This is my first post. It contains the video “Visions category of Students Today” by Professor Mike Wesch. It also contains a link to “El Nuevo Dia.”
Here is shown the constant reality that college students live daily, a barely personal system were the student is just one amongst many. Is this the correct method of teaching? Are we really we are preparing for a career with the methods used in modern times? According to Michael Wesch and the students of today.
No.
The education system in many universities is dependent on a process of teaching that is impersonal; it involves the student only in the sense of giving information. Students are among the hundreds in their classes; teachers are not familiar to most students to the extent were it is likely they won’t leanr your name for the rest of the semester. This system, according to video shown before, is archaic. It has been proven that everyone has more interest in something when they are personally involved with something, and especially when using tools that create a better educational dynamic.
Too many universities and schools are dependent on old methods of teaching, instead of using other tools available to them. The youth of today is a highly “Multi-Tasking” and although this may have an effect on the ability grasp the attention of students, it can also be used for good. Most teens are constantly doing one of three things: Listening to music, using the computer (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.), or using the phone (The phone is a modern multimedia) Why can’t then education take advantage of these tools?
Let’s suppose you have a teacher that assigned a job for a specific day. Oh how lucky we would be if we could be able to enter your Twitter and the professor posts a “status/tweet” about the job you need to hand in on Wednesday, or that you’d be able to communicate with your Professor through Facebook in a time of need.
The tools are available to them; they simply do not use them. Youtube alone has incredible educational opportunities available, and let’s not even get into Wikipedia. The latter, many teachers would say, is a tool unreliable because anyone can edit it, but you can also Prof. Why not? And you have several students who have the interest and time available. Why not try it? The same students, as we saw in the video, would be willing to make the necessary corrections so that others in the future can enjoy right information in its entirety and remains a source of incredibly wide. Many of us have a desire for a larger involvement in what is going to be our future, and technology can be a medium we can all enjoy.
Everything is as simple as being “involved”. Both students and teachers can do something good for their education. They must use every tool at their availability and make a proactive approach to media, education and the possibilities. The sky is the limit, just like the human mind. We all have great learning capacity and ability to accomplish great things, given that we have the “push”; the desire. Education should be your first inspiration for great things and all students should be inspired, we have it as unwritten law and I hope that in future proper steps are taken to achieve all these. I have hope that it shall be so.
Shaun Hazel 