A Vision of Students Today
Oct 12th, 2007 by Prof Wesch
This video was created by me and the 200 students enrolled in ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, Spring 2007. It began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn for their future, and how our current educational system fits in. We created a Google Document to facilitate the brainstorming exercise, which began with the following instructions:
… the basic idea is to create a 3 minute video highlighting the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. We already know some things from previous research (and if you know of any interesting statistics, please list them along with the source). Others we will need to find out by doing a class survey. Please add whatever you want to know or present.
Over the course of the next week, 367 edits were made to the document. Students wrote the script, and made suggestions for survey questions to ask the entire class. The survey was administered the following week.
I then took all of the information from the survey and the Google Document and organized it into the final script portrayed in the video which was all filmed in one 75 minute class period.
The introduction was filmed by myself a month later. It is inspired by Marshall McLuhan’s ideas as they apply to education, especially as they have been used by Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner in Teaching as a Subversive Activity.
How we gathered the numbers:
133 out of 200 students responded to the survey which yielded the results. Further explanation of the data is posted below:
My average class size is 115.
Survey: What is your average class size? Average: 115.0602
18% of my teachers know my name.
Survey: What percentage of teachers you have had in college would be able to recognize you and call you by name? Average: 18.2
I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me.
Survey: Not including this class, what percentage of assigned readings do you complete? Average: 48.73
Only 26% … relative to my life
Survey: Not including this class, what percentage of assigned readings do you find relevant to your life? Average: 25.95
I will read 8 books this year.
Survey: How many books have you read this year? Average 8.03 (ranging from 0-200)
We discovered later that there was some disagreement about whether this question referred to a semester, the past year, or the year starting as of January 1st (this survey took place in April – roughly equal to one semester). To make the ratio to web page and Facebook reading more accurate we assumed this statistic to relate to one semester rather than one calendar year.
2300 web pages
Survey: On average, how many web pages do you read each day? Average 21.51
(We then multiplied this by 105 - roughly the number of days in a semester - and rounded to 2300.)
and 1281 facebook profiles
Survey: On average, how many Facebook profiles do you view each day? Average 12.2 (multiplied by 105 = 1281)
“I will write 42 pages for class this semester.”
Survey: On average, how many pages do you write for your classes each semester?
Average: 41.96
“And over 500 pages of email”
Survey: On average, how many pages of e-mails will you write in a single day?
Average: 4.96 (*105 days/semester = over 500)
[...] Michael Wesch and his 200 students in ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, Spring 2007 collaborated in exploring what exactly a student does these days. Their results make a fascinating video and a timely reminder of the way (some) student experiences are changing: [...]
[...] Michael Wesch and his 200 students in ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, Spring 2007 collaborated in exploring what exactly a student does these days. Their results make a fascinating video and a timely reminder of the way (some) student experiences are changing: [...]
[...] The compiled video showing the student statistics is called A Vision of Students Today. [...]
[...] Digital Ethnography » Blog Archive » A Vision of Students Today: [...]
[...] Checking my email this morning before class, I was happy to receive the link to this student video on Net culture and students. I should note that a former student sent this along through Facebook — which pinged my email. I don’t typically check Facebook before class! [...]
[...] Today I came across this video (via OUseful). It was created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University. The video, called “A Vision of Students Today”, is a snapshot of 200 students in a Cultural Anthropology course and summarizes some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. [...]
[...] Meer informatie: mediatedcultures [...]
[...] An awesome video by Michael Wesch from Kansas State University. It provides a glimsp into today’s students. I am looking for a version you can download. [...]
[...] Add the video “A Vision of Students Today” from Professor Michael Wesch and his cultural anthropology students at Kansas State University to your personal list of “must see” videos about our need for educational reform and videos for professional development. [...]
[...] The Fischbowl October 15, 2007 Filed under: Uncategorized — katefrazer @ 11:10 pm Someone in my district brought my attention to The Fischbowl, and educational blog. Some information on this blog was used at a recent presentation in our district about Shift. Since I missed the presentation, I wanted to check out the content on the blog. I found some interesting pieces, one of them is this particular video. As we have been discussing and working with video in class recently, I thought this would definitely be something others might be interested in. [...]
[...] Monday, October 15th, 2007 in Uncategorized by sunyprof I’d love to know what you think of this video in relationship to your first semester at college???? Do watch. Archives [...]
[...] These Classroom Walls Could Talk– Jump to Comments Check out thisvideo. [...]
[...] Whilst much of this is clearly signficant and important there must surely be concerns about how much of this work seems to take place with little reference or involvement of the students themselves. A recent video brought to my attention (like so much else in this area) by Matt Jukes, only emphasises to me how far adrift much of the educational establishment might be in this area [...]
[...] Cette vidéo a été réalisée par 200 étudiants de la Kansas State University dans le cadre d’un cours d’anthropologie culturelle. Le point de départ a été un remue-méninges qui a abordé les points suivants : [...]
[...] INDISPENSÃVEL este vÃdeo sobre os estudantes de hoje, realizado na cadeira de Introduction to Cultural Anthropology na Kansas State University. [...]
[...] Segundo o post no Jornalismo Móvel, a idéia foi do professor da disciplina de antropologia cultural da Universidade do Estado de Kansas, nos Estados Unidos, tentou entender como os alunos se formam, o que pensam das aulas, como gostariam de estudar e como interagem com a tecnologia hoje. [...]
[...] A Vision of Students Today Filed under: Teaching, Web2.0, YouTube — kegill @ 9:03 am Tags: 21st century, Education, pedagogy I’ve been using Professor Michael Wesch’s The Machine Is Us/ing Us in classes to help explain Web2.0. Now he’s produced a commentary on 21st century education (featured below how it was made) as well as a short on folksonomy. [...]
[...] Das Konzept des zweiten Videos A Vision of Students Today entwickelte Wesch zusammen mit 200 Studenten unter Verwendung von Google Docs. Ausgangspunkt war die Frage, was es bedeutet, heute (in den USA) zu studieren. [...]
[...] A Vision of Students Today @ Digital Ethnography [...]
[...] Background on the video. Relevant on many levels — catch the technology reference? We’ll talk more about McLuhan later in the quarter. [...]
[...] Más información en el blog Digital Ethnography de la Universidad de Kansas State. [...]
[...] On the subject of little Singapore boys and the state of our environment, has anyone ever wondered What Is Education For? (EDIT: See this, very insightful of what students today actually do and feel. Thanks to Budak.) [...]
[...] 17th, 2007 · No Comments Millainen on amk-kirjastojen suurin asiakaskunta? Millaisia ovat tämän päivän opiskelijat?Ehkä parhaiten heitä kuvaa seuraava esimerkki. Video on tehty USAssa, mutta opiskelijoiden kanssa käymieni keskustelujen perusteella väittäisin että todellisuus on hyvin samanlainen Suomessa. [...]
[...] Datos sobre la idea, la ejecución, etc. [...]
[...] link all’articolo. a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University. [...]
[...] La claque du jour : une vidéo de Michael Wesh, produite avec ses 200 étudiants de l’Université du Kansas. [...]
[...] Más información en el blog Digital Ethnography de la Universidad de Kansas State. [...]
[...] El profesor Michael Wesch en colaboración con 200 alumnos de la Universidad de Kansas State ha realizado este vÃdeo que nos da una radiografÃa de lo que son los estudiantes estadounidenses hoy en dÃa, y que quizás podrÃamos extrapolar a muchos otros paÃses. Algunos textos no se leen bien, asà quizás te interese verlo con mayor calidad (WMV). Creo que es de visión obligada para los que nos dedicamos al ámbito docente. Más información en el blog Digital Ethnography de la Universidad de Kansas State.Via: Pixel y Dixel [...]
[...] You can read more at Mediated Cultures. [...]
[...] A Vision of Students Today has been making the rounds of some of the blogs I follow…a series of statements from a college class put together to give you a picture of the “average” college student. The statement that jumped out at me…”I will read 8 books this year” followed by “I will read 2300 web pages” and “128 Facebook profiles.” Some commentors at the site find the statistics depressing (or worse, stupid)…I find them intriguing and perfect evidence in understanding why the way we teach,and present info to assist students in learning MUST change! Yes, I know the video is unavailable at school, but do yourself a favor and check it out away from school or let me give you the downloaded file! Read about the statistic details and background. [...]
A Vision of Students Today…
This video was created by myself and the 200 students enrolled in ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, Spring 2007. It began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn …
[...] In a blog post describing this video, Prof Wesch says: It began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn for their future, and how our current educational system fits in. We created a Google Document to facilitate the brainstorming exercise, which began with the following instructions: [...]
[...] Digital Ethnography, A Vision of Students Today [...]
[...] Mediacultures AutorJulián Gallo » Permalink» Menéame» Del.icio.us Comentá! [...]
[...] 18, 2007 Posted by cjasper in news. trackback As a collaborative class project, anthropology students at Kansas State University made this video“highlighting the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.” As a librarian, it’s exciting and inspiring to see something made by students and about students. I’d love to hear what students think. Comments, anyone? [...]
[...] You can find out more information on this video by going to his blog. [...]
[...] Link Mediacultures [...]
[...] This video was created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. [...]
[...] Η ÎÏευνα αυτή ασχολείται πεÏισσότεÏο με τον Ï„Ïόπο εκμάθησης, τους στόχους, τα όνειÏά τους και τι πιστεÏουν πως θα άλλαζε τις ζωÎÏ‚ τους για πάντα, όλα αυτά μÎσα από μια Ï€Î¿Î»Ï ÎµÎ½Î´Î¹Î±Ï†ÎÏουσα παÏουσίαση. Πετυχαίνει άÏαγε τον σκοπό του το video? Your call! [...]
[...] En utbildning anpassad för skolan eller eleven? Detta är en video som är gjord utifrån de viktigaste sakerna som 200 studenter funderade på enligt en enkät från en antropologikurs på Kansas State University, svaren kretsade kring [...]
[...] Prof. Michael Wesch der durch sein YouTube-Video Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us sehr bekannt wurde hat ein neues Video produziert, welches sich mit der Lebenssituation und -perspektive seiner Studenten beschäftigt. Gemeinsam mit 200 Studenten hat er ein Google Dokument angelegt und befüllt. In diesem Dokument haben alle gemeinsam gearbeitet und quasi das Drehbuch zum Film entwickelt. Im Rahmen einer Seminarveranstaltung/Vorlesung wurde dann das Video Produziert in dem die Studierenden Ergebnisse aus Umfragen präsentieren welche die Lern- und Lebenssituation des “Durchschnittsstudenten” präsentieren. Die Kernfrage ist in wie weit die Bildungseinrichtungen (noch) an den Lern- und Lebenssituationen der Lernenden orientiert sind. Aus meiner Sicht ein eindrucksvoller Film, der wenigstens interessante Fragen aufwirft. [...]
[...] Więcej we wpisie “A Vision of Students Today” (po angielsku). [...]
[...] Michael Wesch, the professor behind the video, is a cultural anthropologist at Kansas State University. His most famous video, Web 2.0… The Machine Is Us/ing Us, is also on web cultural and the way we (and computers) learn things. The comment thread at YouTube on the video posted above is sort of interesting, featuring a lot of interpretations that see Wesch as criticizing student preoccupations with the internet. I think it’s pretty obvious, though, that his critique is with traditional learning, with the We Talk-You Listen format that still dominates the classroom, even now, as network many-to-many communication takes over in most other aspects of our mediated societies. [...]
[...] Mercredi, je suis tombé sur une vidéo ma foi fort intéressante que j’ai décidé de vous faire partager. Il s’agit d’une vidéo qui parle de la vision des étudiants envers leur manière d’apprendre, leur avenir et leurs systèmes d’éducation. La vidéo est bien réalisée et traduite pour les anglophobes. Si vous voulez en savoir plus sur le projet, suivez ce lien sinon pour voir la vidéo traduite c’est par ici. [...]
[...] En savoir plus [...]
[...] Here’s the original post at Digital Ethnography. Digital Ethnography “is a working group of Kansas State University students and faculty dedicated to exploring and extending the possibilities of digital ethnography.” [...]
[...] Este video a continuación llamado a vision for the students today donde los estudiantes en Estados Unidos mas especÃficamente los de la Universidad de Kansas explican su visión del mundo y de la Universidad. [...]
[...] Trouvé chez Bertrand, et fait par les étudiant du Kensas et le blog est plutôt intéréssant, notament sur YouTube ! [...]
[...] Pour plus d’information : l’article expliquant la genèse de cette vidéo. [...]
[...] Ο ίδιος προφέσσορ του Kansas State University ετοίμασε μαζί με μαθητές του ένα νέο βίντεο το οποίο δείχνει την απόσταση μεταξύ της σύγχρονης ζωής των σπουδαστών/φοιτητών του από τις κλασσικές, παλιομοδίτικες προσεγγίσεις στην παιδαγωγική και στη διδασκαλία. Το υλικό ετοιμάστηκε από 133 σπουδαστές μαζί και έτσι αποτέλεσε μία μορφή αυτο-έρευνας(!). Ερεύνησαν τους εαυτούς τους, γράφοντας όλοι μαζί για τους ίδιους και τις συνήθειές τους στη ζωή και στη μάθηση. Σας παραθέτω το νέο του βίντεο “A vision of students today”. [...]
I posted this on our library blog (http://library.sbcc.edu) and it has generated good conversation on campus and at least one student comment.
Can you provide us with a transcript of the text so I can make the video more easily accessible to blind students?
Thanks for all the insightful work you are doing.
Hi, great insight.
This survey just shows how much the average ’student’ behaves more like a multi-tasker. Reminds me that i am a multi-tasker too!
Am doing a UOL degree in Information Systems & Management in Singapore. I would like to ask you about the video.
Why do you put the topic of the blackboard as your video’s ending? Is it meant to serve as an irony to the advancement in technology for education tools/methods?
[...] I actually bumped it in a blog post from Eduardo Peirano, author of Onlinesapiens Blog, who I have been following for quite a while now in various different social networks. Yesterday he created a blog post with the title "How Students Learn Video" where you would be able to find another gem from Michael Wesch ("A Vision of Students Today"), where the stars of the show are actually the actual students. Yes, indeed, those students enrolled in Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. [...]
