Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

Richard Miller’s videos really summed up the change that is present in our generation. In Part 1 of Mr. Miller’s presentation, he talks about the greatest change of human history. He started with explaining that writing used to be a solitary activity that ended with a book that joined the other books in the library. Now those books are out of print and found on Amazon for 59 cents. He talked about how our workspace has changed from pencil and paper to our desktop. He did a project and was able to quickly find anything he needed on the web. It was in minutes he found the needed information. This is an incremental change, not a fundamental change. We are all sharing knowledge forever.; our thoughts, new ideas, and resources. During the election, people could go to the Washington Post and find out the progress and votes at a click of a button. Mr. Miller’s points are real. They are exact.

Part 2 of his presentation started off by stating that all of the new material added each day to the web changes instantly. New ideas and facts are created with the information already posted. Mr. Miller mentions Jonathan Harris and his work. He also explains iTunes U and how the academic lectures benefit students. These ideas belong to our culture. In our generation, when we find information on the web, we cannot only use it to create new ideas and learn, but we can also get behind it and see how it is used. We have yet to create the availability that we need to share and educate everyone, but Mr. Miller believes that that time will come. He continues and emphasizes that we need inspiring teachers and newly shared pedagogies. This is not only about the new technologies, but it is about what these new technologies allow.

Mr. Miller’s presentation was well planned and had a lot of great points. There are many new technologies in our generation. I think there are so many people in the world that do not even know what is available to them. Just as he stated, we as educators should use these advancements to better our learning and teaching methods. We can start by seeing what is there and then creating our own ideas and blogs. Mr. Miller said he created a document in uTube and within three months, there were over 9,000 views. People had posted his document in their own blogs. This then changed his travels and daily plans. I know that since I have started this class, I never knew the possibilities of the computer. I think it’s great that I have a blog now and we are leaving our URL’s and emails when we research our assignments. Every time we leave a comment on someone’s blog, we are giving our own thoughts and ideas about things. This then may be a starting point for other ideas around the world. We can take what we learn and share it with others and our students. As Mr. Miller said, “This change is HUGE.”