grade paper or project might not be completely reliable. Wikipedia allows people to edit the site to provide more information on particular subjects. This is great if the people editing the sites are actually giving factual information, but sometimes this is not the case. A lot of times, big name businesses like Wal-Mart and Exxon Mobile will edit, or even delete, information that may portray them negatively and change it to make them sound better.

This problem with Wikipedia may not be completely solved, but there are new resources that are helping people check the information that they are looking up. Virgil Griffith, a graduate student from the California Institute of Technology, developed the Wikipedia Scanner to assist in this problem. This scanner allows people to trace back information that has been edited on Wikipedia to the original IP address who did the editing. This is a great tool because it not only allows people to check where the information is coming from, but it is also causing big businesses such as Wal-Mart to rethink what they are putting on the site. It is obvious now that Wikipedia is not the most credible source for obtaining information, but hopefully with the Wikipedia Scanner it will be a lot easier to double check where the information is coming from and just how credible it may be.

Best of Fischbowl 2007 (March)

As i began looking for another blog by Karl Fisch, I ran across one of his blog topics titled "Why Wirelss?", and it immediately caught my attention. This blog that he wrote is an arguement about why schools should have wireless internet access for personally owned devices. The first reason that Fisch gives is the fact that there are tons of resources online that students can access to help them in their classess. They can access information directly from the schools website, or they can access information from the entire internet. Fisch also argues that students today are enrtering a world where they must continuously be learning if they want to be successful. If they have access to online resources, they will be able to do this. Students will be able to gather more information quickly, and will also gain experience using the internet at the ame time.

Fisch also states that students need to be engaged through media outside the walls of their high school. The internet and other technology is an excellent tool that can be used to further educate your students. Also, he makes an excellent point by saying that students need to be prepared for what life is going to be like when they are older, not how it was years ago. They need to be prepared for a technology filled future, and it all starts in the classroom. Student's futures today are very unpredictable, and they need to be continuously learning and able to teach themselves. Internet in the classrooms may not be the direct solution,but it is a great tool to do so.

Best of Fischbowl 2007 (September)

For this blog I explored another one of Karl Fisch's always entertaining blogs. This blog the he wrote actually won an Edublog Award for being the most influential post of 2007. While Fisch does not seem to be too excited about it, it seems like a great achievement and was very well deserved. In his award-winning post, Fisch explains why he believes that all teachers should be computer literate. He makes a very true statement where he says that a teacher that is technoligically illiterate by today's standards is the same as a teacher who could not read about thirty years ago. It was a very bold statement, but also very true at the same time. He goes onto explain that the students are depending on their teachers to know how to use computers, and they do not have time to just wait around for them to figure it out.

Teachers have a responsibility to teach students and prepare them for the future. How can the teachers prepare their students for a technology filled future if they are not even prepared themselves? Fisch states that it is impossible to model your students if you yourself are not even literate. He says that it has been getting harder and harder to be truly successful, and as we get further into the 21st century it will be even harder if you are not technologically literate. Fisch also says that some people argue that teachers may have too much on their plate to take up such a big task. However, when you have students and their futures depending on you, no task is too big. Karl Fisch's blog was very informative and very true. It is so important for teachers to become technologically literate, especially nowadays. Students are depending on their teachers to teach them the skills that they will need to be successful, which means that the teachers must lear and master the skills themselves if they want to be successful.

International Schools

This is a blog that I found from Motueka High School in New Zealand. This is actually a specialized high school that deals mostly with outdoor recreation. The school has used this blog to post pictures of trips that they took, such as a trip to Middle Earth Cave where students explored, learned, and had fun all at the same time. This blog is also very informative about trips that the students take, and it gives a lot of interesting facts about each place. Lastly, the blog gives posts of upcoming events that are taking place which can be used by students. It is a very interesting and unique blog that both informs and entertains.

The other International School blog that I found was from a teacher in Auckland, New Zealand . The teacher's name is Mrs. Kelso and she has a class of 11 and 12 year olds. This teacher uses her blog much like other educators do. She has given students information on previous assignments, a breakdown of what they are learning in class, and even additional resources for learning. This teacher has taken it a step further, however, by providing video posts that show different ways of learning, such as a video that she posted about learning multiplication. Her post allows students to see assignments, interactive videos, and even pictures of their adventures in the class!

School Blogs

Blogs are something that are becoming more and more popular among educators of all grades. They are a great way for teachers to communicate with students, parents, and other educators in a fun and up-to-date way. One such school that uses teacher blogs is Mabry Middl School in Marietta, Georgia. This school has blogs from each department such as Counselor's Corner, Nurse's Corner, Band, and P.E blogs. Each department uses their blog to post upcoming events, pictures, and announcements. It is a great and simple way for the school and its individual departments to let the students know what is coming up on campus and how they can get involved. If you would like to view the blogs submitted by Mabry Middle School Click Here.


Another school that has started incorporating blogs into their system of teaching is Goochland County in Virginia. The school county's website lets you choose from teachers in the elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the county. Each idividual teacher has his or her own blog in which they share information about what has been covered in class, how things are progressing, and upcoming events in the classes. Some teachers even post assignments for upcoming and previous weeks. This is a great idea that allows students to simply go online and find out what assignments they missed or even how they can get ahead in the class. The teachers also post reminders about upcoming events, such as field trips, which makes it easy for students to remember when and where the event is taking place. Blogs like these that teachers use are becoming more and more common, especially as technology increases and young people are using computers more than a regular pen and paper. It is a smart way to keep up with the changing times and adapt for students as they begin moving towards computers and new technology. If you would like to view the Goochland County School's teacher blogs Click Here.

The Fischbowl: Did You Know?

I recently wathed a video called "The Fischbowl: Did You Know?" that was developed by Karl Fisch. It was an extremely interesting and informative video that fills you in on the topic of our society's ever-increasing dependence on technology and how we must make changes to adapt. This country, and even the world, has made huge technological advances in the past years, and it is just going to continue to increase as time passes and technology develops even more. The video gave pretty informative statstics an facts about how the world is changing and how we have begun to adapt to these changes. It stated that computers in the near future will have more computing capabilities than the human brain and fifteen years from now will have more than the human race. It gave many examples of how the world is changing due to technology becoming more and more useful and common. Some examples include the fact that we now have college majors that didnt even exist ten years ago, the number of internet devices increased from 1,000 in 1984, to 600,000,000 in 2006, and that because of the number of myspace users, if myspace was a country it would be the eigth largest in the world. These are staggering facts that help to show just how much our world is becoming more and more dependant on technology.

So, with these facts in mind, one question people may have is how are we adapating to this increase in dependence on technology? Well, many changes have been occuring that will help us to adjust. First of all, the video stated that many students are being trained for jobs that dont even exist yet, in order to solve problems that have not even occured. This means that we are already training people to become informed on problems that could possibly occur years from now. They are also starting to prepare children in schools from an early age to become succesful in the 21st century. This is very necessary in a society that is starting to rely mostly on technology and will continue to more in the future. We need to train young people now so that they will be informed and prepared in the future. Another big step that is occuring is the One Laptop per Child Project (OLPC). This project was created to help students in developing countries, since nearly one in three students in these countries never even complete the fifth grade. The project's goal is to provide these students with laptops that may further their education an even connect them to the outside world. As the video so perfectly showed, we are becoming a world that that is very dependent on technology, but we have already taken steps to prepare for the future. We are aware of the change that is occuring, and we are preparing young students so that they may be informed and well-equipped to handle problems and technological advances that will occur years from now.