[...] Michael Wesch, author of ‘the machine is using us’ has done it again. This video, though American, has much in common with our students in the UK, and bears a stark image of how we need to be able to face the future and respond. Food (second, third and fourth helpings) for thought. 367 students helped create this image. [...]
I argued with the dean at my local city college as to why I had to take an intermediate algebra class to transfer to a university. I was already working 8 hours a day and going to night school. He just laughed it off and said you will forget we even talked about this in several years. I never took the class and stopped taking night classes altogether - I was exhausted.
Dudes, this is a very cool Project - please go on with your work - maybe you can contribute to a change in learning methods and science @University.
BUT even you are not quite a 100% on the modern way. look at the footer of your very own project Page!
“Digital Ethnography © 2007 All Rights Reserved.”
I dont understand why you didn’t chose a better Copy License.
Student sein, was ist das eigentlich heute?…
Die Zeiten ändern sich. Manchmal habe auch ich hier in der Uni Magdeburg(funktionierender Link) das Gefühl, das wir die Methoden aus dem vorletzten Jahrhundert noch immer als Lernstandard propagiert und verordnet bekommen - uns aber im Hier u…
Thanks for the note Ben. To be honest, I didn’t even notice the copyright notice before. It just came with the template. It’s fixed now.
[...] A Vision of Students Today… [...]
[...] Digital Ethnography » Blog Archive » A Vision of Students Today (tags: education learning university anthropology communication) [...]
[...] Michael Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, has previously published his widely popular The Machine is Us/ing Us video. Since then he has made a new short video - A Vision of Students Today, which I first found through Paul Stamatiou’s blog. [...]
[...] [Link…] [...]
[...] Has going to school changed? Kansas State University Professor Michael Wesch and the students in his Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class created an interesting video profiling a vision of students today. The following answers were compiled from the answers of 133 students out of the 200 who responded to the survey questions. [...]
[...] Não é nada de que não desconfiássemos… 23 10 2007 … mas vale a pena ver a perspectiva deles: [...]
Wow! What a great video. I could do the same dealing with my nontraditional students at a rural community college. They are not who traditionalists (the establishment) think that they are. As an academic advisor, I see this all the time. “Why is this class relevant to my career?” “Why do I have to buy the book if the professor NEVER uses it?” I have sent the link to several colleagues at other institutions and am considering sending to ALL of our faculty. You can’t keep teaching the way we did in the industrial age. Congratulations Dr. Wesch, you just started a firestorm!
[...] UGA Connect sparked me thinking deeper about the shifting learning environment that information rich digital natives are growing up immersed in. This video, again from Professor Michael Wesch from Kansas State University and via Mitch Joel, condensed my thoughts and put them on a screen: [...]
[...] leur blog est :là [...]
[...] Ecco il post degli autori del video, ed i successivi numerosi commenti! [...]
[...] In what is turning out to be a regular feature here, Professor Michael Wesch of Kansas State University, Digital Ethnography, and the guy behind the two amazing online videos, The Machine is Us/ing Us, and more recently Information R/evolution (of which both were featured here on the Six Pixels of Separation Blog), has done it again. [...]
[...] El segundo, igualmente interesante, tiene una orientación similar, pero ubicada en el contexto de un curso de EtnografÃa Cultural en Kansas State University. [...]
A Vision of Students Today…
Une vidéo étonnante dénichée chez TiBlond qui nous vient tout droit de l’Université de Kansas State, aux Etats-Unis
Le professeur Wesch a décidé de réaliser une vidéo de 3 minutes mettant en évidence les caractéristiques des étudia…
[...] Check out their blog to see the continuing conversation. Tags: Learning, Teaching, Video, Web 2.0 [...]
Great work as always.
One grammar quibble: “This video was created by myself and the 200 students enrolled…”. Please rethink the use of the word “myself” in that sentence. There’s nothing wrong with using “me” there, but if the sentence were simply “This video was created by myself”, without the added subject, it’s clear that “myself” isn’t appropriate.
Sorry, but the overuse and misuse of “myself” is a pet peeve of mine.
Provoking. Frustrating. Annoying. Good and Useful.
This video is all of these and more. I am incredibly frustrated by students’ attitudes about education (I am not far removed myself from school, as I just finished my post-graduate education). But regardless of how I feel about this video and the opinions professed, these attitudes toward education are real. These students are who they are because of our society and our educational system, and educators/parents/anyone involved with kids/education need to take these issues seriously, else we’ll do a disservice to “these kids today” (and those to come).
A couple of quibbles:
- Is the piece “A Vision of Students Today” or an editorial about education. I personally think that it would be improved by removing the editorial feel of the ending (the whole chalkboard bit).
- yeah…the use of “myself” rather than “me” is annoying (but it drives home the point)
- why do so few people (especially students - yes, i was the same way in high school) see the usefulness of learning for learning’s sake? I am sooooo sick of hearing “I’ll never use the information from that class in my job,” or some other similar sentiment. Your Anthro/Sociology/History/Poly Sci/Psych/Lit classes shape the way you view the world, how you interact with co-workers and other people in your life, etc. They ARE useful classes and it IS useful information…
As a student I do agree with the video. Students do multitask alot. We have a lot of distractions that take away from our education. However through this, it is simply unhealthy to focus only on school and education. We need things to entertain us, and distract us from the monotone life that we are left with.
On the other hand, there are much more important issues in life than this. Someone should make a video on world hunger or poverty. Every student will obviously complain, nothings going to change that. If you want to influence the world, then do something to actually influence it.
I’m only in highschool myself, and I find every one of these statements presented here to be true.
I myself have ADHD, i take medications for it, and school doesnt help my problems with it. I forget an average of 30% of what I am taught, and can recall only 50% of what i do remember in later months, that leaves 20% of my possible knowledge to be wasted space.
I have found statistics of our current generation having a very heightened memory retainment rate when things are seen off of a screen, particularly laptops and desktops, and a lower rate when it comes to handwriting, pages, handouts, packets, and all other easily damaged/lost forms of information. I wish i could recall my sources of this, but in telling this to everyone, im hoping that someone will be able to find it again.
As a side note, my grades have gone from 2 Ds, 3Cs, 1 B, 1 A last year each semester, to an astonishingly higher grade average of 1 C, 2 Bs, 4 As within this first quarter. All i did was type my notes instead of writing them in binders and notebooks. The funny part, I stopped studying this year :] about 3 hours a week if any now.
i’ve been reading some of the comments left in youtube and most of them are negative towards the video, but i think that those people don’t get the big picture, or felt accused or alluded, but that reflects their own lack of responsability towards education, but then again i think the problem is created by us, but also is being brought upon us. it’s a chicken-egg thing, technology doesn’t have anything to do here, i mean its our responsability towards ourselves and the rest of the people to do what we can, if one spends hundreds of bucks in books that are never gonna be read then fine, so what is one spends most of the class in facebook, its her loss.
of course their are better approaches to teaching, there are lots of pedagogic methods to make a student interested. there must be a balance between things.
I teach at a small college. Class sizes max 45. The average is about 15. Some of mine have been as small as 6. This makes for a very different, interactive learning environment than you have portrayed on your video (which is very well-done, I might add!).
My argument: technology IS the problem……..sorry if that’s not a popular stance. If our goal (as teachers) is to produce thinking, innovative, lovers of learning, then we need small classes with much discussion and generation of new (or not new) ideas. And readings (yes, readings) of current research and ideas that serve as fodder for those ideas.
I could be one of those students, BTW. At 53, spend way too much time on the web and emailing (like now!). How much better the world would be if we all interacted as human beings face-to-face (not on Facebook).
The biggest change that needs to be made in education today is to turn off the laptops, stop using electronic forms of comunication and information gathering (half the stuff on the web is crap anyway), and meet is small coffee-houses debating interesting ideas. And, yes, reading. At least books and journals written by those with higher degrees have been vetted by people in their fields.
Back to the one-room schoolhouse and chalk, I say!
Sorry guys.
WHO GIVES A SH!T!
You WASTE your OWN damn TIME!
YOU ARE the LAZY ones!
YOU f@ckin’ KIDS are WORSE than those damn baby boomer HIPPIES!
(Remember that ‘South Park’ episode?)
***Smacks Back of head***
“SHUT UP AND STUDY!”
First off, to Templar Knight: The students are not *complaining.* If anything, they are “confessing” in a way that let’s us know that somehow some of our current educational models are not engaging them.
To the professor above who thinks technology is the problem. I do not totally disagree, but there is absolutely no chance that the whole world is just going to “turn off” the technology. This means that we need to expand the type of “literacy” we are teaching students to include all forms of media, as well as an understanding of how each media is different and not necessarily useful in certain contexts. This would give you the space to convince them of the importance of print-based arguments in certain domains. If we fail to teach them this form of literacy, we will be leaving it in the hands of the few to dominate and control our means of communication.
But one question will still remain among these lots of comments? What can we do to make it better? How could we pass through the crisis established in the moment that the students visualize that the most of knowledge supposed to be learned in school or college will not give them the formula to be successful in life or make a better society?
I think the answer goes through the acceptance that this problem isn’t a educational one but global, and that most of people that live in this world today don’t REALLY care about the society or what we should do to make this world better. The only goal to the average is live without particular problems (financial, emotional, etc.) and pass through this life without needing to care with the other, no one is REALLY interested in making its part in the job, but in it’s slice of the cake. And when this become the truth of a life, the person don’t give the importance in it’s part of the construction of knowledge, which should be the main speech of the formal education institutions because its importance in the basis of the society, to agree that ONLY have more and better interpersonal relationships can give a chance of a better life.
Alfredo Duarte
Professor of Viçosa Federal University - UFV - Brazil
HOW DO WE MAKE IT ‘BETTER’?
How about they shut they hell up! Quit bitchin’! And they just do they’re damn work, and quit wasting time ’surfing the net’!
You f@ckin’ lazy ass hippies! It’s always all about YOU!
GROW UP YOU LITTLE BITCHES!
The music is catchy and the presentation original and fast-paced but the data, while it may jibe with our prejudices, is worth next to nil being off-handedly self-reported.
If one asks point-blank complex questions to a bunch of people –”On average, how many pages do you write for your classes each semester?”, “What percentage of assigned readings do you find relevant to your life?”– how can we expect their answers to be remotely accurate? These aren’t data in an objective, experimental way, they’re an aggregation of prejudices.
It is not the self-reporting by itself that corrupts the data. With this kind of questions you have to rely on some measure of self-reporting but you can’t expect people to have a perfect (not even a good) log of their activities and preferences in their heads. You have to do one yourself. You may be interested in trying the Experiential Sampling Method: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9866&page=39.
Critical thinking is what we all need to learn.
Turning into a multitasker is the new me basicly. Waking up two hours before my scheduled lecture just so I have enough time to read all the news, emails check for any class updates. PC’s are a good way of learning, as if we did not have them then we could not access research papers from the other side of the world at a click. Purchasing books for learning is the highest cost that most students encounter. The books are in my case used only once or twice during the whole year, because if your writing an essay you mostly use books from the library. Coming out of university with huge debt is not only common in U.S, in UK after i graduate from university I would have around £20,000 debt. Thats twice as much as the one featured in the video. University is a great place to be at, but it comes at a price.
What is the song playing in the video? Who composed it?
[...] The above video was created by Professor Michael Wesch and 200 students enrolled in ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, Spring 2007. It began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn for their future, and how the current educational system fits in. [...]
How does the John Stossel 20-20 Special “Stupid in America” relate the work you have done ??
What do you think ?
John Stossel’s - 20/20
STUPID in AMERICA !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA
PLEASE … PLEASE … WATCH !! And … PLEASE let me know what you think !! Does this info help to explain part of why things may end up this way in colleges ??
I find the video to be so much close to truth.
Cheers from sunny Italy, where people don’t get to stay in colleges and commute back and forth from home… if they can.
i watched the video here an i did not understand what the point was making mixed messages i guess, or maybe there was more then one message. i think the sign that caught my attention as more then one message in this video was the sign that said ” i did not Create the problem, but they are my problem”. oh i understand the video now there is no message there is no point its just saying this is the education system look in thats what it is saying an i guess thats what they meant
Therb1006, really thanks for the video indication. I’m a brazilian teacher, college professor, so excuses if my English isn’t good.
For the first, Templar Knight, thanks for your comments. It’s really good when we see someone exercising it’s expression right, because if it didn’t exist we would never know the idiots. Second, in Brazil the education situation isn’t very different of what happens in USA, and we see in the ABC video. So, I leave a question: Why in most of Europe countries and Asian high economically developed ones it’s different??? Could be that because the society, acting as great mass with the same purpose - the benefit of all, at the long of the years came improving their habilities in transform the education process in a way of people think about the world as a collectivity that makes the difference in individual lives, and to this really work there’s incentive to each individual part of the society to make with its part, and then the individual reward comes??? Think about it. Its a full circle!!!
And yet, Templar Knight, I think you could watch (in youtube) the music videoclip for “Evolution” from “KoRn”… you’ll like it.
Alfredo Duarte
Professor of Viçosa Federal University - UFV - Brazil
Thanks Alfredo Duarte,
Your “english” is WONDERFUL !! Better than some from THIS COUNTRY !! I see your point about WHY … in most of the Europe countries and Asian countries that are highly developed and doing quite well economically they seems to have different standards and their systems work MUCH MORE EFFECTIVELY !! It MUST be our society(in the US) … spoiled, selfish, self entitled youth ?? Is it our parenting ?? I have 3 young children and I have fought to keep them from public education !! Now I teacher all of them at home mostly with some outside influences CAREFULLY monitored - gymnastics, swimming, piano, balllet, football, art, choir, karate … I do NOT know about many things and I feel so distant from todays youth !! Do they feel distant and WHAT do ANY of us do to BEGIN to fix the system ??
Our society … we, in this country have seemingly become so self-focused and oriented to each of our own … THINGS … material possession !!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How does the John Stossel 20-20 Special “Stupid in America†relate the work you have done ??
What do you think ?
John Stossel’s - 20/20
STUPID in AMERICA !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA
PLEASE … PLEASE … WATCH !! And … PLEASE let me know what you think !! Does this info help to explain part of why things may end up this way in colleges ??
Thanks ALL & Take Care !!
[...] A Vision of Students Today is a video created by Professor Michael Wesch and the 200 students enrolled in ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, Spring 2007. It began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn for their future, and how our current educational system fits in. [...]
