Collaboration and Questions are Key

Sherry Turkle and Michael Wesch seem to be allies to me.  Sherry sends  the  majority, if not all, of her article speaking about the detrimental effects of our technology obsessed culture.  She highlights how we are consumed by a world of perfection, control, connected-ness (but not really) and loneliness.  She states "we cannot get enough of each other if we can use technology to keep one another at distances we can control".  We are expecting less and less of each other as technology fills in the gaps.   The article left me wondering, where does collaboration fit in?  Are we really in touch?  Where do we end up at the end of all of this?  She clearly values the power of conversation and worries we are headed in a direction that does away with it entirely.

Michael Wesch claims today's students are struggling to find significance in their education and are becoming less and less invested in school.  He charges teachers to do less teaching!  He wants students asking good, no GREAT questions.  He wants students to be invested, he wants them to care, and he wants them equipped to take this world in a positive direction for the next generation.  He claims the environment is more important that the content, which I feel places him and Turkle as allies, fighting for the same cause.

Wesch thinks an inspiring environment, where there is choice and investment on the part of the students, will inspire dialogue and therefore collaboration (link here for more on collaborative classrooms).  This reminds me of Turkle's challenge for parents to demonstrate the value of conversation by creating device free zones  around the house.  If you build it, they will come.  Both authors challenge those of us with the platform for our young generations to build something meaningful for the kids, so they not only see, but experience its value.   While Turkle wants a low tech life, Wesch seems to have found a way to marry technology, conversations and relationships in a healthy way for today's students.