First Class Meeting

Yesterday I met with my 1020s for the first time. This is a very small class (13), which should be helpful since we are working on introducing so many new concepts this semester. Neil's movable computer lab should work perfectly with this group. I plan to use his Mac laptops in class next week for our next assignment using Wikis. I still am not sure how to do this but Marian and I will work on ironing out the details tomorrow.

I did show the YouTube video "A Vision of Students Today" by Mike Wesch, but the discussion was pretty shallow. After surveying my students, it turns out that that vision doesn't really apply to the students in my class who have far less experience with computers than the sudents surveyed by Wesch. Also, only two of my students have cell phones that connect to the internet, which surprised me. I would guess that it is due to the expense. Only one student has used Twitter and she seldom uses it. Eight use Facebook. I was also surprised by that. Everybody uses Blackboard. A few have never used YouTube. A number of students admitted to Facebooking in class, ignoring the teacher. Their concerns are not global for the most part. They are interested in doing well in the class and getting a job after graduation. There is little interest in politics or social and economic justice. Only one person seemed to have a heightened awareness of what is going on in the world or the necessity of having an informed opinion, much less a voice or how to raise it. Marian's idea of having students write a letter to the editor seems even more important now.

I also referred these students to the half hour video by Wesch at mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg "Toward a New Future of Whatever" to explain how their concerns became so localized. I am betting, however, that few will look at that. I plan to reference it again next week after we discuss the first chapter of the text and view a video on the pastor in Florida who plans to burn the Quran on Sept. 11, in spite of requests from the U.S. government and Gen. Petraus not to do so because of the dangers it may cause for U.S. troops and the general exacerbation of tensions between Muslims and the United States. This development is significant in terms of their personal interests. but they have to be able to make the connection.