My five sections of Introduction to Mass Communications at Northwest Vista College are embarking on Week Six of the semester by exploring topics their groups have selected that are 1. important to college students 2. using relevant technologies, much in the style of "Visions of Students Today" by Kansas State University Anthropology professor Michael Wesch.
http://youtu.be/dGCJ46vyR9o
So far some of the topics the 30 groups in the five classes have selected are: "What is it like living in post 9-11 America", "What is it like living without ready access to drinking water", "What is it like living in a consumer-driven economy?" and "What is it like being in a relationship surrounded by media-driven images about romantic relationships?" The students worked on their "research question" by discussing their interests and carefully editing for bias or leading language.
The 'relevant technologies' they are using are similar to the ones used by Dr. Wesch's class in the video which has had 45 million views since 07 when it was uploaded by his students. These include Facebook Group pages, Google documents for collecting and gathering responses, as well as others, including Twitter.
The student groups are energized about this project and I'm eager to see the process evolve, and to learn from our classes efforts. I'm not sure we'll have 45 million views on our projects, but I am sure this is the sort of activity that tells students education is about things they care about and that their ideas, voices and efforts can contribute to building a better world.
Great work Linda!
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