Mod 10 (1) Photo Story

I used iMovie in my Mac to make a photo story about learning fruits. iMovie is an interesting and useful software, which can help me make some videos. I can insert music, text, images and there are a lot of other functions which I don't know how to use. Also, it is a good learning tool for students and teacher. For the class to be active and interesting, playing video is a good idea. When teachers prepare classes or students prepare presentations, they need to find some appropriate videos on the Internet. However, it is not always the case that they can find proper videos in terms of content or length. At this time, it is a good choice to make their own videos. By doing so, we can make sure that the video is suitable to the class. However, making video is time-consuming and technical skills are required. It would be a little hard for people who are not very good at computer to make videos.

I made a video about fruits and it took me some time to finish since it was the first time I used iMovie. But I think it is a good chance for me to learn how to use and maybe I can apply it to my future teaching.

Mod 5 (1) A learner is like a social mediator

Learning is endless and we need to learn continuously since the knowledge is changing and we should update to catch up the world. As learning per se, learning style is changing with the development of society. As I remember, when I was in elementary school, we seldom used computer and all we need is the textbook and notebook. Students wrote all information and knowledge on the paper and every subject needed to rely on the book. At that time, learning is about each student per se, which means we acquire knowledge by ourselves without any relationship to other classmates. Like what the author wrote in the article A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, We can no longer personally experience and acquire learning that we need to act. We derive our competence from forming connections. 

However, things have great now. Today's learning is no longer just about the individual. Learning is becoming more and more social and we learners are like social mediators. Technology plays a vital role in learning. Instead rely on only textbooks, we have Internet, which is a very important and popular tool for us to learn. Knowledge changes fast and we can get the latest information from the Internet. As we know from the video The Network is Learning, if what I know today is going to change because knowledge changes rapidly, if I am not continue the learning, I am becoming obsolete in my particular field. We need to update what we knowledge frequently. Also through technology, we can share our knowledge with our friends, classmate, or people we even don't know. It is a process of exchanging. From the key words and labels, we can find the things in our own particular field. By doing so, our database is expanded and people can help each other in their learning. Therefore, learners become social and can mediate our own and others' learning.