This was interesting… already, highschools are putting textbooks online, and assigning the work through that, one highschool doesn’t even hve textbooks all laptops…
I think that that had made me stop and think while running about on my computer.
Todays students, I always believed, are a lot more… advanced that the last generation, due to the technology update, but it doesn’t make the pressure, the fast-paced time, or the problems go away. They only help a lot more. The problem is though that I think we will never get to fully understand this topic. IF we did, I think everyone would simply forget about it.
It’s what humans do, and what they will always do.
LOVE WATCHING YOUR VIDEOS…mikma was here
this video actually made me cry….it reminded of me of my 1 of 2 “stadium classrooms.” intro to Psyche. In it I achieved one of my worst grades. If “today’s students,” those that learn more from their lap tops-things that crash-or have no battery left-have no compassion, empathy, etc….(and trust me I spend at least an hour on my comp every day), this world is in accelerating change.
That much is obvious.
I went to an off-league ivy league university. My best memories were of my professors. Our dialogue. The way I knew I wasn’t making sense in discussion b/c they tilted their head. Still trying to listen.
Technology has its place…..and its a wonderful tool. But we created technology….we shouldn’t let it create us.
(cheesy but true)
[...] Here’s a video that recently did the rounds with the edubloggers. (I can’t access it in China at the moment - transcript is here.) It was produced by Michael Wesch, assistant professor of Cultural Anthropology as Kansas State University.  [...]
[...] Muito poderoso este video realizado na cadeira de Introduction to Cultural Anthropology na Kansas State University e visto aqui.Quando olho para esta página, sinto que ainda estamos longe desta consciência e que os nossos problemas, além dos que foram muito bem exemplificados no video são muito mais graves e debilitantes. [...]
Well, I really don’t get it. What you are trying to say is that your educational system is ineficient? Or that for some reason you waste your chances to do something for yourself and maybe for those 1 billion people, by reading more face book profiles than books and using your laptop to do others things during class?
I’d say it the first option is what you think and the second is the true.
And unfortunately, you north-americans are not alone in this matter. We have the same problems in Brazil.
This is a global phenomenom.
I think our world has become so out of control we no longer think it can be changed by us.
Huge corporations controling national politics(including wars), a new iPod that you think you need to have, the tons of information we have access, all this make us feel very small and powerless. The result is that we students, no longer carry the impetus to study to learn and make use of our learnings for something important, we go to college to get the diploma and get to our insignificant position as wathers in this process.
Globalization could have been a good thing, but it has not. And we all are responsable to do something. But you north-americans have a special responsability in that and are, sadly, the less likely to do so.
Finally, I would like to say that I believe we are not meant to be just spectators of our world, and if we start to think we can and have to do something for those 1 billion people, maybe we would watch less TV, read less face books profile…
Perhaps we get back the interest in studying that students had in the past, and maybe do what they didn’t, and change the our world in a good way.
Paolo Totola it quite right in how he depicts our life styles. The average person does feel incredibly small to the world outside but that is nothing that should stop us. The learning system set up in America is pathetic. The no child left behind system does nothing. It just implies that your teacher needs to give you all the right answers, spoon feeding, causing you to not use your own brain. Kids do learn what they do, and sitting in a class room all day cuts off all natural learning. A change needs to come, and it will come from us. The average. America thrives on the working class, but it puts so much social respect and acceptance on high paying, lazy, pointless jobs. You are not too small or too “average” to change the world. Pull your face out of your lap top, your iPod, your cell phone, the book, movies, art, whatever it is you do to block the world out. This planet, its yours. Its ours, we need to take care of it, and everyone who lives on it. Take charge. Talk hard. Talk loud. Let no one tell you no.
Meh. Failures will be failures, you can’t change that.
Jump in before all the water is gone…
It is amazing when the comment section of a blog post is longer than the post. The barrier to post is high enough that most people don’t. The comments I refer to are the ones that equal in quality and value of the original, twitter sized posts need n…
> our world has become so out of control
> we no longer think it can be changed by us.
Many people think that way but this is nonsense to me.
The world was never in control of anyone. The world (meaning our social world, our civilisation), is rather the sum of everyone’s actions and influences, including mine and yours, reader of this blog.
What has changed over the last century is that information influence has replaced most of old days’ social influence. When students spend hours per day on websites, they spend these hours under heavy influence. Communication doesn’t mean information, the amount of useful information on blogs and the like is very low, whereas the amount of opinions about the information is very high. But how useful is it to read others’ opinions about things ? Isn’t it more useful to build one’s self opinion ? And isn’t university aimed at teaching precisely this ?
So my conclusion is that, first, teachers partly or totally fail at convincing their students that the contents of their class is useful to them, and second, students are so completely overwhelmed by the amount of information available to them (most adult professionals are as well) by various sources, mostly the Internet, that they become unable to perceive the value of long-thought teaching.
To me this is quite comparable to the influence of advertisement, the massive amount of information helps loose track of reality. I analyse this as a dramatic side-effect of excessive technology.
No one needs technology to build his/her opinion.
First thing to do, to end feeling “out of control” is to stop listening to millions of other opinions, shut down TV and computer and to begin *thinking*. To decide precisely what information you need to build your opinion, what knowledge, and to search this precise information and let aside all unsollicited opinions. Obviously this leads to rethinking the usefulness of blogs, chats and most interactive web-based communication tools. Not that they are totally useless, but they are surely more deceiving than useful.
D.
[...] Original post by Prof Wesch [...]
“> our world has become so out of control
> we no longer think it can be changed by us.
Many people think that way but this is nonsense to me.
The world was never in control of anyone.”
I don ‘t think you got it right David, but I never meant about anyone having the control of the world in his hands(even if sometimes it looks like some bush guy thinks that) like I think you understood. What I tried to say is that things happen so fast in our world today, and have such an incomprehensible background, so many things that we don’t get to know, so many interests that can not be noticed by us that we feel like we have our hands tied. And that is, at the same time understandible and unacceptable.
The first because that all that I mentioned before, associated with the standard of comfort that we have and the media keep us away from the problems of our surrounding (us as meaning the majority of the ones who live like us).
The second is because differently that we may think sometimes, the world is not getting better lately, capitalism isn’t working for everybody and if we are not being able to change our educational system, how are WE going to stop millions of children to go to sleep with their stomach empty night after night around the planet? And really, for me, knowing things are getting worse and that nobody is taking any serious action to change it, just for itself, makes me think our world is out of control.
Maybe you think that we are capable of doing something, and if you read my comment to the end you got to know I believe in it too. But you have to agree that the most of us do not think that way. And even if we believe, you have to admit that you do not make any idea how to really do the thing. Believe me, I think about it every single day, and some of my colleagues at the Medicine College here think too, but our ideas become empty when we look around and see that so many few people care or would do something for the cause. But time is not to give up, as so many people live a life of pain and horror and have not gave up.
Perhaps they persist in believing that we will do something…
We must not disappoint them!
“Today’s child is bewildered…”
It’s always wonderful when people take quotes out of context i.e. what was going on in 1967 doesn’t have much, if anything, to do with what is going on today. But, even if it does, you’re going to have to do a lot better than just give an assertion. You have to back it up.
“If students learn what they do, what are they learning sitting here?”
From the mouths of babes… with IQ’s less than that of room temperature.
Taking a class properly requires a good amount of required reading BEFORE the class in which the material is presented. Why? Because, the student is /not/ going to get everything (regardless of what they think) from a book, etc. And as such, the Prof *is* going to point out things that the students missed, misunderstood, didn’t understand, etc.
THAT is why you are sitting there. Don’t be so bloody arrogant to assume that you can learn/understand everything on your own.
“200 students made 367 edits to this document and surveyed themselves”
As we move forward, please keep this in mind as it is the same model that Wikipedia uses. Namely, the “wisdom of the masses.” I put forth, that this model produces incorrect information. I say this because 200 people agreeing on the same wrong thing, does /not/ make it right.
Don’t believe me? Keep reading.
“My average class size is 115″
Give the class code 200 I’ll assume that this is a second year course. This combined with the course being in Cultural Anthropology and the fact that most of the people will be taking other such soft subjects, this isn’t uncommon. It’s also not desirable, but is it a problem? Not really. It is after all, it’s only an second year course. If it is still this way when 4th year comes around, then start talking. But, not until then.
“18% of my Teachers know my name”
Two points, 1) this has nothing to do with reality, but only what the student thought would be the case, and 2) it’s only second year so why would they know your name. Point of fact, a lot of second year people will still switch to another field, or drop out, or… They’ll only know the students name if the student goes out of there way to get to know the Prof, or they really shine. Professors are not psychic, so it’s not reasonable to assume that they’ll remember anyones name after one or two meetings. Especially given how many students any given Prof will have in there classes.
Again, wait till 3rd or 4th year. If this is still the case, only then do you have a problem.
But, then again, it is NOT up to the Professors to impress you. It’s very much the other way around.
“I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me”
So, an admission of lazy?!?!? How does this support any of these implied arguments against the education system? I don’t do the work and I’m not learning anything (or a lot). Cry me a river.
“Only 26% … relevant to my life”
Wow, does this miss the point entirely. Class readings are *not* meant to be relevant to “your life.” What they are meant to do is to be relevant to what the class is studying and/or provide a basis for further study. What you are /intending/ TO DO, *NOT* what you are doing now.
“I buy hundred dollar textbooks that I never open.”
Yet another admission of lazy… and stupidity.
“My neighbor paid for class but never comes.”
See above.
“I will read 8 books this year, 2300 web pages & 1281 Face-Book Profiles”
See above.
But also, we’re going to have to do a comparison of the content. What’s going to contain more information? The 8 books, or the web pages/FaceBook Profiles? If you answered the 8 books, you win a prize. That is unless you count reading that your online buddy getting a hamster for x-max counts.
“I will write 42 pages for class this semester and over 500 pages of email”
How is this comparison even relevant? Oh yah, it isn’t.
These are two very very different ways of communicating in two very very different contexts. Those pages submitted for a class are going to be researched, proof read, go through numerous drafts, in a formal style, etc, etc, etc. So, lots of time is required to produce them. Email on the other hand… not so much. Arguably, those 500 pages of email will take but a fraction of time to write than the 42 pages for your class(es).
“I get 7 hours of sleep each night!”
And? Seven hours isn’t actually that bad. But, there’s an easy solution to this: GO TO BED EARLIER. For pointers, see below.
“I spend 1 1/2 hours watching TV each night”
Work /before/ play save burn out. That will cut that one down significantly.
“I spend 3 1/2 hours a day online”
Doing what? Working, playing? Without this information this little tidbit is meaningless. But, given the above, I gather a work /before/ play could cut this down.
“I listen to music 2.5 hours a day”
Similar to the above, are you doing anything while listening, or just listening? Studies have actually shown that even if not perceived, such distraction(s) reduce efficiency. So, stop working while listening to music.
“I spend… 2 hours on my cellphone”
And all of that is about school, work, etc and not a distraction. Don’t get me wrong, I’m /not/ saying “Stop talking on your cellphone.” But, shutting it off during study time, or while doing something else that would benefit from no distractions would improve efficiency drastically. After all, does it take more time to just do a problem, or while doing that problem get interrupted several times and have to re-think where you are.
“Spend 3 hours in class”
So, an average full course load (I assume). On average, this is actually bad. In my experience, there is a significant percentage of students that can’t handle a full course load, but do so anyway because of parents, expectations, etc.
If you’re having problems with handling your course-load, don’t take so much. Extending your education one (or even two) more years, in this case, would actually be beneficial because you’ll be working within your limitations instead of reaching beyond them. There is no shame in it. But, there is shame if you fail something, or do poorer than you could have.
“2 hours eating”
May I assume that cooking isn’t in there? If I can, spend more time cooking/eating with fresh food. That’ll give you more energy and you’ll be healthier. This will also result in better efficiency and being more happy and as such, you’ll be better able to do what you need to do. If you don’t think that you can do it, just Google 30 minute (or 1/2 hour) meals.
“I work 2 hours every day”
Being a full time student is more than a full time job. That is, if you do it properly. Taking on daily work only hurts you. Find a job that will allow weekend only work, or very limited weekdays, mostly weekends. Because working these hours is basically academic suicide (please note that I’m talking about understanding, not grades - you’ll probably get to know the difference later on if you don’t know already).
“3 hours studying”
This isn’t enough. Well depending on the field. Try doing that in 3rd year math.
“That’s a total of 26.5 hours per day”
So, we’re taking averages, and adding them all up. How don’t you understand just how profoundly wrong that is?
“I am a multi-tasker”
“(I have to be)”
No you don’t. You just have to work smarter.
When I was in college, my peers always “freaked out” when they would ask me if I had completed assignment x, y, z which were due in 2 or 3 days and I told them that I hadn’t started. How did I pull this off? Because I did *not* multi-task. I sat down and did assignment x. Then I did assignment y, then z. Guess what. I always finished before they did and I had a lot less stress. Guess what. I worked only part of the day that I was at school and an afternoon on the weekend whereas they worked throughout the day into the night AND on the weekend as well.
Less stress plus focus equals efficiency. Get it?
“I will be 20,000 in debt after graduation!”
From what? Just tuition? Or does that include housing, etc? This so-called survey is rather lacking in necessary details. But, perhaps you guys should start DOING something about it rather than just post something on the internet somewhere. That’s how things actually get done you know. That is, if you can get off your cellphone long enough to do it.
“I’m one of the lucky ones.”
“Over 1 billion people, make less than $1 a day”
I think I must have been mistaken. I thought that this was about students and education today. Wait, I just read the title again, I’m right. They’re just introducing something completely irrelevant to the discussion.
“This laptop costs more than some people in the world make in a year”
See above.
“When I graduate I will probably have a job, that doesn’t exist today”
That’s what /some/ predictions say. But, the fact of the matter is most people graduating from University will get jobs pushing papers around. Something that has existed for some time. So, I rather question this stat. Also, see above.
“Filling this out won’t help me get there”
Actually, yes it will. Without passing those tests, you won’t pass the classes and as such won’t get that degree. Do I need to mention that a degree is necessary to get a remotely decent paying job?
“Or deal with [arrows]”
This completely misses the purpose of a test. The purpose of a test is to see if a student has learnt and understood certain bits of information. It is NOT there to help your social skills nor should it.
But, this only deals with the act of filling out a test. What about group studying? What about talking to classmates? What about… So yes, courses on the whole, do help social skills.
