Oh boy, where to start with this one. The author Michael Wesch makes many true statements in his article ?Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance? but some of his points just seem like opinion more than reliable information.
It is very difficult to get all students truly interested and involved in their education. I?m not so sure that things were that different even a few decades ago. Today?s information age has certainly brought the ability to obtain information easier, but it also has brought about the ability to have information overload. This may not directly involve significance from the viewpoint of the student, but many students seem that anything that they need or want may already be taken care of. Students may not have the option that many of us or our parents had of getting out of school, that is leaving school and walking into a factory with the opportunity to make a good wage and a very comfortable living.
It certainly is a different with the digital world around us. Everyone has access to almost unlimited information, the ability to connect with others literally at the touch of a button. Education must make adaptations to the information age. But to put the blame on current teaching methods is an easy direction to point one?s finger to place blame on the change of society as a whole in today?s world.
There are many things education can do to utilize technology as a tool to develop learning in today?s students. These tools are no more the total answer to what we observe today as throwing a hammer at a pile of boards to build a house. Educators will need to learn to use these digital tools to help the learners of today to learn what society expects from them If educators can provide a diverse learning environment to help stimulate a variety of students it will certainly make the education of today better than it currently is.
Like most other major shifts in history, many things will need to adapt. The mindset of ?I just need to sit here, feed me the information and maybe I?ll want to learn something? to ?I know I need to contribute to society in my life, please teach me the things I need so I too can succeed? is not going to be an easy process. We have learned many things in the EMDT master?s program that will allow us to take a little step closer each time we move closer to what the students have been growing up with all of their lives.
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I find what you have written here interesting in several ways. First, I love "These tools are no more the total answer to what we observe today as throwing a hammer at a pile of boards to build a house." The technology itself is not enough. But it is also more than understanding how to use the tools. It is understanding learning and what is motivational and engaging to today's learner in order to understand why these tools DO work. I also love how you are working things out as you write and that EMDT is helping you to see new connections to your students:) Great post!
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