Michael Wesch － 2008全美年度教授

Wed 25th Feb 2009

Published in 其他

提到 Michael Wesch 相信許多人不會陌生才對，至少應該都有看過他放在 Youtube 上的影片才對，例如 2007年的 Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us 至今已被觀看超過 800萬多次了。查了一下LV，我也曾在 2007年11月提到過 Michael Wesch 教授的另二個影片。如果你對 Michael Wesch 的影片有興趣的話，可以至他的 Youtube 網頁去看看。

本文不是要介紹他所製作的影片，而是他本人。這位來自 Kansas State University的文化人類學教授相當的年輕，才34歲 (1975年出生)，在 2008年底獲選為全美年度教授 (U.S. Professors of the Year)。

除了他的研究和那些短片外，Michael Wesch 是一位 “anti-teaching” 的提倡者，他認為老師並不是直接給學生解答，而是要啟發學生問問題，問對的問題。底下是自全美年度教授獎的 Passion for Teaching Statement 網頁所節錄的部分內容：

I have read and heard a great deal of advice on how to ask good questions of students, but nobody has ever told me how to get students to ask good questions. Since all good thinking begins with a good question, it strikes me that if we are ultimately trying to create “active lifelong learners” with “critical thinking skills” and an ability to “think outside the box,” it might be best to start by getting students to ask better questions.

The best questions force students to challenge their taken-for-granted assumptions and see their own underlying biases. Oftentimes, the answer to a good question is irrelevant—the question is an insight in itself. The only answer to the best questions is another good question. The best questions send students on rich and meaningful lifelong quests, question after question after question.

Unfortunately, such great questions are rarely asked by students, especially in large introductory courses, such as my 400-student “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology.” Much more common are questions such as, “What do we need to know for this test?” This may be the worst question of all. It makes education into a relatively meaningless game of grades rather than a meaningful exploration of the world.

對 “anti-teaching” 有興趣的人可以看看他這篇文章－ Anti-Teaching – Confronting The Crisis Of Significance。另外，或許可以從底下二段影片聽聽他的說法：

U.S. Professor of the Year Award

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBmDgMFAZTI