A vision of students today

"Today's child is bewildered when he enters the 19th century environment that still characterizes the educational establishment where information is scarce but ordered and structured by fragmented, classified patterns, subjects, and schedules." —Marshall McLuhan, 1967 It these walls could talk… What would they say? If students learn what they do… What are they learning sitting here? The information is up here. Follow along. Follow. Of course, walls and desks cannot talk. But students can. Open Google Document: A Vision of Students Today. What is it like being a student today? Add Collaborators. Collaborators (200). 200 Students made 367 edits to this document, and surveyed themselves, to bring you the following message: My average class size is 115. 18% of my teachers know my name I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me. Only 26% … relative to my life I buy hundred dollar textbooks that I never open. My neighbor paid for class but never comes. I will read 8 books this year 2300 web pages and 1281 facebook profiles I will write 42 pages for class this semester And over 500 pages of email I get 7 hours of sleep each night I spend 1 ½ hours watching TV each night. I spend 3 ½ hours a day online I listen to music 2.5 hours a day I spend 2 hours on my cellphone 3 hours in class 2 hours eating I work 3 hours every day 2 hours studying That's a total of 26.5 hours. I'm a multitasker. I have to be. I will be over 20,000 in debt after graduation. I'm one of the lucky ones. Over 1 billion people Make less than one dollar a day This laptop costs more than some people in the world make in a year. When I graduate I will probably have a job That doesn't exist today (showing scantron) Filling this out won't help me get there. Or deal with… war, inequality, ethnic conflict, pollution, (and many more) I did not create the problems But they are my problems Some have suggested that technology can save us… (alone) I Facebook through most of my classes. I bring my laptop to class but I'm not working on class stuff. "The inventor of the system deserves to be ranked among the best contributors to learning and science, if not the greatest benefactors of mankind." —Josiah F. Bumstead, 1841 …on the benefits of the chalkboard. Writing on (a chalkboard) (continuará...) Come join the discussion at mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg By Michael Welsh and the students of Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Class of Spring 2007, Kansas State University This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Some camera work by Mark Hanson Music by Tryada (Listen)