“I did not create the problems”
Well, actually the only problem that you didn’t create is the tuition one. The rest of them are of your creation or not a problem at all as shown above. You being too stupid to realise this doesn’t make that any less true.
“But the are my problems”
Yes they are indeed.
“Some have suggested that technology can save us…”
“Some have suggested that technology alone can save us…”
Actually, when it comes to education, technology is the problem. See below.
“I face-book through most of my classes”
“I bring my laptop to class, but I’m not working on class stuff.”
See below as well as the laziness remark farther up.
“… chalkboard.”
And it was, and still is, the best thing to enter the classroom since that time.
I actually taught C++ at college (computer programming for those not familiar) and I had a white-board as well as a computer hooked up to an overhead. I wrote out my notes in a text file and sent them to the class 3-4 *days* /before/ the class. I expected them to become familiar with them and in class I put them up and explained further. During this time I actually spent most of my time at the white-board explaining as we /worked/ /through/ the notes.
If I didn’t have the computer/overhead, I would have gotten slides printed out and used those to the same effect i.e. one does NOT need advanced tech, to properly teach a course.
Btw, the class average was a B+ and a student actually asked me if I could teach the next level. When I talked to him later, he complained that the new Prof only used PowerPoint which was pretty much useless.
Given the above, I put forth that all these complaints are not weakness of the education system (though there are certainly are weaknesses), but they are excellent examples of students completely not understanding what education really is. Because all we’ve learnt here, is just how distorted current students perception of reality really is.
Then again, should we really expect so much from students in a state that has such views on Science?
http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/
This is an intelligently designed video
[...] A Vision of Students Today is a video created by Professor Michael Wesch and the 200 students enrolled in ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, Spring 2007. It began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn for their future, and how our current educational system fits in. [...]
I go to Rochester Institute of Technology. Our classes are nothing like that. Students are more in debt than other places. Class size is 40 students or less. 95% of my teachers knew my name in class. Our retention rate, low.
So many ideas come to mind after watching the video! Thank you.
As a Canadian living about two hours away from where Marshall McLuhan taught at U. of Toronto, I am pleased to see him being explored today by young people in the U.S.
I am at once intrigued and saddened by the video. The “bewildered” student-in-the- nineteenth-century-study-space idea seems in the video to imply that McLuhan is judging the twentieth century, something he steadfastly refused to do. That they are bewildered is an observation, not a judgement of the worth of the nineteenth or twentieth century environments. They are bewildered because they are electronic mass media users who are not yet comfortable in either the pre-electronic environments inhabited by mediaeval villagers who acted together in real time and space or in the book-centered world of the nineteenth century…But I encourage the students to consider McLuhan’s point that the MEDIUM itself is the MESSAGE, and the AUDIENCE is the CONTENT of electronic mass media. That should, I hope, beg the question of what is the content at a university (from universitas)? The situation is still more exciting when considered in light of McLuhan’s observation of the “cooling down” by electronic mass media of what was a “hot” culture in Western Civilization, after the invention of the printing press had significantly heated it up (see McLuhan’s “Hot and Cool Media”). Interestingly, McLuhan also points out that one effect of rapidly heating a cool society or of cooling a hot one is violence.
The students in the video are missing the point, I fear. Not one of them seems keen to learn anything that more than two thousand years of civilization have brought to them; that’s who they are or at least should aspire to be, whether teachers know their names or not. They have an unprecedented opportunity to become the greatest thinkers and doers ever, to create a global village worth living in; technology is just technology. In itself, it is (only) the message. The students need to expand themselves if there is to be any content worth viewing. I worry that multi-tasking facebook addicts will grasp little of what civilization needs them to grasp, if it is going to be inherited by anyone beyond today. The audience itself risks becoming the very thing from which it needs to be saved, and no technology can do that.
Thanks for the mass media opportunity to respond to your video. Professor McLuhan would love to be here today, eh?
[...] A Vision Of Students Today @ Digital Ethnography [...]
This sends an incredibly important message to educators, legislators, parents and anyone else who has the responsibility for the education of our students. I teach at a small university in North Alabama. The small amount of knowledge I have to share is not enough. I worry sometimes that I don’t do enough to give them the tools they need to go out into the world and survive. My students are the future of this country- they need REAL life lessons. I try to make the classroom experience for both my online and face-to-face classes memorable, exciting, full of experiences from my previous career in industry. I talk about the mistakes I made. I tell them what worked for me and what might work for them. I share personal items about myself- my struggles, my dreams, hopes and ask them to do the same. I ask for THEIR opinion. It is important to show them that I care about them as a person and as a fellow man or woman. I want to see them be successful. I stay after class if they need me to- even if it is just to talk. In my quiet time, I think. I think about everything. I have more questions than answers. I do pray for my students. I want to make a difference. Ghandi said it best when he said: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.†Change starts with you. Just do your part. If everyone does that- educators, legislators, parents AND students- then things will be different.
[...] Michael Wesch a voulu réalisé une étude sur les façons d’apprentissage de ses étudiants, l’emploi des nouvelles technologies, ce qu’ils désirait apprendre. Il a donc ouvert un google doc et ce dernier a été modifié 367 fois par plus de 200 étudiants! Cette vidéo résume ce document. Pour en savoir plus, rendez sur le blog. [...]
[...] Have you been in schools lately? A moment of silence? C’mon! This is the reality for too many of our students throughout much of the school day. [...]
Although I didn’t find the video particularly satisfying (my initial response being, “yeah, so tell me someting I don’t know”), both the content and the form itself begged an interesting question: what are we, the so-called privileged technocrats(-in-training), actually _doing_ all day? Why make a slickly-produced “brainstorm” video–a time- and equipment-intensive artifact that joins the glut of digital blips on the internet–instead of discussing the issues with those around us? Why not learn to talk face to face instead of facebooking?
When you think about it, the bottom line is: information technology results in isolated people sitting, staring at lit screens for hours, consuming electricity via instruments that degrade the environment and massively profit a very few. Just another version of consumerism if you ask me.
I have more thoughts, but I think I’ll turn off this energy-consuming machine and go take a walk. Then I might bake a pie, and invite some friends over to play a board game while we plot our overthrow of the System.
Frankly when I saw the video I was interested in what you are doing. Hopefully it will turn some heads and create some creative changes in the general structure of teaching to students.
You have asked for your audience to participate and so to speak ask questions, via comments and blogs. Granted I don’t know if you have asked these questions to yourselves, but here it goes.
What I want to know is how did thee idea for this Ethnography course come about to you Professor Michael Wesch?
Was there an idea to create some sort of change within the school system?
In our college systems it is structured in an old/norm tech fashion (attempting to incorporate .ppt, videos, and such on to a centralized projector), how can it be made possible for new tech to be utilized without the distractions (laptops, cellphones, palm pilots)?
Better question is what would be the new tech to incorporate into a new dynamic class culture?
If you can answer that one I’m sure their will be plenty of corporate sponsors to fund your research.
The best thing we can do, right now, as educators, is to pay attention to our students, to understand their information experience. After all, the future we’re preparing them for is the future they will choose, create, pay for…
– dave –
[...] Of special interest is the blog that Wesch is running, that I was, until today, unaware of. It’s called Digital Ethnography and there is a single blog entry that includes the transcript from the video and also background information. An excellent watch and another likely intro to more professional development institutes. [...]
[...] Michael Wesch’s A Vision of Students Today video (I placed in a post last month so I’m keeping it out of this one) is making waves in the blogosphere — a battle cry for instructional technology though I’m not sure that was Mr. Wesch’s intention. While an amazing video that I find resonates with me on many levels, some questions continue to float around in my mind about the technology mentioned and what it means to education: [...]
Let me being by saying this video was put together very well.When music, images, and transitions come together nicely it makes for a proper video that focuses easier with the mind. As I watched the video, I looked closely at what all the signs help up by students were saying. I could relate to almost all of the sayings. The research done not only relates to my life, but I’m sure most college students which was their main goal. The sad but true information stated is something college professors around the world should consider. In my opinion, most not all professors just do not care about the students. Great job at a very successful project!
Children who goof off, then wonder why they aren’t learning the secrets of the universe, need whaaaambulances, not some mythical new education model to force feed data into their lazy little brains.
There is nothing new about what these children are saying, it’s been going on forever. But they are verifying something - you can lead a kid to college but you can’t make them think.
These little “surfing during lecture” swarms will perfectly fit the jobs they will hold in the future. They will waste company resources, and their time on earth goofing off. Hopefully, the companies they work for have designed their work flows to take these slackers into account, and will prosper regardless.
It never ceases to amaze me, that those looking for excuses, will resort to solutions sometimes far in excess of the tasks they’re trying to avoid, and the work they’re trying to get out of doing.
I’m sure a lot of work went into this piece, lots of edits to be sure.
But it doesn’t address what the students should be hearing.
They only need to hear one of three things from their respective institutes of higher learning in order to go forth properly into the world:
1. Quit goofing off, and get to work.
2. We’ll miss you, hope you find what you’re truly looking for.
3. Great job, now here are the rewards.
Interestingly, if their professors heard only three things, they might be motivated enough to give a student their money’s worth:
1. Quit goofing off, and get to work.
1.B. Quit goofing off, the 60’s are over, and get to work.
1.C. Quit goofing off, touting neo-Marxism and denigrating Republicans will only make you look cool to a bunch of ignorant teenagers until said teenagers grow up and wonder where their tuition money went, they’ll resent you later, and get to work.
2. We’ll miss you, have fun following the rallies, remember to bathe once in a while, hope you find what you’re truly looking for.
3. Great job, according to your successful education of your charges, here are your rewards.
But have faith, the top ten percent of the country’s earners account for 70% of all IRS revenue.
You likely won’t find the top ten percent of any class, sitting around goofing off waiting for some magic learning pill to float out of the skies. They are the ones that most often miss party’s because they’re getting the work done.
The bottom fifty percent of the population account for like 3% of all revenues.
These are stats from the IRS itself.
There is hope for the future, it’s with the kids that already get it.
The ones that see college as a great opportunity, and a great jumping off point to do huge things. A time that should not be squandered downloading mp3’s and re-photographing their myspace photos until it’s ‘just right’, playing quarters and whatever else is the fashionable way to help all your friends down the path of failure.
So, nice little video there kids, professor, all who sacrificed their precious time to showing that there is no end to a typical student’s ability to whine and blame others for their lack of dedication.
Now, quit goofing off and get to work.
[...] A Vision of Students Today [...]
Blogged your work here yesterday via the discovery of it via my RSS feed of 2CentsWorth, David Warlick’s blog. I try not to repost very much but I had to this time–the video brought me to tears.
The comments indicate a clear line of delineation between those who see the failures and are looking for solutions on the one hand–and those who cling to the failed models on the other.
To those latter, I would simply offer: Success in the future will not be achieved by the means with which your agrarian and elitist system of education enabled you to achieve it. The 60s are indeed in the past, but our students’ future will not be well served by our teaching with the same mindset that stifled the idealisms of youthful spirit ‘way back then. Unlike then, students now have access to powerful and ubiquitous tools for communication and collaboration. Look up from your lectern notes…
[...] Even Gary Stager’s recent criticism of Michael Wesch’s Vision of Today video made me think that partly there’s a misunderstanding of what learning looks like. Gary writes: A concerned competent educator might ask, “What should I do to make learning relevant without making it dopey or trivial?” This video offers no such guidance. [...]
[...] Scouta made a great recommendation the other day: A Vision of Students Today, that continues the series over highly thought provoking discussions about where technology is taking society. This time it looks at today’s students. [...]
[...] filmpje november 09th 2007 Geplaatst in Filmpje [...]
[...] Scouta made a great recommendation the other day: A Vision of Students Today, that continues a series of highly thought provoking discussions about where technology is taking society. This time it looks at today’s students. [...]
[...] Gary Stager, in a few recent posts, has been stirring the pot by confronting some popular “Web 2.0″ ideas, like the digital immigrants/digital natives divide, the concept of the flat world, and the latest Michael Wesch video. Ultimately, Stager is serving as the voice of caution, warning pro-tech educators not to become enamored with the tech or sloppy with the thinking, and I appreciate any voice that makes me stop, think, and reconsider. [...]
[...] Jim Henderson’s post, to which I referred in my preceding post, showcased the, by now, widely distributed video produced by Michael Wesch and 200 of his students at Kansas State University earlier this year. Reading through the 129 (largely positive) comments (to date) that have been made in response to Michael’s description and explanation of the video in Kansas State’s Digital Ethnography blog, I particularly enjoyed reading this wonderfully acerbic and bad-tempered comment (# 107) from “S.N.”. [...]
The video is interesting … interesting in that in the last 20 years, not much has changed, except for the technology component. When I went to university from 86-90, I dealt with similar issues of not reading books, people not attending class, having debt when I graduate, and not actually working on school work during lectures.
[...] Setting the Tone • Medieval Help Desk: Introducing the book • TEDTAlks: Sir Ken Robinson on Creativity • Mediasnackers Podcast #88: interview with Ken Robinson • Digital Students @ Analog Schools • Digital Ethnography: A Vision of Students Today • Lucy Gray’s Infinite Thinking Machine post: What’s Your Mindset • DistrictAdministration article: The New Literacies • Using Social Technologies to Redefine Schooling by Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli • “The Classics†by Marc Prensky – two articles Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants ~ A New Way To Look At Ourselves and Our Kids Do They REALLY Think Differently? ~ Neuroscience Says Yes [...]
[...] Nov 11th, 2007 by jodoc Bij Digitale Etnography een filmpje dat overduidelijk het contrast illustreert tussen de huidige, vaak nog 19e eeuwse leeromgevingen en onderwijsmethoden en de toekomstige generatie studenten (de netgeneratie). Met name de verschillen tussen het gebruik van boeken en het Internet komen glashelder in beeld. [...]
[...] Publicado por Teresa Afonso em Novembro 13th, 2007 Este vÃdeo foi realizado no âmbito da cadeira de Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, na Kansas State University, por Michael Wesch. Vale a pena ver e guardar… [...]
I would like to download the high quality version but the links on the YouTube post do not work. Any alternatives?
This is masterful work.
Just now tried again and they are working. Thanks!
[...] The video was written and produced collaboratively by students as part of a class project and shared online using a Creative Commons license both on the class blog and YouTube. The video has been making its way around the web amassing over 800,000 YouTube views and 5,000 comments since it was posted just over a month ago. [...]
