My library's Learning 2.0 adventure is "officially" over, but our lovely coordinator is still posting remarkable material for us to consider...and consider I must.
Last week, we were introduced to another amazing video from
Michael Wesch from
Kansas State University...you know...he of
The Machine is Us/ing Us fame. This time, his students helped out and the resulting video, titled
A Vision of Students Today, is...well, it is a lot of things. I really only have two things to say: 1. Wow. and 2. I wish I was in Dr. Wesch's class.
Being struck virtually wordless by this video, I referred back to the suggested discovery questions in order to kick-start my brain for this blog post, but I'm not sure that even those direct, well thought out questions can help me in this case. Maybe this hits too close to home...as a student and as a big sister of a student...it's both frightening and sad...and maybe a bit inspiring.
I cannot say that I learned anything new from watching this video...at least not in the 'traditional' sense of the word. The facts/statistics/ideas presented were shocking, just as they were meant to be, but somehow not necessarily surprising (except for the seven hours of sleep moment...I never got seven hours of sleep as a student...often still don't as a grad student!). I could not have quoted these things, but as each was presented, I thought to myself, "I've done that/felt that/seen that/been in that classroom/heard that story/etc..." So, yes, as a student and as a member of the academic community, this video definitely resonated with me.
To relate directly to a couple of those "signs":
I am a student supervisor. One of my student employees recently left a large state university for my smaller state university. This student started out his post secondary education fresh out of high school at a community college near his home. He enjoyed that, but his educational interests and social interests were leading him away from that particular environment and towards some place "bigger." Soon, he was enrolled at the "big university up the road that shall remain nameless." There, he went from being a generally A and B student to nearly flunking all his classes.
Why was he failing? He was a good student in high school...a good student in his first venture into post secondary education. He wasn't falling prey to the call of the clubs/parties. Plus, he didn't start out failing at the big university...he started with his usual As and Bs, but by the second or third semester he had downgraded significantly. He was depressed. Why was he depressed? Well, because his professors did not know his face, much less his name. In class, not in class...it was all the same to them. From his point of view, lost in a sea of faces, the professors did not understand nor seem to care about his life/plight as a student. They offered no help. If he needed clarification, he was sent to a grad assistant who was helping out with several classes and may or may not have specific knowledge of his particular class section.
On the other side, from the view point of someone looking out at that sea of faces...I have a friend who is an adjunct/part-time instructor at the university where I work. He recently began his doctoral studies at the same large university my student employee recently left. To help in his studies (both intellectually and financially), he served as a grad assistant and helped teach a couple of classes. One of the introductory political science classes he assisted with had approximately 300 students.
Three-zero-zero. He didn't know names...how could he? This was one of three classes he assisted with, and each had a significant amount of students. Furthermore, there was no time for anything other than scantron tests, and the students did not even get their scantrons back. Instead, their grades were posted on Blackboard along with instructions to visit a grad assistant or professor's office with questions. He hated the entire experience and "took a break" after two semesters. I showed him and his wife the video...his wife nearly cried.
We don't know our students, and, yes, that may be a problem; however, it seems that the bigger problem may be with a system that sticks three-hundred students in a huge classroom and then sticks one little professor and one little grad student assistant at the front of that cram-packed, stadium-seating lecture hall.
As to the break-down of the student's 26.5 hour day...is that all? From watching and listening to my sister (currently a college sophomore), I would think that it was much worse.
Anyway...don't listen to me...watch the
video.
