Generations Blog

Everyone remembers the teachers who droned on in the class, hour after hour. They remember the hundreds of dollars they spent on college textbooks that were never read. They remember struggling to understand complex subjects when instructors provided less-than-clear examples. The students within the digital ethnography department at Kansas State University have taken all these faculty members to task in a short video entitled “A Vision of Students Today.” It is an unsettling look at today’s classroom through the eyes of those in the seats.  Technology is allowing these students to express themselves in a way that is both potent and well-reasoned. The educational establishment has spent way too much time rationalizing why they shouldn’t change rather than responding to the needs of the students. As I work with faculty, I encourage them to explore new, innovative, and even risky ways to engage those in the classroom. There are plenty of ideas out there. But it takes courage to embrace them. If students are writing off their classes as simply a right of passage, what have we, as a society, allowed to happen?  Your thoughts?