Lauren's Final Draft Paper 1
From Mizzou Wiki
Imagine that you woke up every morning at 8:30, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks to go sit in math class for college. What would you do during class? Would you write notes and listen intently to the teacher or would you browse around on the web checking your e-mails, and looking at your recently added friends page on Facebook.com for the majority of the class period? Michael Wesch from Kansas State University posted a video on YouTube.com that has roughly 2.5 million views so far. This is a very controversial video about the use of technology in the modern college classroom. Two hundred students hold up signs in a classroom that give short phrases describing what student life is like for them. Students in college today are very different than students were twenty years ago. Technology has changed so much within the world today. The largest difference between the students in the past and the students today is the amount of technological advances students today have to work with. It is almost impossible to truly imagine a life today without technology. Technology has both good effects and bad effects on student life. The advancement of technology has changed how students are able to become culturally literate and culturally competent. The results of that change are double-edged and the way students discipline themselves to use the technology they have is a way they can become more culturally literate and more culturally competent.
Wesch’s video is about modern students and how they are distracted by technology in class. In Wesch’s video there were many aspects about studentlife that were left out. Books, debt, learning, studying, walking, parking, and dorm life are all contributors to studentlife that Wesch did not mention in his video. The problem that Wesch is trying to address, in my opinion, is how technology in the classroom is being used and how it is not being used properly. If there are computers in a classroom, it is largely up to the student sitting in front of the screen how they are going to use it during class. The student could use it for further research on the topic being studied in class or they can browse the web for whatever they want. Students these days know how to multi-task and that is how students today are able to surf the web while listening to the teacher. My generation and the generations after mine have grown up learning to multitask. Everything we do is multitasking. Our brains have been trained and are capable to take in a lot of information at one time. The question is without the computer in class, would the student be able to focus better on the teacher or would the student doodle with the pen and paper they have and still be distracted? The ability to focus on the material being taught lies within the student. The computer could be used for additional web surfing to further the research from a different source for additional information about what the student is learning in class that day. It is utimately the student's decision to discipline him or herself to use the technology provided wisely.
There are elements of the video that I observe also in my classes. In Math 110, the girl sitting to the left of me every morning looks at her Facebook page for almost the whole class period. Facebook.com is an online social network developed for university students. The site has now branched off into a much larger worldwide communicating network. An issue that Wesch’s video highlights is that students bring their laptops to class and don’t work on class work. Instead of working on classwork, they browse around on the internet. When I see the girl next to me in math class looking at her Facebook page, I get distracted. When I am writing notes and she is clicking away on her mouse it makes me look over impulsively. It draws my attention away from the teacher. Even for just that brief moment I could miss something that is vital to the lesson. Cell phones are also a hindrance in class. Text messages are a fairly new obsession with students today. Before cell phones, you had to wait to see someone or talk to someone on the phone before you could tell anyone anything. Now all you have to do is write a simple message on your cell phone and it should be received within minutes to the person it was sent to. “Facebooking” during class and/or texting during class are examples of technology that are barriers to the cultural literacy and the cultural competency of the student in the classroom. They are distractions that can take away from the lesson being taught in class.
Videos, animation, network, and photos are all things you find on the internet. The internet has created a whole new way people learn and the availability of information. As long as there is an active internet connection there is endless information at your fingertips. If you are sick, you can check your symptoms on WebMD with their handy symptom checker. Twenty years ago there were just books and encyclopedias. Now we have Wikipedia! You can find anything you need to know on the internet. On the computer you can have multiple programs like iTunes, solitaire, and an internet browser open at the same time. Additionally, you can have multiple pages open on your internet browser. That is a lot going on at once! However, that is how today’s generations are growing up. Students today are accustomed to that media and they can keep up with it. With the traditional learning style, like Wesch brings up in his video, “writing on the chalkboard (what’s missing: videos, photos, animation, network) forces the teacher to move” the student may feel bored or like they aren’t following what the teacher is saying because it is too slow paced. Students today are equipped to work through doing. In the video, Wesch brings up the very good point of “how can a student learn if they are just following along. Students have to learn by doing.” So, while people can argue that technology is hurting the student’s ability to focus in class, it should also be argued that technology in the classroom can be a good thing. If class is being canceled for example, the teacher can e-mail all the students at once and address it quickly, easily and informatively. The difficulty is when students use the technology for things that won’t better their education and make them more culturally literate and culturally competent.
Technology has brought a whole new meaning to cultural literacy and cultural competency. To me those terms mean for example, that you are able to go to California when you don’t reside there and you can hold a conversation with someone you don’t know. You can talk with them and they can respond. You could talk about things you know about in your culture because you both know about your culture. You are literate and you are competent in your culture. The internet has changed these terms. You can talk with someone not only about routine things but you can talk about the latest thing you read on the internet for example. The internet allows you to become more culturally literate and culturally competent. If you and the person you met in California were having a debate about something you could resolve the debate with factual information by searching on the internet to find an answer relating to what you are debating about. The internet is everywhere and it allows you to have information at your fingertips. If the teacher in class was just writing up on the chalkboard and the student was just following along, information is limited. With technology and the availability of information it allows the student to have more information readily available to them.
My experience is unique. Summer enrollment is different than a full load of classes that start in the fall, especially if they are your first college courses ever. My college experience so far has been different than the college life I see in the video for the most part. A girl in the video holds up a sign that says her average class size is 115. I haven’t been exposed to a class size of over 25 yet. Another major difference is that the program I am enrolled in is an 8-week program. The pace is much faster and I am required to stay on top of my class work and homework or I will get too far behind in just a matter of days. The video describes the typical student who has been enrolled in a full load of college courses and the student who sits in a regular lecture class. The biggest part of the video that does not relate to me is how the technology that I am allowed to use in class does not affect my ability to focus in class. I discipline myself to stay focused in class. In both of my courses this summer the classrooms are fully loaded with computers at each seat. This does not hurt me. I do not sit in class and look at a Facebook page.
Seeing Michael Wesch's video opened my eyes to both the uses and abuses of the technology provided in class. If I needed or wanted to I would use the computer to search the internet for more information about the material the teacher is teaching me. College is very important to me and I am not going to jeopardize that by looking at things on the internet that I can look at when I get out of class. I will use the technology in class to become more culturally literate and more culturally competent so I can become a better student.