[...] More excellent work from Michael Wesch, Asst Professor of Cultural Anthroplogy at Kansas State University. Created in collaboration with the 200 students enrolled in Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at KSU, “it began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn for their future, and how our current educational system fits in.” [...]
Well they FAILED to make a THREE-minute video, or was that requirement changed along the way? I wonder how the intensity of the responses changes relative to the respondants’ ages? This video hits home on many levels and has the qualities of a nice work of art. Because of its ability to evoke an emotional response from so many different people, yes it is ART!
So what can we do to help?
Excellent Job!
[...] I wanted to share with the students many of the ideas that have come out of this class, but also putting it into a context, both of the history of education, universities developing as institutions, and the role they currently play, and the problems/challenges they are facing in both the developed world (Canada) and the developing world. We started by discussing the history of a university, and its “essence” - what is a university, and what is its purpose. How is it organized? I was trying to make them realize that the current way of organizing higher education is not by far the only possible way. I also showed them Michael Wesch’s video A Vision of Students Today (and I quite enjoyed the “inverted list” that Antonio Fini linked to, might have to show that to my students). [...]
Thanks for ur engagement. I´m a pupil in Germany, Regensburg. It is so important, that somebody says the truths. Thank You!
I´m speechless.
When U need corporate or sth. else. send me an Email, I be right there to do sth.
So I organize the Schoolnews so I will write sth. about ur Job and our future.
Thanks, stay straight.
Greetings from Germany
Ben
[...] I recently caught up with discussions surrounding Gary Stager’s critique of Michael Wesch’s video, “A Vision of Students Today.” Gary posted his thoughts to his blogger site in the post “Are We Impressed Because College Students Can Use Google Docs?” and to the DA Pulse blog in the post “Hey Mom! Look What I Made in College!” Of all the replies to these entries as well as related posts, I found the following paragraph in Michael’s response “Clarifications on ‘A Vision’” to be most thought provoking: But while teaching has not changed, learning has. Students are learning to read, navigate, and create within a digital information environment that we scarcely address in the classroom. The great myth is that these “digital natives” know more about this new information environment than we do. But here’s the reality: they may be experts in entertaining themselves online, but they know almost nothing about educating themselves online. They may be learning about this digital information environment despite us, but they are not reaching the levels of understanding that are necessary as this digital information environment becomes increasingly pervasive in all of our lives. All of the classic skills we learned in relation to a print-based information universe are important, and must now be augmented by a critical understanding of the workings of digital information. [...]
But what about the students’ responsibility for their own education? What about time management? That improvements are needed in the education system doesn’t validate their neglect of their studies to spend so many hours attending to personal matters on the internet.
Also, what about students who can’t afford high tech computers and do not have the time to stay and work on the school’s computers? What about the physical damage that’s done by spending too much time on computers? What about those students who can’t manage more than the basics on the computer? Why should they be required to adjust to technology requirements?
Are the students in the video going to spend less time doing personal stuff on the internet because the technology is improved?
What did students do before computers?
I worked full time, read all the books assigned, and completed assignments. Sure, I think improvements are needed, but I’m not going to blame that on my neglect of my studies.
Addendum:
Perhaps the students who made this video needed to pay more attention when they learned how to write an effective argument paper, for their arguments are full of holes. I love S.N.’s response to the points.
I think the real problem is the system and the students who waste the actual learner’s time. I am one of those who attempts to complete all my required work, and is intrested in actually questioning history. Most students act as if history is just a time when their country “Owned everyone else, but had stupid stuff”. they see the future as “Im gonna conform my way through life. Its Not really that improtant until its now.”
And of course they see the present as “Everything is taken care of for me. I am free to tell that attentive person what I think their sexual orientation is.” Pus the system wants a generation of stupid, partially educted, conformist, god-fearing, patriotic, slack-jawed Cro-magnons to either send off to the middle east, or to make into another wonderful generation of citizens.
I’m a student of teachers training college in Poland. The biggest class in this school consists of about 20 students. Every teacher knows my name and probably names of my classmates as well. We all use pens and notebooks, in each classroom there is a blackboard. I have to buy 2 or three coursebooks each year and write about 6 longer written works ( not including my diplomma project ). At home I have a 2-year-old child and still I am able to deal with everything. It is not easy but nobody said that it would be easy. Of course there are problems in every educational system and probably we cannot do anything about them. Still, I am sure that it is possible to cope with student’s duties. In my country this level of education is for people who CAN cope. But your video is really good and I loved it!
“This video was created by myself and the 200 students…”
DUDE CAN’T EVEN WRITE A PROPER ENGLISH SENTENCE, but he wants to criticize MY methods?
Kevin, sorry about my “bad” grammar. I noticed my mistake long ago but decided not to change it. I don’t really buy into “proper” grammar. I go by a simple rule of intersubjectivity. If I know that you know that I know that you know what I mean, that’s good enough for me. Unfortunately, your comment is a non-starter in terms of creating any real dialogue.
“I go by a simple rule of intersubjectivity.”
Yes indeed, you are “simple” if you follow that rule.
Proper grammar is for people who wish to be taken more seriously than those who are too lazy or ignorant to communicate correctly. Qualify and rationalize all you want, but if you are a college student and proper grammar is something you choose not to “buy into” then your childish narcissism is staggering. Wow, I’m above proper language skills. How nice for you.
With regard to the video, it is relatively unremarkable. Wow, college students have to multi-task? Really? Gosh, I never knew that!
In the real world outside the confines of the infantile university campus, multi-tasking is a way of life, so maybe college is a good place to start getting acquainted with the concept.
I guess what I am trying to say is that we should be discussing the real issues here, rather than diverting attention to whether or not I have written one sentence incorrectly. It is a specious argument to say that because I have written one sentence with incorrect grammar that the entire argument should be thrown out. (As a college professor, it is not childish narcissism that leads me to have a distaste for “proper” grammar, it is an awareness of the power relationships that make one set of grammatical rules more “proper” than another, structurally valid set. That said, I do recognize the ability to use “proper” grammar as an important skill to be taken seriously in certain contexts, and admit that I have slipped up in the noted sentence.) My perspective on this was first inspired by the Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Pierce, a fun little read if you are interested in language, grammar, etc.: http://dd.pangyre.org/l/lexicographer.html
I hope the video says more than “students are multi-taskers.” We made that statement to counter the common misunderstanding that today’s students have short attention spans. For those who know the literature, this is a reference to John Seely Brown’s work.
More than that, I wanted to draw attention to the simple truth that students learn what they do. If they are sitting silently in neat rows, facing an authority figure in the front of the room, they are learning to sit silently in neat rows and accept knowledge from an authority (See the middle sections of Foucault’s Discipline and Punish for some other interesting examples along these lines). Perhaps you think this is a useful skill. There are certainly valid arguments in favor of such a skill, but I don’t think this goes very far toward creating bright, creative, vibrant, participatory global citizens which is what I hope to achieve.
It may be sorpresive for you, that a person from another country (Colombia), specially with the social and economic trouble we’ve to face everyday is doing this comment.
From my standpoint, as a subdirector of a public educational entity, we have to teach more than 25,000 persons every year (most of them are teenagers, almost 90%)…I agree with the grafitti on chair: ’students learn what they do’ , we’ve been using and practicing this rule…but (here comes the but)…they keep plugged to ipods, cell phones, internet, they will write 49 pages on assignments (if lucky) and more than 500 pages on e-mail…so how to use all this ’stuff’ in favor of education programs??
The answer my friends is blowing in the wind….internet2 ?? perhaps, new media for colaborative academical work ?? may be….but one thing is remarkable…students whom made the video edited in Google a doccument that finally became the central argument for the video….that of course was fascinating.
So that means collaborative media at internet produce astonishing results….one more result…I am writing to you, and the video was viewed by many people here.
Any way thank you very much for having this space to comment.
Jorge Betancourt
Subdirector
Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje - SENA
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
I must give a response to your statement that “students learn what they do. If they are sitting silently in neat rows, facing an authority figure in the front of the room, they are learning to sit silently in neat rows and accept knowledge from an authority…”
I paid a good deal of money to BE in graduate school. I resented the hell out of any disturbances in my classrooms (perhaps because at 38 I had a CLUE to the importance of the information those professors had to impart.) Yes, we were expected to sit still and listen - and paid for the privilege of hearing from those more learned than we…that IS, after all, the essence of education. Learning all we can, and using our own intelligence to sort through all of it and use what we need. You must learn what there is to know, and how to find it (you certainly cannot remember everything - like the formula for a chemistry experiment, or the equation for the volume of a sphere…but with education you learn that there IS one, and how to look it up!!)
I have since been teaching (middle school AND college) and run a quarter-million dollar a year business ON THE SIDE!
But as you should know, the correctness of your grammar IS important - you are judged by what people see/hear/or read. If you “sound” uneducated on paper, then people will put little stock in what you have to say.
Yes, Jo, I already conceded that proper grammar is important for certain purposes.
I think your more important point is that perhaps there is a place for the traditional lecture at the university level. I agree. But as a dedicated educator, I will continue to seek alternatives based on the tools and technologies now becoming available. A rich mix of educational environments is best, and traditional lectures will always have a role to play.
Greetings people (or ppl how it is normal for me to say due to fact that I am internet child - generation),
First of all I would like to thank You for making this video cos’ it just might touch The people who can make real steps to difference.
What you are about to read are my personal opinions where I just want to express my statement towards my middle.
I am writing this from Croatia, where we have similar if not the same problems. I think education has no meaning on faculty(thats how we call, dunno how you say it). It is not normal that I can work 8-hour job and still manage to pass exams. I will end this part of my life and I will go only on classes that I am obligated to hear.
I will get more knowledge from internet than from my professors. I will read only minimum of overall books designated to me. Generally I will help my professor do his job and get his payment by being his student.
About 2% of knowledge from faculty will be useful in my life. There is not one professor that knows my name although 15 of them have signed their name in my index to confirm that I have passed their exam. There is not 1 professor that cares if I will get any of his knowledge. There is no professor that will explore possible potential from 300 students in my group. There is no tasks that will make our brain work, only tasks that will make us practice something that is new to us.
Actually I could go on for good but it seems kinda pointless.
I think that system should not care about the quantity of students but about quality of the same.
Internet or technology couldn’t help AT ALL!!
Internet is the problem and technology supports it. The main problem is that Myspace Facebook Xanga Bebo Hi5 etc.. Is hooking students kids teens even adults to the the internet. Students in Highschool or even College will are already hooked on those sites. Internet and Technology are ruining our world its the main reason of obesity, and lack of education. Students may want to branch out but how can they if they had or have a bad education from never paying a bit of attention because of the internet? It all falls hand in hand.
I thought the video was amazing in every aspect. I have watched the video numerous times for both my journalism class and for English and every time, I am still surprised. I agree that technology is an amazing thing, but I also feel that it is not being used in the way it was intended. Technology could save the lives of millions, but instead, we wait for someone to leave a new myspace or facebook comment and don’t use what we have for anything useful.
And let’s not get caught up on something so little as to whether one sentence in the video is a decent sentence. I highly doubt that the number of you criticizing have gone your entire life without making one grammatical error, but are we pointing fingers at you? How about we just focus on the video clip.
I saw this video the first time at a seminar on student learning, I found it to be very interesting and informative. I teach at a technical college and fortunately for myself and from what I have read, my students, I have small enough class sizes so I can know all of their names. As a teacher, I try and make it interesting for my students so that they learn something that is worthwhile and can be used in the real world.
I think you did a wonderful job showing what can be used in the future to enrich the learning experience. I still use a chalkboard and a white board but I also realize that the students of today have always had technology in their lives and by using that same technology I can enhance their learning and perhaps broaden their perspectives on the world around them.
Thanks again, I look forward to your next project, and if nothing else, it has certainly opened up some dialogue on the subject.
[...] Vai al sito del professore Wesch per saperne di più. [...]
[...] For more on Professor Wesch’s Ethnography class and this project, visit Mediated Cultures. There is a detailed explanation of how the data was collected. [...]
Thanks a lot for that video. A wonderful example of what technology CAN do. Working in the e-learning field, being an educator and a learner at the same time, I feel that technology can be of great benefit as long as it is used in a meaningful way. It shouldn’t be used because everybody else does. A traditional lecture might even be the better option. Mixing different forms of lecturing/teaching/discussing/learning would be even better.
New technology does not save an old problem: bad teaching situations and rotten systems that force lecturers to teach in front of 200 people (and I can imagine that it’s not fun).
[...] post info por Toro cero CategorÃas: educación A vision of students today es un breve video (4′45″) que resume algunos rasgos fundamentales de los estudiantes de hoy: cómo aprenden, qué necesitan aprender, cuáles son sus objetivos, esperanzas y sueÅ„os, cómo serán sus vidas, en qué nuevos entornos les corresponde vivir. [...]
Ya hay una versión subtitulada al español. Detalles:
http://datosyruido.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/perspectiva-estudiantes-wesch/
very interesting….
sometimes I feel like I learned more in high school; I was in class all day, my teachers took attendance and collected homework, smaller class sizes….why shouldn’t college be different?
I’m one of the ones who goes to class and reads the assignments and studies…but not everyone’s that way. Why not?
[...] [...]
[...] The video was produced as a class project for a cultural anthropology class Kansas State University. The original post introducing the video is worth a read, as well as a follow-up post, both written by the professor of the class. [...]
[...] r. hatte in http://www.loveitorchangeit.com schon berichtet: Der Kulturanthropologe und Digital-Ethnograph Michael Wesch hat ein neues Video über Lebenssituationen, Selbstverständnisse und Perspektiven von Studierenden produziert, das ein paar Denkanregungen bzgl. Digital-Natives-Debatten, insbesondere aber auch für das Themenfeld CommunityBuilding im Projekt ePUSH beinhaltet: summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.” [...]
The video/study done by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University is an interesting statement about student learning trends. We at Late Night Writer (www.latenightwriter.com) have been following similar trends in student writing ability over several years. Our free on-line beta released product (soon to go live) assists students with their writing assignments, creating their first draft via a questioning algorithm, extracting their knowledge of their subject (plagiarism is avoided). We have found that after several uses of our product students are able to write their assignments on their own, without the use of our service. We commend Prof. Wesch on his efforts and look forward to seeing more unique studies from him.
