One of the many things that struck me as I watched the collaborative video created by Michael Wesch and 200 of his students at Kansas State University was that throughout the video no real life voice of any student was heard. This was done on purpose and for me became a large part of the message the students sent. The movie started with an image of a wall. The camera lingered for a moment to show the writing on the wall: “If these walls could talk…” followed by the supposition, “what would they say?” The camera pulled out to reveal the location: a typical classroom at a modern university. Next scene was the back part of student chair (giving a subtle change of focus to the student view) where we read again, "If students learn what they do,” the rhetorical question is asked, “What are they learning sitting here?” The camera then pans to the chalkboard at the front of the class shifting focus again to Teacher view: “The information is up here. Follow along.”
The students began their project by contributing to an online Google Documents discussion that surveyed the question, “What is it like being a student today?” and the answers were compiled then presented to a camera that silently recorded their thoughts. Messages like, “I complete 49% of the reading assigned to me” were followed by comments, “Only 26% of them are relevant to my life.” What I heard is that students feel disconnected from the lesson plan and from the information delivered to them in class.
Student comments were flashed via cue-card or by showing a text message on a student laptop computer, “Only 18% of my instructors know my name,” said one anonymous participant. Another thing that struck me as I watched the video was the complete anonomyity of the students’ choice of communication method: text only. There were no worries about "What will they think of me?" voiced. No voice was heard. No sense of identity was given. Was there a message behind the message? Did the students who collaborated in the making of the short film deliberately choose to say they felt left out?
The video let the students add their message to the larger conversation being held by educators and politicians today. In his article, “What would Socrates Say?” Peter W. Cookson Jr. spoke in part about the disconnect that students feel and educators face in typical classroom. He advocated incorporating technology into the classroom in order to create meaning and purpose and thereby allow students to participate in their learning process.
To me, the comments made in the Socrates article seemed to have been punctuated by the statements made in the video. For example, Cookson states that the 21st Century mind “will need to successfully manage the complexity and diversity of our world by becoming more fluid, more flexible, and more focused on reality and radically move innovative.” His view of student reality is reflected in the observation one student in the film makes, “I will probably work at a job that doesn’t exist today."
When I showed the video to my 23 year-old son I was surprised by his ready acceptance of the situation. I asked for his response and he questioned me, “Have you seen the Microsoft Surface© [technology]?” I hadn't. I did Google it after he and my grandchildren left. Microsoft Surface is a multi-touch product from Microsoft. It allows a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of gesture recognition. He suggested that this new technology could be used in the classroom, saying that students could participate by using their cellphones or touch tablets and other interlinked devices with gesture technologies to “throw” their comments and questions to the “Surface”. He painted a picture of an interactive classroom, linked by technology, one that allowed the anonymous textual voices of his generation to be "heard". In his scenario the new technology replaced the chalkboard. He surprised me with his insight that directly answered the question, "If students learn by doing, what are they learning while sitting HERE? --The Information is UP THERE. Giving the classroom the technology necessary for purpose driven participation would seem a first step toward solution of a problem faced by teachers, students and society at large.
WELCOME
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversation Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! I encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! I encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
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