Unfortunately, I Can See Myself Doing This

This tends to be a new trend these days and I have posted about something similar in one of my previous blog entries...As some of you know I am a newish dad. My daughter actually turns one today. So when she gets older doing something like this is going to go one of two ways. Either she is going to think I'm the coolest...or she's going to think I'm the lamest.  There's only one way to find out!

Motivated and Inspired

I would do random blogs occasionally for the past few years. After taking this class, it has taught me many new things and gave me the motivation I needed to revamp my blog. I would like to turn it into sharing my advice in my profession and hobbies as well as being a new dad I think I can share some good stories with others. Anyway, I started looking at some new templates and themes and hope to get started after I am done with my classes for the Summer term. Thanks to everyone for their comments and feedback throughout.

End of Term Poll

With the end of term approaching, I have just one question for you.

Are you happy that this term is almost over?
	Yes
	No
	Undecided
pollcode.com free polls

Lip Sync Battles with Jimmy Fallon

I am not sure about you but I always enjoy when the new lip sync battles with Jimmy Fallon come out. One of my favorite ones you can see below. This time it is featuring Paul Rudd. Enjoy! Which one is your favorite?

My Embedded Sound - You Stay Classy!

Below is an embedded clip from one of my favorite comedies, Anchorman.  Due to keeping the blog as professional and appropriate as possible, I was able to find a 4 second suitable clip. I have embedded this from a website, moviesoundclips.com. If you would like a to see a tutorial that is also used for embedding sound clips, you can check out this link here.

PAPSA Conference

Yesterday, I was at the PAPSA conference. It was a great time where I learned a lot of new information with my colleagues.  Incase you were wondering, PAPSA stands for Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators.  It was especially nice because I got the chance to finally put a face to so many people that I talk with on a regular basis such as other SME's in my field as well as book publishers. You can check out their web page by clicking here.

Examining Generational Differences

Responding to Michael Barbour’s blog, Examining Generational Difference, while there is no valid proof that changed today’s generation students, I can ask my 5 year old nephew to watch a show with me and he will go to the iPad, not the TV. That is just one example that shows the different upbringing. Reeves illustrates that generational differences do matter. Which ever generation that the digital natives are exposed to, young learners have an advantage – rapid succession of information sharing. While Prensky statistics regarding spending hours in front of video games or digitally entertaining oneself, I took away the view that the environment has changed how students interact digitally. The only generational difference is when students who have later adopted the knowledge of digital technology as an immigrant.

Overall, I found the Reeves article to have the most insightful information. I especially appreciated the following sentence, “ Instead of worrying about whether Boomers, GenXers or Millennials will learn more from direct instruction or virtual reality games, instructional designers and educational technology researchers working closely with practitioners and subject matter experts should begin by identifying the needs of any given set of learners, design the best possible prototype learning environments in situ, and then conduct iterative cycles of formative evaluation and refinement to optimize the solution and reveal robust design principles.” We must, as educators, do what is best for our students. This is how they will build the skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century.

Is there a gap? Sure. Can we shorten that gap? Of course. I see it everyday. I have 18 year old students that come in with more technical knowledge than 40 year old students in the same class. At the end of the class they 40 year olds are right with the younger ones. It all comes down to finding their way of learning and using that to adapt this new technological information to them.