Wow. That was good information and a video I will be watching a few more times! I it amazing to me the amount of information that has been made accessible to us in recent years. As we all know it can be extremely difficult keeping our students engaged; students who want to learn but do not want to sit in class and listen to some “expert” drone on about topics students should be listening to and learning. Specifically, I have been in the conversation where one of my colleagues said the phrase, “Some students are not cut out for college” and I was struck by Wesch’s alteration of this phrase to apply it to the word “learning”. I have friend – let’s call him Tom…because that’s his name - who was not “cut out for college”, but somehow was able to go on to learn an enormous amount of information while working as a runner on Wall Street and now is an enormously successful businessman who learned by doing. The stars do not align for everyone like they did for Tom who, while a lot of his successes were generated in hard work, some were rooted in being in the right place in the right time. For these people the foot in the door is a college degree. Practical, hands-on instruction is how I learn and, quite honestly, this is the predominant characteristic of my students. SO my goal is to always try to marry the two concepts of practical, field-based learning and a college education.
The questions Wesch hates are the same ones that make my skin crawl; specifically the “is this going to be on the test?” question – if the only information that was important was going to be on the test either the class would be much shorter or the tests would be A LOT longer! So how do we make everything relevant in the eyes of every student? Make the student the expert. Create ownership in the education of the student.
One thing that Wesch’s lecture and this class (Teaching and Learning in a Networked Classroom) is doing is opening my eyes to the possibilities of using online tools as a learning tool for the reluctant student; a collective learning tool. My students have a lot of opportunities to learn from each other.
Since I am posting this on my blog, allow me to use blogs and my sophomore practicum as an example:
An enormous part of my sophomore practicum is the students’ logs – where they were, what they did, what they learned, who they met, etc. We ask our students to download videos, photos, etc. but all of that information is directed to me as that instructor which not only alters the way they “talk” but pipes all of the information to just one person…me. The opportunities I see in my students blogging is shared information and learning through the collective.
If I add a blogging component to this course I think the language will change the thinking will change and the possibilities will grow for each student. Now the information is not all getting bottlenecked to me the professor (a.k.a. expert) who (in theory) already knows all of the information, the student is reporting on information for the collective to learn from…including me, the expert. By this model we find ourselves in an opportunity for everyone to be the expert and for me to become the student.
I am very excited about this.
good points on "how do we make every student the expert" and "how do we make them show ownership"...Hmmm seems to me that the more they are allowed to be creative in their own education, the more they will take ownership. Of course there is not a right way or wrong way to do this. Every class will be different. But, allowing students the choice on what media they want to include, having them work together in the classroom but also on-line. Getting away from assignments that do not include some open areas for the students to make decisions. We need to remember this is their learning environment.
ReplyDelete"One thing that Wesch’s lecture and this class (Teaching and Learning in a Networked Classroom) is doing is opening my eyes to the possibilities of using online tools as a learning tool for the reluctant student; a collective learning tool. My students have a lot of opportunities to learn from each other. " I am enjoying your post. I am happy to see you are making connections and this information is helpful. I love to have the kids teach each other and learn from each other. It is a skill they will need for the rest of their lives, so why not start in middle school!
ReplyDeleteYes, it is such a great tool to use blogging in the classroom. May I also suggest a wiki where students can comment on each others pages and provide feedback. www.pbworks.com is a wonderful wiki that allows the teacher to create accounts for the students without them needing email. Either way, both are participatory and create community, and also alleviate all of the information directing only to you. Have their peers be part of the review process and allow the student to also reflect and review themselves. Awesome ideas!