Blog Post #2

Did You Know 3.0 by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod:
Just in the beginning of this video I was amazed. I was shocked to find out that one day China will be the predominate English speaking country. I was astounded to learn that 25% has the highest IQ in the world, and that is greater than the total population of the United States. Technology and population of the United States is being surpassed by many other countries. In the five minutes it took to watch the presentation, the United States welcomed in 67 babies to our country, however China welcomed 247 new births, and India exceeded their numbers with 395 children born.

This video is one the best I've viewed on YouTube so far. This video has opened my eyes to the competition that America faces in the future years in the technology race. I feel that all American's would benefit from watching this brief video, and hopefully it would inspire some people to better themselves.

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needlema:
This video is a quick and inexpensive video, but gets the message through. The whole point of this video to me was that although our technology improves exponentially everyday, our teaching styles have not changed for the past 100 years. Rather than have the same old books and teaching styles, we need to have our lectures more exciting and interactive.

By improving our teaching styles and making the classrooms more interesting, I believe we would have more children staying in school and later graduating. By having more kids in school, we would hopefully reduce the overall amount of crime in our country, both by having less children on the streets and having a better educated population.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
Ken Robinson gives a great lecture and keeps the crowd interested by being humorous. He believes all children are artistic and creative, but the problem is that we lose it growing up or it is educated out of us. There is a universal hierarchy in education; where math and languages dominate, followed by humanities, and lastly the arts. He mentions that many professors, while highly educated, only use their intelligence within their own minds. They tend to forget that intellect can exist outside of the brain. He believes that people need to be more dynamic in their learning and have original thoughts. Robinson defines creativity as being original.

I am impartial Robinson's lecture, I agree with the thought that we should revise the hierarchy of our teaching structure and execution. However, I I do not agree with the idea that education as a whole is pointless and that the majority of our degree holders are going home to play video games. I understand the point that Robinson is trying to make, but I believe that everyone has the ability to choose their own paths in life; some of those may or may not include video games.

Cecelia Gault (Young Student in Finland) Interviews Sir Ken Robinson:
My initial reaction to this short clip was that Cecilia Gault, however young, seemed very well spoken, prepared, and educated. You can tell by the way she handled herself, that she has had a very good teacher. I feel that social interaction under pressure and stress is an important factor in a full education. You can have a highly intelligent person, who, if they cannot speak to others will appear quite ignorant.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts:
Vicki Davis is a great example of what one person can do to inspire and educate our youth about the changing technology of today. Although her students are from rural Georgia, they are connected to the world by techniques that she has introduced them to. In addition to teaching them about the ever changing advances today, she also encourages them to work collectively together and teach one another.

Davis' students are more prepared for modern technology than many college students of America. I personally have had no real education in technology other than typing classes, and have found quite a learning curve since starting at South Alabama. I feel that if high schools offered classes like Davis', college students would be much more prepared and even excel in attaining their goals.