Today's Students
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By elizabeth he;fant in General Published: Saturday, 20 October 07 - 03:04 PM (GMT) Last Updated: Saturday, 20 October 07 - 03:27 PM (GMT) |
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A second video from the Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class at Kansas State University examines today's students. The class is creating a three part series about education in higher ed but what they are creating is relevant for high school as well. It is worth noting that colleges are on somewhat of a parallel track with high schools in deciding what changed need to prepare students in this day and age.
I'm going to quote from the blog of the Professor who teaches this class, Professor Wesch.
Taken from his blog:
"To my delight, “A Vision of Students Today” is currently the most blogged about video in the blogosphere. I have read nearly every blog and comment posted about the video, and thought I would offer some of my responses here.
First off, it is remarkable to read all of the different interpretations of the video. Some have portrayed me as a luddite who thinks all technology in the classroom should be done away with, while others have suggested that I am a technophile who thinks technology is the answer. Others focus more on the words of the students, and suggest that whatever problems we may have in higher education can be blamed on them, the technology, or both.
To give a little bit more context to the piece, it might be useful to point out that it was originally created as Part 2 of a 3 part series on Higher Ed. Part 1 has been published as Information R/evolution. That piece tracks the way information creation, critique, and distribution has changed, ending with the question “Are we ready?” and the answer: “R U Feeling Lucky?” (altering Google’s I’m feeling lucky button). Placed back to back, this would then lead directly to the door opening to the empty classroom.
Part 3 is planned to be an exploration of different teaching technologies and the ways in which they shape the learning environment for better and for worse. It will begin where this video left off, with a chalkboard (which IS a teaching *technology*, though we often overlook it as such), progressing through PowerPoint, onto the web, SecondLife, etc.
I think many of the misinterpretations of the video are due to my attempts to frame the issues in a way that subtly suggests both luddite and technophile solutions as actual possible solutions.
The conclusion I hoped would be drawn from the video, has been most eloquently stated by Tim Bulkeley at SansBlogue:
More striking and visceral though, for me, was the opening of the video which sets the scene and poses the issue in an empty classroom! The environment in which we teach (onsite classes) is alien and sets up a model of information which is no longer true! Information is no longer scarce, no longer “out there”, no longer even ordered and organised the same way. It is not what we teach, it is how we are teaching that is the problem!
What teaching in the 21st century needs is not “better/more use of technology” - though that would be nice, nor (surely people do not actually believe this!?) students who are “as well educated as we were”, but simply new ways of doing and being. Many of our deep-rooted assumptions are enshrined in material forms, “class” rooms, whiteboards, “lecturers” and the like. So, what do we do to change how we are teaching?"
Bear in mind that this is dialoque occuring among the college professors for whom we are preparing our students. What will they be looking for when our current 9th graders enter college? It is worth keeping up with changed that are occuring in the college classrooms.
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