This video by Dr. Michael Wesch on encouraging students to be not just knowledgeable, but knowledge-able, is both an on-point critique of the current state of higher education in the U.S. and a call to expect more from our students. He points to the problems the world is facing and makes an analogy to a “world on fire,” and reasons that in a world on fire everyone needs to do their part to help put out the fire. This leads him to the proposition that we are not currently equipping students with the skills they need to solve the problems of our world.
Wesch’s criticism of the current system of higher education is particularly telling because he is a university professor and his criticisms are based on the experience of his own students. This experience of large, impersonal lecture halls violates everything we know about good education; and I certainly agree with the criticism. However, I believe that this criticism ignores the large number of university classes that are taught in a small section in a seminar style. After the introductory lecture classes, the majority of my classes were small seminars; and I think that is still the experience of many college students. Those classes were exactly the type of education that Wesch argues for: groups of students working with a professor to explore the world and learn the skills they need for solving the world’s problems.
This would be my ideal teaching environment, as well. I would love to be able to teach a small group of students and let the learning be largely led by the students’ own interests and curiosity. This would be extremely powerful in a world in which, as Wesch points out, knowledge is abundantly available for everyone with a digital device. Is this likely to happen in the average high school class in the U.S.? Probably not. The classes at my site have 40 students each, and there are no plans to reduce class size in the future. However, I will endeavor to use a seminar style as much as possible: acknowledging that I don’t have all the answers, encouraging a free exchange of ideas, urging students to use all of the digital tools available to them, and emphasizing their problem-solving ability. In this way, I hope to be able to help my students become knowledge-able instead of just knowledgeable.
Wesch, Michael. [TEDx Talks]. (2010, October 12). TEDxKC-Michael Wesch-From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeaAHv4UTI8
Wesch’s criticism of the current system of higher education is particularly telling because he is a university professor and his criticisms are based on the experience of his own students. This experience of large, impersonal lecture halls violates everything we know about good education; and I certainly agree with the criticism. However, I believe that this criticism ignores the large number of university classes that are taught in a small section in a seminar style. After the introductory lecture classes, the majority of my classes were small seminars; and I think that is still the experience of many college students. Those classes were exactly the type of education that Wesch argues for: groups of students working with a professor to explore the world and learn the skills they need for solving the world’s problems.
This would be my ideal teaching environment, as well. I would love to be able to teach a small group of students and let the learning be largely led by the students’ own interests and curiosity. This would be extremely powerful in a world in which, as Wesch points out, knowledge is abundantly available for everyone with a digital device. Is this likely to happen in the average high school class in the U.S.? Probably not. The classes at my site have 40 students each, and there are no plans to reduce class size in the future. However, I will endeavor to use a seminar style as much as possible: acknowledging that I don’t have all the answers, encouraging a free exchange of ideas, urging students to use all of the digital tools available to them, and emphasizing their problem-solving ability. In this way, I hope to be able to help my students become knowledge-able instead of just knowledgeable.
Wesch, Michael. [TEDx Talks]. (2010, October 12). TEDxKC-Michael Wesch-From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeaAHv4UTI8