Dr, Michael Wesch, professor of Anthropology at Kansas State University gave a lecture at University of Manitoba in 2008 that centered on using Web 2.0 tools to better serve students educationally. He made some really great points, devoting over half of his presentation to reasons why it was important to do things differently as students today are feeling more and more disappointed with their educational experience. He gave many ways to use media/technology to bring the students into a more collaborative and creative role in the process of acquiring their education.
Although I appreciated his words... they were words I have heard before. This wasn't new to me but they were ideas I whole-heartedly embrace. The funny thing was that his delivery of these words was as dry as the teaching he was sort of putting down. I know he was giving a lecture and I know he had so many important things to say but I had to literally force myself to sit still to watch this whole thing.
Having said that, I loved the idea of having the students work with me to identify their big questions and also the part about having them create the syllabus for you (on a wikki, for example!). The ideas were all there and the philosophy was clear... You have to get into the portals the students are using in order to create meaningful connections that the student feels are timely and important to him/her.
Particularly interesting were the differences between the traditional frames of thinking about eduction vs. the new model. I guess it boils down to acquisition vs. creation? I like this. It sort of honors all learners as opposed to only the compliant ones. This is really important because more and more, I find that not all of my students think the same or are capable of the same things in the same time and place.This reflects the heart of so many things I have been thinking about lately in terms of educational philosophy. Why do we group students by age? Why not interest or skills? Why is it all about science and math... If Davinci was a great inventor and mathematician but used his art to express all of these things, why do students only have art or music once a week and the "hard" subjects more and more...
So many things to think about. I wonder if technology is the answer to integrating all of these ideas. Wesch is raising good questions and he is thinking forward about how to create a system of learning that centers on personal connection and media literacy.
I like your thoughts on the acquisition vs. creation. It is really hard to have all students buy in, but with the use of many of the new web2.0 tools, I think I have more students than ever participating. It is really hard to know exactly the correct answer and if you do, you would be a bazillionaire! What is it that will make students learn better and be better at applying that learned information on any kind of test they are presented with. Critical thinking with application is what we want, but how do we do it? It is too big of a question for us to answer right now, but I would like to think technology plays a big role!
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