- E-Learning Pedagogy
- Bringing Language Learning to Life
- Podcasting ‘Hot Knowledge’ – Supporting Transition from Secondary Education to University
- PDAs and Digital Readers: Dutch Medical Students See the Benefits
- E-Learning with a Kick
- Failed Schoolgirl Returns to School
- Textbooks Terminated – Schools Go Online
- Pre-Conference Event at OEB: School Forum to Receive its Premiere
- All About Generation Y
- Discussion: Who Needs Teachers Anyway?
- Learning Together: 10 Years of Best Practice at Fronter
- The Talking Essay – Video Feedback for Students
- Meeting the Needs of the New Learners
- Digital Storytelling in E-Learning
- E-Learning for the Ne(x)t Generation of Students
- Michael Wesch Explores the “Crisis of Significance”
- Wikis in Education: Public, Semi-Public, or Private - Which is Best?
- Swedish Agency for Flexible Learning
- Multidimensional and Fun: Internet & Radio Teaching in Rural Grecian Schools
- Prof. Sugata Mitra to hold Keynote at Online Educa Berlin 2007
- From Project Plan to ROI
- Your training content is available online? That alone won’t do!
- Back to main
Introducing Michael Wesch
Dubbed "the explainer" by Wired magazine, Michael Wesch is a cultural anthropologist at Kansas State University exploring the impact of new media on human interaction. After two years of studying the effects of writing on a remote indigenous culture in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea, he has turned his attention to the impact of social media and digital technology on global society. In his speech at Online Educa Berlin, Michael Wesch will focus on the “crisis of significance” and its impact on the future of education. He argues that nowadays students are struggling to find meaning and significance in their education. Of central importance to this crisis is the ever-changing “mediascape” in which students live their lives. A Flickr here, a Twitter there and a new form of making meaning and significance is born. In his opinion these new technologies have profound implications for education and force us to rethink how we teach, what we teach and who we think we are teaching. In this presentation he will explore the implications of emerging technologies and how we can work with them and our students to solve the crisis of significance and create a better future for our students today.
Participants can expect an exciting presentation with a great deal of insider knowledge. Wesch knows the challenges and problems of education in our classrooms first-hand and works with an approach he sometimes refers to as “anti-teaching”. His overall goal is to stimulate the interest of his students by creating a better learning environment for them. “When students recognise their own future of this increasingly global, interconnected society, the significance problem fades away,” says Michael Wesch in his article, “Anti-teaching: Confronting the crisis of significance” in which he provides a comprehensive overview on his current work. The text was published in “Education Canada” and is available online at:
http://www.cea-ace.ca/media/en/AntiTeaching_Spring08.pdf
Other great starting points to get to know Michael Wesch’s work are his videos on YouTube, which have already attracted millions of viewers. To learn more go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Also stay tuned to our Online Educa Berlin Newsletter as we will feature Michael Wesch’s speech at this year’s conference in more detail in an upcoming edition.
June 20, 2008