[...] Digital Ethnography Ð¢Ð¸Ñ Ñ…Ð¾Ñ€Ð° от Digital Ethnography наиÑтина уÑпÑват да предÑтавÑÑ‚ променÑÑ‰Ð¸Ñ Ñе ÑвÑÑ‚ много добре. Ðовото им видео A Vision of Students Today предÑÑ‚Ð°Ð²Ñ Ð¸Ð·Ð¾Ñтаването на образователната ÑиÑтема (в СÐЩ и не Ñамо) от промÑната на Ñтудентите и общеÑтвото. [...]
[...] Zou ik eigenlijk ook wel eens met mijn studenten willen doen. Meer uitleg is terug te vinden in deze post van de auteur (met dank aan Corneel voor de [...]
[...] is for adaptive change. A survey of 200 university students noted that “When I graduate I will probably have a job that does [...]
[...] Posted on February 4, 2008 by Tiara An extremely thought-provoking video from the Digital Ethnography class at Kansas State University - does the current education system really work with the reality of student life? Or is it stuck in [...]
Wow. What a thought-provoking video - and quite true too.
A lot of people bring up Asia as a country that’s supposedly succeeding due to a superior education system. I’m Asian, I’ve been through the Asian education system - and it is terrible. Absolutely downright in need of a fix.
The issues are the same. Students in most Asian countries are treated like robots. The only priorities are work and grades - not your passions, not your well-being, not your welfare. It doesn’t matter if you’re sick, or you’re poor and can’t afford a (soon to be unused) workbook, or you’re going through family turmoil and can’t show up to class for a bit. School is #1. As are #1. Anything less and you are a deadbeat, a loser, an outcast.
Many students - particularly those in “exam years” - go through anxiety and depression due to stress over the exams. The pressure of having to not just pass, but score straight As, while juggling a whole lot of other responsibilities, costs them their health and sanity. And yet the teachers claim that it is all “in their head” and do nothing about it.
Got a hobby? Interested in something? Forget about it! If it’s not academic it doesn’t matter.
And then they leave school - and then what? Those As they sacrificed their lives for doesn’t make them stand out, doesn’t make them special. They now have to compete against everyone else in all sorts of capabilities - but because they were indoctrinated with “grades are everything”, they don’t know how to adapt or cope.
Then there are some of us, like myself, who tried to survive beyond the constraints of the education system. We didn’t spend all our time “studying”. We went exploring, we read the books we wanted to, we volunteered, we played, we did all sorts of things. We were *learning*. We may not all have been top-scorers (I did fairly well, but I can’t say the same for everyone) we still knew how to learn outside the context of a textbook. And when school is over and the real world comes acalling, it’s us that manage to live - because we can adapt, we can learn.
Someone upthread said that the essence of education is to sit and listen to people more experienced than you. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Education is about learning and living. The problem with many university courses today is that while there is a lot of learning, there isn’t a lot of living. Ye olde academic terminology is tossed around the room without any connection to what is going on in the real world. If you came into an Asian Arts class in my Australian uni, for example, you’d come out with the notion that the only artistic country in the world is Japan (I’m not the only Asian student that has noticed this).
I read Muhammad Yunus (who won a Nobel Peace Prize for Grameen and microfinance)’s book Banker to the Poor, and very early on he said that while he had a lot of top-notch Economics education, none of it adequately prepared him for the poverty that befell Bangladesh. All the elegant Economics theories, he noted, did not reflect the reality around him. To make microfinance work, he had to work against the accepted theories of the time (and still now) - and with that, he’s managed to make a massive difference in the world.
Will today’s university students be able to do that? Will they be empowered and equipped with the tools and knowledge needed to contribute to their society, to adapt to the changing needs of the world (the statement about “probably getting hired in a job that doesn’t exist today” was spot on), to be the best person they can be, to be true to themselves?
There are some schools that do this very well. The KaosPilots (http://kaospilot.dk) provide an equivalent to a degree in Business or Entrepreneurship in their 3-year course, but it’s all hands on. The students learn through real projects with real companies, and during the program they are required to produce their own sustainable and creative entrepreneurial projects. There are other schools in Scandinavia that follow a similar model. The classes are small and close-knit, the assessments and learning tools are directly connected to real life, and students own their work, their learning.
How does an academic thesis help anyone if no one else besides the lecturer and the student reads it? Why not get the student to work directly with the community, to put on a project that brings on real results? Which is more important - finding more academics to cite or finding more communities to contribute to?
[...] watched the same video “A Vision of Students Today” that Alec Couros had us watch the first week of classes for EC&I 831. Once again the [...]
[...] we wpisie “A Vision of Students Today” (po [...]
[...] Mais informações. [...]
[...] I was reintroduced to Wesch through another video which was making the rounds on the Internet. “A Vision of Students Today” was video made by Wesch with his introductory anthropology seminar, engaging the participation of [...]
[...] should be pushing back. Students want it fast. We know that they multitask. We know that they read far more blog posts and Facebook pages than they do books. They want little chunks served up [...]
[...] Details [...]
[...] 26, 2008 · No Comments I saw this video today and it made me want to gag. Poor poor Generation Y has to work hard in college, do things they [...]
300 (well, less than 200, wasn’t it?) people isn’t a very big sample size…
[...] video about today’s college student from Prof. Wesch and students at the University of Kansas is worth repeating, and if you’ve [...]
[...] to Cultural Anthropology in the Spring of 2007 has been burning up YouTube and the blogosphere. A Vision of Students Today highlights the issues of how contemporary students learn, what their needs are for learning in the [...]
I’m missing something, is this supposed to be an indictment of higher education or of students? Is is the fault of the colleges that students spend more time socializing (reading facebook profiles, web pages, talking on cells, texting, etc.) than they do learning anything? If not, why do students complain that what they’re being taught isn’t relevant? How on earth do they know if it’s relevant, if they’re not reading or even coming to class? Generation X’ers said, “I did not create the problems, but they are my problems,” 20 years ago? The hippies said the same thing 20 years before that.
A lot of what college teaches a student isn’t on any course syllabus. When I entered college, people of my generation were idealists, and when we graduated, we ran smack into a wall of realities. The same thing happens to most students, and that’s part of what college is for. The cognitive dissonance associated with that learning process isn’t pleasant, but colleges would be abdicating part of their responsibilities if students didn’t learn that.
The suggestion that technology can save us is even older — look at any copy of Scientific American from the late 19th through early 20th centuries.
So, what does this video tell us about students today that is different from students before? The unique identifying feature is that students have used technology to find new ways to avoid what they’re obsensibly going into debt to achieve.
[...] are wondering why your teaching methods aren’t having the desired results, this video from Mediated Cultures might is something to think [...]
[...] czy? to nie ciekawe dowiedzie? si?, ?e tylko 18% nauczycieli zna imiona swoich uczniów? I ?e przeci?tny student czyta co prawda [...]
Nice work you guys.
Just saw the video. Thought it was really great. Amazing work, and tremendously interesting. Being a college student myself, all of those numbers in your survey definitely hold true to me.
[...] 26, 2008 por Fabricio Teixeira O vídeo abaixo foi produzido por um grupo de 200 estudantes da Kansas State University e traz uma reflexão sobre como os estudantes de hoje aprendem e se o que eles aprendem é [...]
[...] vision of students today 31 03 2008 O vídeo abaixo foi produzido por um grupo de 200 estudantes da Kansas State University e traz uma reflexão sobre como os estudantes de hoje aprendem e se o que eles aprendem é [...]
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[...] Mais informações (oficiais) sobre o video. [...]
Very interesting video. I am wondering what the goal of your project is exactly? You and your students have certainly raised important questions about the efficiency and relevance of current educational systems, but do you propose any changes and/or are attempting to market these propositions to schools? I’d be interested in hearing more from you, if you have a chance to respond!
Also, I thought I should point out that the video is not shown at the top of this article, I am seeing the following characters: “[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/dGCJ46vyR9o" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]“. The character encoding seems to also be incorrect, as I am seeing characters such as “’” instead of accents or the desired character in the body of the article above.
Thanks for the thought-provoking video!
Jonathan
[...] visão dos estudantes - tecnologia e aprendizagem Estudantes da Kansas State University fizeram um vídeo sobre aprendizagem e tecnologia. Há dados interessantes sobre a relação entre [...]
…I wish I would end up -only- 20K in debt:-(.
[...] of students today Via the Charles Sturt University Library blog comes a video produced by the Digitial Ethnography group at Kansas State University. As they describe it, the video began as a brainstorming exercise, [...]
i’m a south african but i rely like what you guys are doing so keep it up.
I love the intent of this video, but I believe you should branch this study out to different universities in the nation.
I attend a state university with approx. 6200 students. I am a graduate student in accounting, but also obtained my bachelor’s at the same university. I will be $20,000 in debt when I graduate with my master’s degree [that is for both degrees]. My average class size is 12-14. 100% of my teachers know my name and I make no effort to go visit them outside of the classroom. I have yet to actually sit down and read a chapter in a textbook for the sake of learning the material. I believe these are reference materials and that is what I use them for: to reference something that I didn’t grasp in class. Some of you might think I am slacking and not really caring, but I graduate Magna Cum Laude and currently have a 4.0 in my graduate studies.
I work 4 hours a day. Go to school for 5 hours a day. Study for approx. 2 hours a day. Watch TV for approx. 1.5 hours and surf the web for about 3 hours. I only listen to the radio while getting dressed or driving, which is about 1.5 hours a day because I commute to campus. I only sleep for about 6 hours. I have been doing this for the past 4 years and have yet to experience any burnout.
Just watching the opening sequence of this video amazed me. I have only seen 1 auditorium classroom on my campus, and this was only used to administer departmental finals.
Like I said, I really love this study and wish someone could administer it at my school. I think the statistics would be drastically different.
[...] More information: http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?…; [...]
[...] y Web 2.0” con Carlos Correa director de UPSI quien incluyo un video con el tema: la Visión de los estudiantes de hoy, desarrollada por un profesor de la Universidad de Kansas y sus estudiantes, que les comparto en [...]
hello, i am a Australian uni student and i find that having a laptop of your own increases our chance to NOT do work by 15%.
you don’t need a laptop maybe a book is more appropriate?
maybe u will just will it with graffiti but at least your teacher knows what your doing
all teachers know my name
i do 2 hours of study each day
2 hours on the web
1 hour working out
7 hours working
i get 7 hours of sleep
[...] Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University. Part of the Digital Ethnography [...]
I found myself in partial/mostly agreement with poster S.N. – at first blush many of the points made in the video are compelling, but many of the statements made are immediately dubious (the entire construction of the 26.5 hours arc is flawed because it’s based on averages not a single person, for example) or fall apart with some thought (e.g. the jobs that don’t exist yet, or the “problem” of being $20k in debt after college*).
But what really perplexes me about using this type of new media discourse as critique is the way in which the bedrock notions of academic discipline that make critique possible (carefully elucidated argument, clear data, etc.) are casually thrown aside for an MTV-influenced slickness, which not only doesn’t add anything, but actually gets in the way of the message.
For example–while it’s great that Try^d is thrown a music credit, it is not particularly meaningful to me to know who did the soundtrack for a presentation when I have no way of corroborating or evaluating the data that’s being presented. Is the document that is shown in the video available for review by interested parties? Is the survey instrument available? I accept that the statistics being presented result from a survey of some sort (although I am also sure that many of them are flawed for various reasons). however, it is difficult to meaningfully evaluate and respond to many of the assertions, because their source and full context is unclear.
But worse, the film doesn’t really constitute a meaningful critique of the current norm of university-level education, nor does it provide even a glimmer of a suggestion for how it can be changed for the better.
For example, it’s clear that the Blackboard is not perfect, even if it seemed so to Josiah Bumstead in 1874. And the punch card derided earlier in the video is equally imperfect now that we have the benefit of current technology. However, although many schools still employ these things because they haven’t yet fully modernized, I’m not aware of any schools who have a stated policy that punch cards and blackboards are good enough for education today.
I understand that many people would rather watch TV or read Facebook profiles than engage in serious research or study dry subjects, but that does not necessarily imply that education would be changed for the better if it was “more like” the things people would rather do.
To be frank, Education would be be most improved if it was something that more teachers and students cared about. Unfortunately, for too many academics teaching is the “downside” of the academic life – part of the price paid for a life devoted to research and study. On the other side of the lectern, college is often merely the last hurdle before growing up, and sadly seen by many students as a commodity and chore, rather than the crucial last bits of basic education (obviously, I’m not talking about graduate and doctoral studies).
This is not to say that the education system, prevailing pedagogy practices and the way Universities are organized are not worthy of serious critique and possible overhaul (anything important should be constantly challenged and re-evaluated, after all) - but I am skeptical of the type of critique this specific video embodies because it substitutes mastery of empty advertising style for clear, reasoned argument and a coherent thesis of how change for the better can be brought about.
—-
I understand you’ll be keynoting Blackboard World this summer. My critique of this video aside, I’ve enjoyed some of your other videos (The Machine is Us/ing Us was quite provocative).
I look forward to hearing your keynote address, and hopefully you’ll be around to chat afterward and not hopping into your limo right after saying “thank you for listening” like some keynote presenters I could mention.
[...] Digital Ethnography - Kansas University [...]
Well, my answer to the misery was that I took 2 years of my undergraduate studies not in class.
I tried to get things worked out for me. How to use my own memory system, how to use different information representation-systems (graphs, maps, equations, paintings, symbols, etc) to memorize not only concepts but also solution-algorithms.
I try to be good enough for each class that I can make up the entire concept of the problem and the solution I face during exam. This requires me however to have a pretty decent picture of what the words mean in the exam questions. But i kind of brute-force myself into the solution. It works. but it is (in contrary to your video)
1200 books a year ; prolly 200.000 profiles a year ; 1.200.000 googles a year ; etc.
And it basically means: no social life , no competition, no one truly understanding what you are talking about..
Ergo: education system sucks (I digest an average script in .. 5 hours), not even teachers are at the height of what they talk about (I am at one of the best economic dpts of the world) ; students seem to mostly not care at all ; and mostly everything makes no sense…
What a representation system is and how a chess board is used to appeal to intuitive thinking seems to be unknown to teachers. In my classes I paint a lot of pictures and give explanation how to connect the concept of the picture with the vast amound of textual knowledge student have to read. So it makes a lot more sense than writing your script on the board.
