Mike Wesch

 

What does Mike Wesch believe about how students learn?  How does he act on those beliefs?

Mike Wesch has many beliefs about learning. He starts presenting the idea that learning is designed in a very specific way. He describes this as “dumping information into people’s heads”. He also mentions how students on their first day and probably during the first weeks of school, think about how they are going to get through the class. He calls this the “notion of getting by”. Another term he presents is the “Vaccination Theory of Education”. He describes this belief as “once you’ve had a subject, you’ve already had it, and you don’t need to take it again, and hopefully you won’t have to suffer through it anytime in the future.” He decides to take action on these beliefs to transform their students’ learning. Wesch starts by asking his own students “What do you think about their education?. As an educator, as well as an investigator, Wesch starts by analyzing the data and discussing findings with his students.

“Learning is a fundamental human trait” (Wesch, 2016)

Another action step he wants to take on his students' learning is to bring excitement to them. He starts by having conversations with his students about what he describes as “real learning”. He tells them that “real learning is about questions that inspire you”. He adds, “they force you to make changes and do things you never thought you could do”. So, he asks his students, “What questions do you have?”. At first, all the questions were administrative (How many points? When is this due?). Then he continues by sitting at lunch with his students...and to get right to the deep discussions. There were three questions driving students that were ignored in the classroom: Who I’m I?; What am I going to do?; Am I going to make it?. Then, he changes the grading system by transforming the course into a great (imaginary) mountain.  He makes this to promote cooperation and collaboration among students to work together to get up to the mountain, to stick together to be able to make it, to achieve the goal. According to Wesch, “the final project, the real project, was themselves, they were challenging themselves.”

I conclude that it is extremely important to take the time to get to know our students. Who they are, their needs, what’s important to them, what matters to them, and to include them in the learning process. Students need to feel part of the learning process for this to be successful. 

References:

Wesch, M. (2016). What Baby George Taught Me About Learning. TEDxMHK. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP7dbl0rJS0