Ok. I just have to give a shout out to Dr. Michael Wesch's awesome
speech he gave at the BYU forum yesterday. His speech was entitled, "The
End of Wonder in the Age of Whatever," and he focused on how technology
(the media!!) affects society and culture today. He made me rethink how I use
technology. If you didn't get a chance to see it, it'll be up on byub.org and
speeches.byu.edu.
Some of my favorite ideas from his speech:
- The trick about the "knowledge machine"--it only works with questions. If you don't have a question, it is only a distraction.
- A question is a QUEST. Questions have a profound capacity to connect us. They promote a meeting of minds, and allow us to embrace vulnerability.
- A classroom is successful if it not only gives you answers to your existing questions, but also creates many more new questions.
- Who we are is reflected back to us by those around us. How we treat others matters! As you lose yourself, you learn more about yourself.
- Technology can create boxes around us if we let it. Those boxes remove us from one another and decrease connection.
- “We cannot selectively numb emotions; when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.” --Brené Brown
- A common attitude towards the amazing capacity of technology: “In the midst of a fabulous array of historically unprecedented and utterly mind‑boggling stimuli, whatever.”
- Today, students in lecture halls experience a level of disengagement. They're learning to follow, they're learning how to successfully take exams, but they're not learning about the subject itself. Questions asked in this environment are based on what is on the exam, instead of questions that burn in the soul.
- Together, WE make the world. Embrace vulnerability. Establish connection. Join the symphony. Celebrate the actual, pursue the positive. Wonder!
- Like love, wonder is not just an experience, it's a CAPACITY.
He received a standing ovation :)
Man, you make me want to actually....hem hem...go to forums and devotionals. And pay better attention in class. Oh how much I still have to learn.
ReplyDeleteI thought this forum was exceptional! I loved everything he said. It made me really think about what we could be accomplishing but don't. He was so inspiring to me to really want to do something with my life and resources. Thanks for posting ideas from his forum.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to go watch it now!!! I had read his topic on one of those massive signs on campus and thought it would be interesting, but i can just never get myself over to the Marriott! Anyway...I really liked the points you listed! I never thought about a question being a quest. It makes total sense! And then the whole thing about classrooms only teaching us how to take tests instead of the subject itself was quite an interesting point. I feel like this all the time, i know the topic but i can't apply it. Great stuff and i can't wait to go watch it online!
ReplyDeleteI didn't get to see the forum, but my question to him and to each of us is, how do we bring back the engagement? I know that it's a breath of fresh air when there is no internet connection in a room, and even more wonderful when there is no cell service. That way there are few things left to do besides open your mind to what your professor is saying (or doodling...but I've never been one for drawing).
ReplyDeleteBut even if the circumstances are right for the student to pay attention, this puts a lot of pressure (but necessarily so) on the professor to have an engaging class. To have the right about of lecture, right amount of questions, and also give the students the desire to go one step further, usually on their own, in the subject matter. In my experience, there are very few, gifted teachers (some naturally, others hard earned) who can do that for a class of students.
So again I ask, How do you become engaging and how to you assist others in engaging?
I loved this forum. After I watched it I felt inspired to be a more engaging person not just in the classroom but in life.
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