למידה, אינטרנט ... ומה שביניהם

It is, admittedly, very difficult to listen to a densely packed essay, with many twists and turns, with a thesis, and then a deliberate modification of that thesis, and then generalizations that account for both the thesis and its exemptions. Difficult. Maybe that was what I was after. Hmmmm. There is so much claptrap about new media, it is possible that not only was I aspiring to modeling for graduate students the way one makes a nuanced and careful argument but also the way one takes seriously an idea about which there is a lot of goofball overgeneralization. "Difficulty" isn't just an experience but a performative act of its own, one that says "Focus! Attend! Take this Seriously!" I'm not sure whether or not I pulled it off last night, but I think that aspiration to underscore the seriousness of New Media as a topic was partly my motivation (I had a choice until the buzzer and wasn't entirely sure which I would do, read the paper or talk it more casually). And partly I wanted my paper to be an exemplification of what humanists do.

It is in this context, it seems to me, that teachers are irreplaceable as models of knowledgeable adults grappling with first principles in order to open their students' understanding. Indeed, surveys have shown that such modeling is critical in students' responses to their teachers: The two features of an individual instructor's pedagogy that most engage undergraduates are control of the material and concern with students' understanding of it. No matter how recondite or obscure the ideas may be, the phenomenon of a grown-up person capable of talking enthusiastically and sequentially can show students how they themselves might someday be able to think things through.

תוויות: הוראה, הרהורים