Friday, January 25, 2019

GDEI Post 1: Networked Learning

From this week readings and videos, my favorite one is the TedTalk "What Baby George Taught Me About Learning" by Dr. Wesch who is an anthropologist and professor that received the “US Professor of the Year” Award from the Carnegie Foundation. In this talk, Dr. Wesch share his perspective about education built from his experience in the classroom.

Resultado de imagem para Dr. WeschAccording to him, there is a sense of disconnection among students. They do not feel like they know their teachers. In fact, Dr. Wesch argues that digital technology on the global society don’t automatically foster significant learning or establish genuine empathy or meaningful bonds between professors and students. From his experience, he argues that only genuine connections may restore the sense of joy and curiosity that we hope to instill in his students.

From my experience in the classroom, we are defined by our grades. Professors don't connect or understand what are our personal trials that might be preventing us to perform as desired in the classroom. Basically, we just do stuff to "get it done". But, are we really learning something? This grading system is basically working as a sorting machine, in which "As" and "Fs" are defined. In this system, As" and "Bs" start to feel complacent and stop trying and "Fs" are just out. What if, professors start giving a "not yet" and feedback to students? In the same way that babies need to fall so that they learn how to walk, students have to feel that failing is part of the learning system, and that there is someone that cares about them in the learning process.