Is Technology Helping or Hurting Education?

Michael Wesch’s video “A Vision of Students Today” features college students who portray life as a student in college today. The students featured in the video cast a message that suggests what they are learning is irrelevant to their lives. They also suggest that the ways they are being taught do not help their learning. Wesch’s students state that they “complete 49% of the readings assigned…” of which only 26% are relevant to their lives. Students pay for 100 dollar textbooks that they never open. The class average size is 115 students, and only 18% of teachers know students names. Could Wesch’s video be pondering if the way college students are being taught is effective?

Is this the college life in store for all students? Wesch’s video leaves a discomforting feeling about education after high school. The most important quote in the video was “If students learn what they do… what do they learn sitting here.’ This wraps up the entire mood of the video. Students sit in a classroom with an average size of 115 students. Listening to teachers teach irrelevant subjects to students they don’t even know. Is there really any positive outcome of spending thousands of dollars on information and time that is useless and wasteful? Wesch definitely challenged my thinking. Could technology be helping or destroying the learning world? Students spend 9.5 hours per day on technology! They only spend 3 hours in class and 3 hours studying. If teachers don’t engage their students, and technology is where they spend most of their time; should learning be moved to pure technology? As time changes technology changes along with it. Math will never change. Science and history will never change. Maybe current information on current resources is the best way to prepare and engage students today.