Blog Assignment #13

A Vision in Students Today

For this final blog assignment, we were assigned to watch a video called, "A Vision in Students Today," created by Dr. Michael Lee Wesch with the collaboration of 200 students at Kansas State University. Michael Lee Wesch is an associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. He focuses on media ecology, where he explores the numerous effects of media, especially digital media, on human interaction. In the video, it shows what the students are doing, learning, assessing, and how they life is today. In some parts of the video, students claim that they do no use the $100 textbooks they bought, do not really pay attention in class, there are over 100 students in the classroom, they are in debt due to the cost of tuition, working part-time, spend more time on the internet, how the classes they are taking are not relevant to their life, and etc. At the end of the video, Dr. Wesch writes on a chalkboard and asks what is missing? He wrote that the chalkboard is missing photos, videos, and a network.

I think the point of this video is that we need to incorporate technology into the classrooms. I think teachers and the staff members of the University should be open-minded and try to break away from traditional, out-dated, ways of teaching & learning. This is the 21st century and students deserve a 21st century education. I think they should change their methods and tactics in teaching students what they need or should learn that will benefit the student's life and future. This would mean taking advantage of technology and applying it into the classrooms. It also means changing tuition rates, the uses of "books," getting rid of chalkboards, and etc. They also need to get away from the marketing and business aspect of education and focus more on student learning. This is something they have to move onto if they want their students to actually learn and do well.

As a student, I completely agree with all the things the students said. I think that technology should be incorporated into classrooms and that teachers/educators need to embrace it. They also need to understand its positive uses. Technology is not a bad thing, but a benefit especially in today's society. If technology is incorporated, I think many students will be engaged and are willing to learn. There are books that are "required" for a course and it can cost up to $200 per book. Will I ever open it? Probably not. I think it's a waste of money if I can easily get an eBook version of it. I won't ever lose it and can be accessed anywhere. I don't need to carry it either. Instead of having students why super expensive books, why not resort to an eBook? You can help the environment as well by going green. I spend more time on the internet and doing other things in the classroom than listening to lectures. I type more e-mails than I do with papers. I do more research on the internet than go to the library. I am recognized more often in classrooms that involve the usage of technology than I do in traditional classrooms. My classes are pretty small but some professors do not recognize me. I am going to be $20,000-$30,0000 in debt after I graduate due to tuition. I am going to class that is worthless to me yet I have to pay and go because it's a requirement. If there were no attendance policy, I would not go to class. Sometimes I might not even go because I can learn on my own but I feel guilty and I already paid. I still think it's a waste of my time when I can be learning somewhere else. Classes are not engaging, boring, and dull. We, people of the 21st century, spend more time using and applying technology, using social media to converse, it is only beneficial that classrooms are up to date with the world. We need to apply what students use on a daily basis to make the classroom more fun and engaging.

If technology were incorporated, I think more students are more likely to be engaged, interact, and learn more. It's also easier for a student who is working to make ends meet. Tuition won't be as high and we don't need to buy super expensive textbooks that are not beneficial to us. Instead of having physical group projects, we can collaborate online like what was shown in the video. About 200 students collaborated on one document. If you think about it, what would it be like if 200 students were required to meet on a single day to collaborate? It would be hectic and people are not likely to come meet. Technology plays a bigger role than you think, especially in today's society. In EDM310, I learned more skills that I can apply to my daily life than I do in my other courses. The fact that we only meet about once a month, my Tuesdays and Thursdays were free for me to work on other projects and life activities. Even though we only met once a month, there were still assignments that we are required to do but it's different from assignments given in a traditional classroom. I also enjoyed this course because of the integration of technology. I am always on my computer, always online, e-mailing, using Facebook, chatting, and etc. It's what I like to do. By adding what I like to do in a classroom, the class is much more appealing to me. I also liked the fact there were no textbook requirements, the professor recognizes each one of us, there are constant and quick feedback, and etc. If only every classroom is like this, I would really enjoy school work.