However: it still should work differen.t Universities and lecture halls only make sense, still, if people are all working hard and use the time in class to talk and discuss. Learnign has to be done at home, on the plane or somewhere in the world where oyu are just at.
I didnt mean chessboard. meant chalk board. and yeah, Kansas Rules !
[...] A vision of students today es un vídeo preparado en la primavera de 2007 por los estudiantes de la asignatura Introduction to Cultural Anthropology de la Kansas State University [K-State], dirigidos por el profesor Michael Wesch. Englobado dentro de un proyecto denominado Digital Ethnography el vídeo pretende hacer un relación sumaria de las más importantes características de los estudiantes de hoy: cómo aprenden, qué necesitan aprender, cuáles son sus objetivos, esperanzas y sueños, cómo serán sus vidas y qué tipo de cambios experimentarán a lo largo de ellas. [...]
Thanks !
Wow, thanks. This video just about sums up my entire undergraduate experience in less than 5 minutes.
Shawn Rose uses this in Arts and Sciences Freshman Orientation at Oklahoma State University. This is a great contribution!
Our chancellor showed this clip at our 2008 faculty/staff convocation. I’m a faculty member at a very large community college system (50,000+ at 5 colleges). The video was a great project but I’m left with one question. Were there no students of color in the ANTH class?
I have hired and tried to train gen Y and found them unwilling to learn on their own, unable to critique their own work, and unwilling to just think.
Your video shows a subset of a subset of a subset of gen Y, so it may be unrepresentative of this generation. But my observations in the workplace, where people count on others to learn, think, apply and be rewarded showed me that this generation is different. They are distracted, will point the finger at the drop of a hat, and don’t have a clue about working with others. They think others must conform to their way of thinking and don’t want to give others the credit they deserve. Yes, it really is all about them.
There really is a world out there, kids… full of achievers who don’t worry about your world or how you get from a to z. They want results. The way you achieve results is to make the best use of the resources you have at hand. If that is an auditorium classroom and a chalkboard, then that is the framework you are stuck with. If you have the money and time to change it, go for it. You will find however, that when you get a job, you will be banging your head and making excuses more than getting work done, and that will be noticed.
Take my advice and get used to working with the human resouces program where you work, because you will be using harrassment, sexism, racism, and any other charge at your disposal to mask your inability to produce results. The easiest path for you will be to put your supervisors up on charges.
Only 26% of assigned readings are relevant to a student’s life? (life so far, life today or whole life?)
I haven’t seen the video yet but would be interested to know if students were asked:
Of the (8) books you read this year, how may do you find relevant to your life?
Of the (21.15) web pages you read a day, how may do you find relevant to your life?
Of the (12.2) Facebook profiles you read each day, how may do you find relevant to your life?
Educational Reform: Video Blog
The video, “A Vision of Students today” by Michael Wesch, illustrates the issue of the internet’s influence on education. Wesch uses many resources to argue that it is time for our educational system to be reformed to include more modern devices, such as the internet. He argues that the chalkboard is not as effective as it once was. To make the point that education needs to be modernized, Wesch uses emotional appeal and statistics, which also helps him to earn credibility for his video.
Wesch tugs at the viewer’s heart when he showed writing on a desk that said, “If students learn what they do, what are they learning sitting here.” Another way that Wesch uses emotional appeal is when he shows a computer screen typing, “What is it like being a student today?” After this, he shows a classroom full of students, and many of them hold up different statistics.
Statistics is another method that Wesch uses to argue his point. At one time in the video, the music gets faster and students hold up signs that map out a whole college student’s day. It starts with how many hours of sleep the student gets and ends with the total hours a college student spends in a day. The total is 26.5 hours, which is a very surprising fact to the viewer. Wesch also uses statistics such as, “I will read eight books this year, 2300 web pages, and 1281 facebook profiles.” These facts help his argument, that education needs to be modernized, by showing that students are focused on the internet more than they are focused on school work. Some more examples of signs that students hold up are, “I facebook through most of my classes” and “I bring my laptop to class, but I am not working on class stuff.” These statistics are scary, but true. They do a great job of helping Wesch with his argument that education needs to be modernized.
The emotional appeal and statistics that Wesch uses help to create credibility for his video. Wesch seems credible to the viewer because he uses students sitting in a classroom holding up signs about themselves. He uses truthful statistics, and, on his website he shows how he obtained those statistics. This video was fun to watch, and Wesch does a great job of arguing that education needs to be modernized. He uses emotional appeal and statistics, which makes him credible for his argument. The overall video does an effectual job of convincing the viewer that education needs a reform.
What did I do this past weekend? Mountain Dew, a soft drink company, sponsored a ski/ snowboard race called the Vertical Challenge, and I entered the race at Sugarloaf Mountain. Now, I am not a racer, I really like to just cruise downhill on my skis on the mountain in control. But, I had a chance to enter the race, a short gate course, with a laser gun to mark my time. In order to get the true picture you have to imagine me, a 55 year old teacher in line with mostly boys and men (there were 3 other women and…
“A Vision of Students Today” by Michael Wasch and his spring 2007 ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class at Kansas State University is a video showing the results of a survey given to the class, in statistical form.
Most of the statistics given include statements such as, “I bring my laptop to class, but I am not doing class work.” I do believe that this is an honest answer; however, it brings to question the honesty of the student. Why pretend to be doing work, when you are not. One statement is “My neighbor paid for this class, but does not attend.” I have to say, that the student that does not attend is being more honest than the one that Facebooks throughout the class.
This brings up the character of the students. To have a fact and reason based analysis of the video, a direct observation of the character of the students in needed. What message do these students really want to get across, their debt, their need for irrelevant classes to achieve their much-needed education to acquire employment in the future? The student’s obvious lack of interest in those classes; apparent in their Facebook activity during lecture time. They seem to be proud of their multi-tasking ability, and that is a much-needed talent in the world today, but they seem to have achieved this skill by neglecting to give proper attention to the ‘task at hand’. Work ethics, moral standing, personal responsibility, and aptitude all have been, and remain qualities that are needed to achieve and maintain employment in yesterday, today, and tomorrow’s world.
The argument that seems to be presented in the video is that technology has become a necessary part of life, and that it has made life; education in particular; impersonal. As the statistics provided by these students shows, this is very true. I am sure empathy for the students is a response that this video hopes to achieve. I think they have done a good job at evoking empathy. The forlorn music, the blank expressions on the student’s faces, and the introduction itself, “If a student learns what they do, what are they learning here?” All parents, educators, and community members should be concerned about the ‘future of our nation, and the world’. I would argue that by becoming impersonal in education, we are only solidifying an impersonal society for the future. However, personal responsibility remains the task of the student. It is their decision what they will take from their experiences.
Mr. Wesch and his students do a wonderful job at presenting the problems that students face in today’s educational environment. They evoke questions in the viewer such as, who is paying for the education that these students are taking for granted. Who is paying these professors to be so boring that they cannot keep up with the times, and engage a few students? Why have these young people not learned to be self-motivators, or how to take responsibility for their plight in life? Who is going to tell these future leaders that “multi-tasking” during a lecture does not look good on a resume?
Emily Cahoon (Vicki Moulson’s Class)
A Vision of Students Today: Video Blog
The blog that Professor Wesch and his 200 students did at Kansas State University was great. This video is about some of the most important characteristics of student life today; how they learn, what they learn, what they need to learn, how school and education will affect their live. Most importantly, it lets us see that the internet and technology play an important role in today’s education.
As a viewer, you are able to see how so many students use the internet to function on a daily basis, and how important it is to their lives. One girl holds up a hand written sign that says just how many hours of sleep students get and then goes on to show how much time they spend multi-tasking. Amazingly, the total is 26.5. The tack that Wesch uses to get people to relate to the students, to see just how fast paced, and hectic their lives are or just how lazy and naive they are, is great! He uses the student s themselves to tell the story, and though you may not have a bleeding heart for the entire student class, a person can relate. One sign says, “When I graduate I will be 20,000 dollars in debt.” Another sign says, “My neighbor paid the same thing I did, but never shows up.” In addition, even some of the people say, “Even though I bring my laptop to class I don’t take notes or even pay attention, I facebook.” Wesch and his student s even pull at the heartstrings when one kids says, “My laptop cost more than some people make a year.” Another quote is “one million people make less than a dollar a day.” These tactics of applying pathos and logos by using people is the ultimate way to sell what Wesch is saying and even makes it easier to understand. Though you could derive many thoughts and ideas about what he is saying, this is what I think.
“ A Vision of Students Today,” is about how the internet and technology are affecting education today, it makes a person think well if the internet is used so much why does the educational system continue to use chalkboards, paper and pencil, and ancient methods to complete assignments? In one part of the video, you see a student hold up a sign that says, “I will read eight books this year, 2300 web pages, and 1281 facebook profiles,” this statistic is a prime example of how out of touch modern education is. This right here lets people see that college students; our future voters of America, potential CEO’s, and diplomats of America, are caught up on the internet and new technology, and for good reason. The internet and technology are a global epidemic that everyone seems to get except schools. At the end of the video, a quote says, “Some say that technology can save us;” looks as if the student bodies all around the world have figured that out. But through it all technology informs, strengthens, and allows for the expansion of the human communication system
Katy Wilson (Ms. Moulson)
A Vision Of Students Today
English 112 September 16, 2008
A vision of students today by Michael Wesch explains how important technology and the internet are for today’s people and how it effects today’s classrooms. Wesch is arguing that technology needs to improve in the classroom because the blackboard is out of date. In most of the video he argues his point through statistics. Numerous of students held up signs telling the amount of hours in a day they spend doing things such as, studying, working, talking on the phone, writing papers, and reading assignments. The hours totaled up to be 26.5 hours. One student held up a sign saying she was a multitasked because she had to be. The statistics show that students look up almost as many face book profiles as they do webpage’s, once again supporting Wesch’s theory that education needs to been brought up to date with technology. Wesch puts emotional appeal into his argument when one of the students holds up a sign saying she will be $20,000 in debt when she finishes school. Another student tells that his computer cost more than some people make in a year and that the students are the lucky ones because they are actually given that chance to continue their education and have the career they want. Wesch point he is trying to make is that if education was modernized than the students would be paying more attention in class rather than playing on face book. Wesch uses truthful statistics and real students in a real classroom to present his argument. The video is both truthful and convincing to the audience that education needs to be updated.
Something the Student can relate to:
When a college student reviews Michael Wesch’s video “A Vision of Students Today”, he or she could probably relate to this video pretty well. This video took place in a classroom at Kansas State University with 200 students in their seats. Every student is sitting down as if class is in session with note pads and laptops on their desk. As the camera rotates over to each student, they turn their paper or laptop up to show you something they wrote. There are many hours, or how much money, and/or plenty of writings a day on make shift paperboards or screens explaining a student’s day or agenda. Most of which, students today can relate to either in the sad truth or in a humorous reality.The educated today in colleges and universities spend a lot of time and money to get their worth of knowledge. Most people can agree on this. Thus, this statement, in Wesch’s video, is proven. A question some may ask is if this expensive form of education is truly worthwhile. Students do end up in debt taking course that could be completely irrelevant to their degree or career. Does it make sense for an Art History major to take Statistics? Granted these students seem to act comfortably as they do this every day. Like they’re proud to do this monotonously so that they can make a living in the world today.Welch’s makes sure that the camera is dead centered on the student and that of what they have written. This helps draw the eye to that sentence and help someone watching this read it. Although, Welch could have lighten the room up a little more, but it’s understood that he was probably going for more of a real and natural feeling of a classroom. What took the spot light is that fact of a classroom. Automatically, a student or even a graduate can relate to the situation or familiar scenery. Overall, Welch pulls the attention of many students and their relationship in tuition, time, and education provided in the current form of a college or university.
Kelleta Govan
Eng 112
Moulson
15 Sept. 2008
Response: A Vision of Student Today
“A Vision of Student Today” was created by Michael Wesch and 200 students at ANTH: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, Spring 2007. The visual image plays an important role on how viewers learn about college culture. It has a tremendous effect on the viewers. The video show the lives and culture of today’s college students.
The video uses ethos, pathos, and logos. It shows how technology interfaces in their culture. How much time is spent on computers, cost of education, and learning strategies. The author use music, students, and words to put college culture in perspective of the viewers. Today ever thing is changing so rapidly. It makes me think of how college students deal and manage the stress of their culture.
The words of the students and their faces set a tone of how college students adjust their lives to this fast pace culture. My eye is drawn to the words that each student has written. I also notice their facial expressions because it tells something about that student. The setting is a basic lecture hall. The lecture hall gives you the feeling of unfriendliness and you are just a needle in the haystack. The music is sort of fast this shows how fast things are changing around us.
I would be encouraged to research static’s about the culture of college students. This visual argument does a great job informing the viewers about issues and concerns among college’s students. When real people express and share their issues and concerns, people stop and listen to what they are saying. The effective of this video is excellent. It shows had today’s college culture is adapting to their environment and the things around them.
The video a “Vision of Students Today” by Michael Wesch is a video that illustrates technology and helps college kids out. In this video there are a lot of good facts about college students and what they go through. The creator of this video try’s to show people how much college helps and hurts kids in the world today. Money is a huge part of college for most kids. Most of the students in America have to take out student loans to be able to afford the costs of college. Having to pay the loans back after they graduate college already puts them behind the eight ball in having them in debt. Watching this video made me glad to be at a community college.
Wow! Who has time to be a student?
It’s interesting how one professor has embraced technology and asks her students to post their assignments here. Most of these analyses are very well thought out.
good article
This video is a great idea. Shows how education can be fun as well as hard work!
There are so many things competing for today’s student’s attention and it’s a big challenge for professional educators.
As a student and an educator I have seen both sides of the issue. I believe lack of inspiration is the biggest obstacle to learning. While a great teacher is a huge help, I believe students should be encouraged to get a job before going to college. This would get kids to think about what they want to do before going to college and would get those who don’t need to be there in the first place to save their money.
A great project well executed!
This is a great idea and the final production is excellent and thought-provoking. I’ve forwarded it to several teaching colleagues.
I did not believe, that it can be real..
S. N., will you marry me?
It’s so interseting for us! Thanx!
Amazing news, thank you!
Hw can I find more information about this topic, xcept mediatedcujtlures.net?
