This will be the second video in a few weeks that I have watched by Mike Wesch. After the video I have found two clear distinctions; his "thesis" focuses on making students able to ask questions focused on changing the world, the way he engages students is organic and authentic it appeals to the person as a whole not just as a student.
Wesch opens up this TED talk with a story of living in a New Guinea village. A village where they catch and eat snakes, pigs, spiders, they live off the earth. These people are focused on the relationships that they hold with one another, that these relationships are the paramount simply because the people who live in the village are the only people they are going to know. While he was residing in this village they found a new source of media; books and maps. Those who were literate and were able to read saw a chance for being able to improve their culture through the use of these survey tools to be part of a census.
As the census began and data started to be collected the villagers noticed that they were not ready to be part of the census; they had no set housing since they moved from place to place, they also did not have set names. They made changes to accommodate the new media in order to use it, the made set names and then instead of moving their village set it up for permanent stay. Finally they had a major shift to their culture, instead of being able to mend a relationship through communication they were held up against the law, there was no mending only consequences.
"Sometimes we use media, other times it uses us"- Wesch. This statement kind of scared me for a bit, there are some big changes coming in our culture now that my generation was the last generation to have their baby pictures not taken on a phone. The internet is changing schools, its changing the way we talk, the way we interact. I went to a restaurant that by no means would I consider to be at the front of technology integration (Coco's), they had tablets at the table where we order from, we didn't even need to talk to a human being, or get the chance to either. Are we using the media or is it starting to use us?
I think this question has brought up a little doubt in my mind about the purity of bringing the internet into the classroom. I think there is a real tangible benefit of bringing this media into our classrooms, I just wonder what the cost may be.
As long as our students know how to make a difference for the better in our world then we may be able to avoid some of the pitfalls that will be sure to encompass our road with (almost) ubiquitous technology integration into our schools and homes around the world. As long as our chief export of schools is learners who can think and problem solve, not workers who can follow blindly then we have a shot at making this media act as a boost and not as shackles.
Wesch opens up this TED talk with a story of living in a New Guinea village. A village where they catch and eat snakes, pigs, spiders, they live off the earth. These people are focused on the relationships that they hold with one another, that these relationships are the paramount simply because the people who live in the village are the only people they are going to know. While he was residing in this village they found a new source of media; books and maps. Those who were literate and were able to read saw a chance for being able to improve their culture through the use of these survey tools to be part of a census.
As the census began and data started to be collected the villagers noticed that they were not ready to be part of the census; they had no set housing since they moved from place to place, they also did not have set names. They made changes to accommodate the new media in order to use it, the made set names and then instead of moving their village set it up for permanent stay. Finally they had a major shift to their culture, instead of being able to mend a relationship through communication they were held up against the law, there was no mending only consequences.
"Sometimes we use media, other times it uses us"- Wesch. This statement kind of scared me for a bit, there are some big changes coming in our culture now that my generation was the last generation to have their baby pictures not taken on a phone. The internet is changing schools, its changing the way we talk, the way we interact. I went to a restaurant that by no means would I consider to be at the front of technology integration (Coco's), they had tablets at the table where we order from, we didn't even need to talk to a human being, or get the chance to either. Are we using the media or is it starting to use us?
I think this question has brought up a little doubt in my mind about the purity of bringing the internet into the classroom. I think there is a real tangible benefit of bringing this media into our classrooms, I just wonder what the cost may be.
As long as our students know how to make a difference for the better in our world then we may be able to avoid some of the pitfalls that will be sure to encompass our road with (almost) ubiquitous technology integration into our schools and homes around the world. As long as our chief export of schools is learners who can think and problem solve, not workers who can follow blindly then we have a shot at making this media act as a boost and not as shackles.