turkle and wesch

"When students recognize their own importance in helping to shape the future of this increasingly global, interconnected society, the significance problem fades away," writes Michael Wesch in his article "Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance." When we step away from the retelling of a narrative (but adding new pieces here and there, as time will permit), and invite students -- and by extension, people -- into the "conversation," (to borrow a word from Sherry Turkle)... that's when, and where, dialogue and change, begin. 

After reading both the perspectives of Wesch and Turkle, I do not find they are at odds with each other, but rather, addressing the same issue with different terminology and phrasing. When Turkle says we "have sacrificed conversation for mere connection," Wesch says the need for significance is driving students to that very connection -- a connection that he sees falling flat in his classroom environment. It is composed of the "administrative questions," the rows of chairs, the centering of HIM as where all information resides. Instantaneous gratification in the form of university seminar: I speak, you listen, I assess, you test and fail or pass. 

This is what has driven Wesch to step away from "teaching" and focus more on learning, a skill that he seems to be developing along with his students. And when Turkle writes that "Human relationships are rich; they're messy and demanding," Wesch is demonstrating that through the projects he and his students complete together. It's not just about creating the website or "product," it's about what it took to arrive.

Just as communication requires patience, learning places us in the "awkward position of not knowing exactly what [we are] doing." But it's joyful, as Wesch describes; the weight is lifted. We are allowed to be clumsy, breathing, flawed human beings on a quest that we all happen to be a part of, but each with our own stories.

Maybe technology has stripped us of conversation as Turkle writes; but I think as Wesch demonstrates, it's a matter of how it is used, and whether we choose to sacrifice that conversation in the name of significance or connection. Sometimes we need to be steered in another direction, or look at the story another way. Things are certainly changing, yes... but maybe not always for the worst.