In Michael Wesch’s video A Vision of Students Today, he tries to give us a glimpse of what students are doing, what they are thinking about, and what is happening in their lives both inside and outside the classroom today. Thus, demonstrating how the traditional classroom is no longer relevant to the new web 2.0 generation. I, myself have been teaching high school students for just over a decade and even in that short period of time I have seen the evolution in the use of technology by students and its effects. I recall when I started teaching my students had cellphones, but were not typically distracted by them. Then came the iPods, which made listening to music more accessible and convenient. Later when my school made wireless internet available to everyone in the building, I found that in just a year’s span students where having more and more difficulty detaching themselves from their technology devices. Now after 12 years, all my students have at least one technology that they bring to class as a minimum. Students will come to class without binders and supplies, but they will never forget their smartphones. Sometimes that’s all they bring. Often I see the same blank stares as the students in Wesch’s video, and only see a glimmer of light in their eyes when I announce that we will be using their devices to play Kahoot or another activity that requires them to use their smartphones in class.
It is common for teachers to discuss the effects (and frustrations) that computers, the Internet, smartphones and other technologies have on education and our students. Students no longer need to spend the time to physically go to the library to search for books in order to complete their research projects. Now with just a few clicks on Google, they can find a plethora of information online (whether the information is accurate or valid is another discussion in itself). Nonetheless, it comes at a cost as convenient, instant, and easy answers and information have affected our students’ abilities to focus, concentrate and even think for themselves at times. However, going back to Wesch’s video on Information R/Evolution, he attempts to demonstrate that we are now living in a different kind of information environment that emphasizes participation and collaboration. In Information R/Evolution, Wesch highlights many of those techniques such as, searching to social tagging, and also demonstrates how it challenges our traditional expectations about information. In Wesch’s blog of A Vision of Students Today (& What Teachers Must Do), he writes as a solution how “[w]e can welcome laptops, cell phones, and iPods into our classrooms, not as distractions, but as powerful learning technologies. We can use them in ways that empower and engage students in real world problems and activities, leveraging the enormous potentials of the digital media environment that now surrounds us” (2008, para. 20). With that, it’s not uncommon to hear how teachers are going from being the “sage” to the “guide” in the classroom, but there are definitely days when I feel more like an entertainer than the latter.
Nevertheless, I think technology can and is a powerful learning tool to engage and empower both students and teachers. As a result, it is important that technology and its devices and resources be integrated into daily classroom routines and practices. Successful technology integration is achieved when the use of technology is routine, easily available, and most importantly supports the curricular goals and helps students to effectively reach those goals. When technology is integrated properly, students and teachers don’t necessarily need to stop and think about how they are using technology, it becomes second nature. Students are often more actively engaged when technology is used seamlessly as part of the learning process. However, typically this is not the case and I know from my own personal experiences that I struggle to keep up with technology. It takes a large amount of time to learn and use each new technology that is offered. Often taking more time than creating and planning new lessons. Hence, creating even more work when teachers are already given such little prep time as it is. Sadly, more often than not, by the time I have cleverly figured out an activity to seamlessly integrate the technology into the lesson, the app may be old and students have moved on.
References
Michael Wesch (2007). Information R/evolution. Retrieved July 25, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM
Michael Wesch (2008). A Vision of Students Today. Retrieved July 25, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Michael Wesch (2008). A Vision of Students Today (& What Teachers Must Do). Retrieved July 25, 2018, from http://blogs.britannica.com/2008/10/a-vision-of-students-today-what-teachers-must-do
chris clarke
July 30, 2018 — 5:45 pm
Thank you for your post and insights this week. The way you described how your students interact in the classroom and with technology reminded me of the idea of networked publics. I’m on the edge of growing up during the digital age. It’s always felt like the technology for a given situation or purpose would start becoming common practice just as I was leaving that stage of my life. I know enough to generally keep up, but I don’t feel like I was weaned by the internet. Saying that, I fully admit to spending way too much of my life in front of a television. I think this partial disconnect with technology is the reason I haven’t spent much time thinking about networked publics and how truly important they are to today’s youth. With computers, tablets, and phones almost always in reach of a student these days, they’ve managed to connect their identify to these spaces and as a result the technological tools that get them there. If the internet is a component of their own identify, it’s no wonder they may forget all their other tools when they come to class, but not their electronic device.
I think a challenging part of these networked publics is that youth often get very little time away from these particular publics. As the name implies, the publics are part of a larger network that never sleeps and connects us to each other in the blink of an eye. If you’re part of a sports team, you might only meet three times per week. The social norms that you practice during that time only need to exist for a finite time and then you know soccer will be over and you have some down time. When youth participate in these networked publics, everything they say or do is recorded for eternity and there’s no way to escape it. It’s almost like they’re trying to accelerate the construction of their own identities by living multiple lives simultaneously: physical life and digital life,
In my district, every student has a G Suite account and the ability to share and work with all other students and staff. This is a huge platform to perform any number of tasks in school. What I’ve been waiting to see is how students use this platform to communicate with each other for non-school projects. I believe it to be a question of when and not if they do this. What the district has essentially done is create an networked public. I’m very interested to know whether or not this networked public will expand beyond the borders of education and school time, or if it will be relegated to school use only and have very little say in the overall social and cognitive development of these youth. Will the buy in be more if G Suite takes a more prominent role in their social lives?
I know this has been a bit of a tangent from your examples, but I think it’s still relevant to your topic. You mention not having enough time to develop lessons that use the current media of the classroom and only perfect it as that medium is no longer popular or relevant. I wonder if instead of adapting to the trends of the students, we are capable of creating the trend they follow. This may be idealism, and a major problem is one you’ve already brought up. As teachers, we simply don’t have enough time.
Boyd, D. (2007). “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.” Youth, Identity, and Digital Media. Edited by David Buckingham. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge,
MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 119–142. doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262524834.119