Wesch and Turkle Media and Technology

Michael Wesch and Sherry Turkle Allies or Opponents

Anti-Teaching: Confronting The crisis of Significance by Michael Wesch  focus on the word significance (the quality of being worthy of attention; importance) other synonyms weight, substance, seriousness, magnitude, and noteworthiness to name a few.  A very powerful word in itself.  His dilemma is the lack of significance students are feeling relating to their education.  Students are not valuing their education their not invested in their learning.  Learning has become more irrelevant because of the administrative side.  After surveying many students prior to his project, he question students about their involvement and engagement in learning.  the outcome of his survey was that student never read all the required material after spending hundred dollars on books, others don't even attempt to open the text or attend the class. 

The pressure of today's society on standardized testing and being accepted into Ivy League colleges (movie stars, designers, politicians, and people in predominant positions paying millions to billions of dollars to manipulate the system in order for their children to attend) have made students eager to make the grade and their main focus is administrative questions. For example, How long is the test?, What should we focus on?  How many pages should this paper be?  How can students find learning meaningful and significant when the stakes are this high.  Michael Wesch wants to change this ideology and make learning significant and in order to do so not only the administrative questions need to be replaced with good questions the generate critical thinking and creative thinking but also the environment for learning plays a critical part in making the students engaged in generating good questions that drive critical and creative thinking.  His point is that we need to focus less on reciting, being savvy test taker and more on creating lifelong learners.  In doing so he created a different leaning environment where he was more of a facilitator and having the learning be relevant to the students aware that they are part of the changing the future they are more invested in their learning,  By changing a lecture environment  into more student center, more hands on approach allowing students to generate good question by changing format of teaching and environment utilizing media.

On the other hand, Sherry Turkle  The Flight from Conversation focus on the loss of the quality of conversation has been sacrificed for connection through media.  She discuss how technology has changed who we are and what we do.  These devices have taken over the human quality of knowing one another and understanding each other. In addition the new habits of utilizing technology has made us as she indicated dumb down not only our important conversation but also asking simple questions.  One example, which I can relate and have observed in this 21st century is that you could be out to dinner with friend and family and even though your their to connect with each other and everyone is on their cell phone.  I observe this time and again in various places.  Even at home, if you do not make the time for conversation without the digital devices our children and their children will never learn the value of conversation which is so critical in today's society with all the inequality and injustice going on.  Children are thought at a very early age to learn to role play to learn socialization skills, if that becomes replace with a technological devices how are they ever going to know how to socialize, eye contact, patience, and learn other conversation edicts.

Turkle and Wesch both want learning to be authentic and significant either through conversation or good questioning for critical thinking and creative thinking.  However I believe their views of technology are similar.  In my opinion, I believe they are allies.  Based on the reading, they would prefer technology to be utilize as tool for learning.