A view through the portal

Week 3: Thoughts on a Portal to Media Literacy Video

In the video A Portal to Media Literacy, Dr. Michael Wesch discusses the messages of the typical classroom in the context of a “crisis of significance.” In short, college students are not finding anything of significance in their education, beyond their grades.  Classrooms are designed to get students to “obey authority” and “follow along.”  Wesch finds the messages of classrooms to be concerning, a context in which the expert in the front of the room dumps information in the name of education. His own interactions with students have left him with the opinion that students aren’t engaged in learning or content in such traditional classroom experiences. 

Wesch has analyzed the messages of the classroom and the traditional interaction between “expert” and student, to find that technology offers an opportunity to change the context of learning.  In fact, information doesn’t have to be produced by experts; anyone can be an information producer.  Delicious and diigo allow information to be organized without folders; RSS brings selected content to us.  Wikipedia allows anyone to see the discussion behind the scenes of how specific information is produced.  Technology and media allow us all to be learners and connect to information and content on our own terms and with our own goals for learning.

Wesch has drawn some conclusions that I find especially meaningful. First and foremost, learning relies on the creation of meaningful connections with others, a network of connections, not an expert.  Second, the classroom using technology can be a place to experiment and try new things; it’s new to all of us and constantly changing.  No one is stupid and no one is truly the expert.  Third, as educators we can’t assume that our students are media literate.  We can guide them in learning and using the tools available.

In a counter argument about the benefits of technology, MIT researcher Sherry Terkle published a book in 2011 called “Alone Together: WhyWe Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other” in which she expresses her conclusions from 15 years of research that social media isolate us and allow us to disengage from true social relationships. While not focused on learning, she cautions about social media and its negative consequences on social connections. She summarized her opinions in a New York Times op-ed piece in early 2012. She also did a TED talk called “Connected, but alone?” on the subject.  Her warnings make for an interesting perspective but they are in sharp contract to the videos Dr. Wesch included in his presentation showing students actively engaged with each other and technology in his classroom game. Perhaps Turkle’s beliefs, while reacting too negatively to the use of social media, can be seen as further reinforcement for Wesch’s advice that we cannot assume students’ media literacy. Technology offers tools but they need to be used with respect and thought.