I have watched this video at least six times over several months and I am still amazed by it.
Education is such a profound and complicated issue, yet this video has distilled some powerful truths about modern education. Well done!
From a marketing viewpoint, this video is excellent!
Well, as a student I think they need to get their acts together and read their texts/ do their work. It is not hard, and facebook is silly….
[...] trata de una obra creada por Michael Wesch, con la colaboración de 200 estudiantes de Antropología Cultural de la Kansas State …. La idea surgió de una tormenta de ideas en torno a cómo aprenden los estudiantes hoy en día, [...]
Nice blog!!
Shelly smith
Accounting Firm Toronto
I am serving in an interim Executive Director role for the state affiliate of an education organization and am always looking for information to share with educators in the state that will cause them to make a change. Your video will appear in our next eNews, March 25. It is a powerful statement for change. Thank you!
I’d love to see this concept applied to other ares of life.
I think those of us in ‘normal’ jobs would find a project like this on our lives a huge wake up call.
Thanks for this great thought-provoker.
The world in which we live is constantly evolving. We are demanding more and more from our citizens than ever before and in order to live up to the demands of the world we need a solid education upon which to base our skills and knowledge.
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Karen Walter
Please mix the anchor text up and choose one below use a different anchor text every blog placement when you have used all 5 start again
education help uk
education information uk
education job
education UK
education jobs careers
education jobs careers
God dag! Kan jag ladda ner en bild fran din blogg. Av sak med hanvisning till din webbplats!
Y Gen …
Technology has obviously advanced with an unprecedented amount of speed and the problem is that humanity cannot keep up. Each child must learn the same information their parents had to learn, but with the advancement of technology students have to learn more information faster.
Technology needs to slow down. The number of people that can actually keep up with it is growing smaller and smaller, what will happen if this trend continues?
For those who may not agree. How many of us can write and understand the codes it takes to make a calculator run its basic functions, never-the-less turn a computer on?
I’d love to see a follow-up to this video that provides some solutions to the questions asked. Great thought provoker, though!
Interesting site, but much advertisments on him. Shall read as subscription, rss.
Public education is such a complicated issue. Some good ideas looked at here however.
I would love to see some more ideas about solutions to this complex issue.
I dont think technology is slowing down anytime soon. Each generation is going to have to help the older one keep up becuse some of it is so mind boggling.
Good, interesting article, but where took information?
Great:-))
It is all about connecting the ones who are familiar with the new stuff - web-2.0- and the older one who have accumulated the wisdom over the years in order to co-create the future.
Technology can open totally new ways of collaboration, working and thinking together (even across boundaries in thought, time and distance).
Coworking will be the foundation of future wealth around the world.
It is slowly emerging around the world - but is it enough?
What would you like to bring into the world and yet lack the resources, contributors, ideas or other?
Cheers,
Ralf
PS.: http://twitter.com/LockSchuppen - a FutureLab2056 with incorporated PeerAcademy and CoworkingSpace
Este video fue mostrado a un conjunto de profesores y gestores de la Universidad de La Rioja como elemento de reflexión ante como gestionar el conocimiento, y ante el cambio de roles de la figura del profesor. Fue acogido con frialdad, por no decir con enfado. No fue sometido a la reflexión, simplemente fue rechazado.
Las resistencias al cambio son infinitas. Hay que seguir manteniendo el corralito pero las cosas están cambiando.
All the best for your future.
Watching this highlighted for me the importance of time management when being a student. This made me realize that I received no formal schooling in time management and that many of my teachers were, themselves, poor time managers. Not surprisingly, my best teachers were good time managers and I picked up techniques by watching them but a proper course in time management as part of schooling would have been invaluable.
I don’t know whether I have a unique interpretation of this video or perhaps I already feel so strongly about changing educational structure.
We live in an age where information is everywhere, where it takes mere seconds to know anything contained in the collective of human knowledge, where, just as quickly, we forget many of the things we learn.
We live in the age of reference.
We can no longer rely on the old structure. There is simply too much material, too many subjects, and frankly, there is just too much to learn in the short years we have to educate ourselves.
We need to innovate a new structure, a new way to educate.
Can we really expect, with all the new fields of work, research, and theory, constantly being created at an exponentially increasing rate, that our children will have any hope of learning what they need to make their way in an ever-changing world?
This video was very inspiring to me. Great job.
The other problem is not only the amount of information we have access to but the amount of wrong information availalbe and lots of people tend to believe it because it is on the net or was on the tv without questioning the legitimacy of the info! Scary stuff.
“I’m a multitasker (I have to be)”
These students that think there are not enough hours in a day in college?All I can say think is, wow will the real world be a harsh awakening. Not enough hours in a day, not enough dollars in a paycheck either.
College was cake compared to working 40 hours a week.
What the hell was the point of mentioning that billions live on less than a dollar a day? How is this relevant?
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I’m a non-traditional college student. Taking classes as my military duties and time allowed. I’ am now a grad school student hoping to go into education. This topic was posted on another site I frequent, and I was curious. Very well done. An interesting snapshot at a college student’s life in 2009.
Using a different set of students, I think you would get a totally different view point and results. It would be interesting to see this same pool’ results in 5 and 10 years.
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If the public schools are messed up and have been for over 20 years why is this video surprising? Those kids HAD to grow up at some point and now, they’re in college.
Interesting video. College students not only learn book smarts, but hopefully can also learn the spectrum of real life priorities.
I am a social worker from Hong Kong, China. My major tasks are personal growth lesson for junior students and teachers’ training.
Your survey and video are very fascinating and inspiring. Most of the education reforms around the world are trying to help students to adopt to the future un-prediatable world. However, it seems we can hardly catch up with what the world to be.
Apart from stating the facts, should there be any suggestions to minimize the negative effects of the problem and maxmize its benefits?
Furthermore, I think this survey should also be done with primary and secondary education, post-graduate, parents, educators to have a bigger picture.
Waiting to see.
this was really interesting. i acutally enoyed it haha
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Absolutely intriguing vision about how the future of communication and personal relationships evolve in response to technology and web 2.0 tools. As an educator, I in awe as to how will these sociological changes will affect education in the next decade.
It was interesting to note that while Wesch’s class had a high return rate on the survey, not all participated. Why? Also, if there were 300 plus discussion posting how many individuals actually contributed? What was the breakdown of actual participants, and number of posts per individual? Some further analysis and follow-up would be interesting.
What was the reasoning behind those who didn’t participate or who had marginal participation? How do you motivate these students? Additionally, how do you assess participation? It’s easier to asses in an online forum than in a face to face as you can review and quantify content and quality. Are there any great ideas out to assist in assessing participation?
Thanks a lot Prof Wesch for such a nice post about This video was created to help students enrolled .Keep blogging .
Thanks a lot Prof Wesch for such a nice post about This video was created to help students .Keep blogging .
Hi, I just saw the video (mentioned in the new book PAYBACK by Frank Schirrmacher) and would like to know the messages the students show after “or deal with” min 3:20. I can only decipher Hunger, War and Ethnic Conflicts.
…..it’s a great video ! Thank you !
rolf
Watching this makes me incredibly grateful that my college days are well behind me.
That being said, the perceived increase in demands on students’ time and energy is probably balanced by the phenomenal array of technology available today to hep them with their studies.
My son has no idea what a slide rule is! And that’s probably a good thing.
Like all great posts this is very thought-provoking. Thanks!
While I was at university (college) I found it challenging in many respects. Although today’s students - as highlighted in this excellent video - have more things laying siege to their time, e.g., internet, text messages, mobile phones, etc., those things are also tools which, if used properly, can save them a phenomenal amount of time and help them be more productive with the time they spend on their studies and assignments.
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That was a really good video and really interesting for the most part.
Your video was dead on! I have two children in College plus myself and all have different learning styles. Starting College in the 80’s we did not have all the digital distractions that the kids today have. Bravo, for creating a factual and eduacational representation of what education is today.
That is amazing 115 students per class. I will write 42 pages this semester. Those stats are different. Now I know why it is so hard to learn. Thanks
Really interesting stats, but rather than feeling disgusted by the universities, I feel disgusted by my generation. All this video proved to me is how lazy and self-centered we are. Granted, having to pay hundreds of dollars for text books that we most likely won’t read is ridiculous, but how sad is it that the reasons we don’t do so well in school is because we’re too addicted to facebook or twitter? What are you going to do once you no longer have school, and can no longer use facebook at work (aauming you can get a job straight out of college, which with today’s ecomony, is not easy to do)? Another thing, is that even though school doesn’t help us do anything about the war or other things going on in our world, how would not going to school help? Don’t lie to yourself. I think many people, if they’re being honest with themselves, would be at home facebooking or looking for minimum wage jobs if not for school, not helping fight for world peace
How did this not win an Oscar?
Fascinating video that raises so many issues. I have sent the link to about a dozen friends.
Wow! All this is known but not understood. It puts things in perspective.
Thanks.
Amazing that after three years and some three million hits on Youtube this message can deliver such powerful meaning and spark such great debate.
In an English class I’m taking, this video (A Vision of Students Today)was shown as part of a writing assignment.
While it’s clear the KSU student messages were about multi-tasking, it’s plain to see societal changes of huge proportions are coming.
While I’m an aging and returning student, I was eased into technologies, unlike many here born in the last 20 years.
It’s great to read some of the feedback, and the thoughts posted here!
interesting video. thanks for providing this to us
Thanks for article. The interesting information
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I do agree with this video…all these problems are still true today!
We students need to rearrange this lakcing educational system!
To all students of the world: Leave the life you want(like im trying to)!!!
Vision of students are good and digital!
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Digital students have a vision!
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Very interesting video. Thanks for doing this project and posting it up. The “factory setting” of education is really a big problem today. I can relate to many of the things written on the student’s notebooks, and actually seeing that it is also another student’s concern made me realize that this is a universal issue for students and education institutions everywhere. The classroom/lecture setting makes students passive and don’t want to learn, and the transaction of information is one-sided and limited. We should seriously rethink about the way we educate and prepare people to go out into the world.
I am an education students getting my teaching cred and I really enjoyed A Vision of Students Today.
Sharing….
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Comment result of team work conducted at UC ESR of MPEL 2010.
Very interesting video.
What matters here are the reflections of students: “What Are They Learning seating here?”. Wesch is a pioneer in promoting an educational paradigm shift. This educator is not intended to be the authority that comes into the room to deliver quality information, but he who needs to know the concerns and thoughts of their students prepare for classes. Therefore considers that the construction of new knowledge must be made with the students, which is the most numerous class.
It is true that students receive much information that does not matter … which have longer days than actually exist and that … the system is getting senile. But which way should follow the teaching? Admittedly, the news is quickly absorbed by the students, college students believed to be the new owners of truth “for what to read / study everything if only 26% will be important for future life?” On the other hand these young people believe (hopefully) be able to bring improvements to the world. But how? We will have to destroy or deconstruct our education system? Web 2.0 has facilitated / promote the establishment of groups to know, no need to continue to be totally self-taught to learn, we just have to find some more with the same interests us and we can create a network and exchanges with her new knowledge.
But this does not invalidate the school does not invalidate that young people still need the school and the society they chose to learn. For most young people will believe they already have knowledge to say that “only a percentage of what the teacher want them to learn it will be important for the future”? It is true that content, school work, the school setting has not made the same way, students are incorporating new subjects and which are inserted in different buildings, and it will be important to state that the different education systems do not include changes occurred and did not show a preparedness to support them, with regard to training and ability of educators.
The general education may need an upgrade, but that young people still need to learn is to think and this will always be a function of the school (or at least should be) and the fact is that students also no longer live in isolation due to networks and therefore the outcomes will be certainly more selective and significant.
Thanks for this great thought-provoker!
Cheers, Lauriza
Within the discipline “Education and the Network Society” of the Masters in “e-Learning Pedagogy” at the Universidade Aberta, Lisbon/Portugal (http://mpel.wordpress.com/english/) this video was object of analyse and our group should publish a comment. So here it is.
The video “A vision of Students Today” was created by Michael Wesch, with the collaboration of 200 students at Kansas State University in 2007. The video aims to summarize some of the features of today’s students by answering questions such as how to learn and what they think is necessary to learn. It also pretends to illustrate how the internet influences or can influence education. Besides of the use of new information and communication technologies, the internet offers and supports other forms of learning. And the video is an example of this, as it was conceived and performed by 200 students in a collaborative way using a wiki.
The transformation that the network society is prompting to education is associated with interactivity and easiness of creating content and providing information, facts that are even potentiated through modern media and Web 2.0 tools.
The Network has broken the boundaries of traditional education, the physical space of schools is no longer the only place where knowledge spreads. The relationships that were restricted to the school environment are now also carried on the network and between teachers and students from other schools.
Knowledge is widely shared and learning more collective. Students begin to learn from each other because the universe of sharing is greater.
The schools need to be aware of trends and new network technologies, to motivate their students. While young people adapt so easily to the innovation, schools are traditionalists and close on pedagogical models drives.
This seems to be one of the messages from the vision of the video “A Vision of Students Today” that young people are discouraged with the traditional education and that we must implement changes to re-engage students for the pleasure of learning. The problem is that the pleasure of learning is, in most cases linked to the usefulness of such learning may have. In the old school it was said, “You have to learn to be someone in life”. But the reality of today is that it is necessary to do more than studying hard and alone. Learning must become collaborative and prepare young people to do even what not be dreamed of.
Best regards from Lisbon
Juliana, Maria e Alberto
Every generation faces unique challenges in their education. There are also some of the common challenges that every generation experiences (time management, information management, prioritising, etc.)
This generation has the significant added dimension of technology in its challenges. As much as technology can make aspects of education easier, it has to be ruthlessly managed to avoid it becoming a master instead of a servant.
Great representation of what alot of us students are challenged with these days as we pursue our educational careers. As much as technology has opened doors, it has also closed many.
I find that the only thing that the post-secondary education system brings students is debt.
Hundred dollar textbooks, along with thousands and thousands of dollars worth of rent, food, tuition, stationary - all for a 8″ x 11″ piece of paper that informs us that we’re intelligent… in regards to a narrow field of study.
The sad thing is, soon, to even be employed and able to pay that back… you’ll NEED one of those pieces of paper. Which means that most employers - and society at large - search for and reward people who excel at remembering and regurgitating facts and figures. You might as well be one of those laptops.