The future of education

[Cain]

Via John Robb

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/13physics.html?_r=1

The delta of experience between attending a lecture and watching a video of a lecture?  Nada.  If anything, the video is better since you can rewind it, view it at the best vantage point (vs. at the back of a big lecture hall), and view it in a quiet relaxed space.

Video lectures (as most colleges are doing now) make it possible to get the best.  A dozen of the best lecture series could serve to replace 99% of lectures now being given by less gifted teachers. 

Interactive education, like what MIT is providing now, is highly computerized.  Almost all of it could be done online. 

The interactive process of learning/application via collaboration is something that is perfectly suited for virtual worlds.  JIT information in combination with simulated real world application within a collaborative environment is something that is going on with WoW right now (on a massive scale).

OF course, this means that the system could become extremely productive.  There's very little need to attend a school in person.  Geographic decentralization is possible (at a huge reduction in expense).  There's also little need for most of the teachers at the mid to upper levels of education.  All measures of productivity would zoom through the roof. 

All that needs to happen in this space is for a University with a solid brand to open it up virtual undergraduate education to a million or two students (at much less cost than presently).   It would not only become the most profitable school in the world (even with massive reductions in fees), it would produce some of the most capable students in the system.

Unfortunately, the quality of entrepreneurship in academia is terrible.

[LMNO]

While the premise is true, I've found that the best way for me to learn is to listen to the lecture, then immediately ask pointed questions, while the information is still buzzing around in my head.  I suppose you could video chat after the lecture...

[Cain]

Yes, I always enjoyed my seminars/tutorials far more than the lectures, but as you say, there are ways of doing that quite easily, not least using IRC or other multiple person IM systems.  Hell, you could probably even prevail upon certain companies to pay you if you make [insert IM system here] as the official approved program of the University system.

[AFK]

One of the myriad of programs I'm a part of here is one that is doing some online education.  Currently we are running a parenting course in the state that offers information and material on parenting teenagers.  We offer a discussion board to go along with the course and we encourage them to interact with the professor and each other after each lesson.  It ends up being the same as a live class as you have the one or two people who actually engage the professor in discussion, and the rest of the class who don't care to or don't need to.  I think for some people, not having that element of face-to-face and immediate discourse with the professor will be a minus.  I know I personally would probably prefer to be in a class with a live professor.  But it does help break down a big barrier for some to education which is living out in the middle of nowhere, 100s of miles from the nearest college or university.  

[LMNO]

The toughest aspect would be classes that use diagrams or other "write on the board" stuff.

[AFK]

Actually, you can get overhead projectors that have cameras built into them.  At least, you could in the late 90s.  I imagine there's some more advanced technology out there now for that sort of thing. 

[Cramulus]

My old college now requires that students take at least four credits of "online classes". Many see it as a financial bandaid for an underfunded state school. Outsourcing lectures is cheaper than hiring professors for an already bloated student body.

Your brain has a lot of circuitry that is active when you're listening to a person. Circuits which aren't active when you're watching TV. Call me neophobic but I'll take the meat-based teacher.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

My sons' school was completely revamped over the summer.  While they still have white boards in a few classrooms and space for them in all, they have added what looks like the old drop down projector screens.  The hook their laptops up and they do everything "on the board" from their laptops at their desk. 

I have to think this is just another step towards the kids just plugging in for a few hours each day.  I somehow doubt "virtual classrooms" will become the norm in the primary education level.  There are so many other factors.  A lot of kids in the US today wouldn't eat if they didn't go to school every day. 

If they do this and take it down to the primary level, I shudder to think of the social skills these children will develop.  It would be a world of trolls IRL!!

College though, eh well, it might open up a college education to those who otherwise couldn't afford it.

[The Iron Lung]

Video lectures seem pointless unless they are interactive. Mp3s of lectures are sufficient not only for me but for 99% of academia.












Except the deaf.

[HRD Frederick T Fowyer]

Your brain has a lot of circuitry that is active when you're listening to a person. Circuits which aren't active when you're watching TV. Call me neophobic but I'll take the meat-based teacher.

That's a good point-- but I think what's being described here at MIT is an environment far more interactive than television-- maybe even more interactive than a traditional class. Trouble is, the vast majority of tech-enhanced or telelearning 'classrooms' that I've seen, read about, or heard about are either just using new tools for old purposes-- like using laptops to write on the board instead of chalk-- or are clunky attempts to transmit an essentially traditional classroom experience through the screen.

If they do this and take it down to the primary level, I shudder to think of the social skills these children will develop.  It would be a world of trolls IRL!!

Actually, I have a friend who works as a residential counselor for behavioral special needs children who feels that immersive online learning environments, sort of like a moderated MUD, could be a hugely effective tool for teaching social skills to children who would otherwise be resistant-- because the environment is non-threatening, requires cooperation for success, and feels like (and is!) play, which is always a child's primary learning strategy. Again, though, that won't exist for years, now, if at all-- and since such a tool isn't nearly as profitable as  recreational pursuits like MMORPGs, there's a good chance it never will.

I think there's a ton of potential involved here for teaching and learning-- but it won't have much real relevance until electronic education evolves it's own symbol-logic for communication, and it's own infrastructure and resources to make itself relevant.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I am extremely interested in brain function during online forum use... I mean, there's the reading, and also a level of interaction, and I wonder how active the brain is and whether there are parts that shut down.

[Harlequin]

I am extremely interested in brain function during online forum use... I mean, there's the reading, and also a level of interaction, and I wonder how active the brain is and whether there are parts that shut down.

I assume that you're aware of the Apple Talk board?

[Kai]

Listening to a lecture without being able to ask questions....might as well be reading a book.

[Triple Zero]

I agree with Cram. I also call a "citation needed" on the "nada difference" in the OP, mostly because of this other circuitry. Afaik, learning happens better, the more senses are involved. Even though in a real classroom you usually can't touch, smell or taste the teacher, I believe that the mere idea of actually being in a room with a real person, does indeed activate more circuits than watching them on a screen, even while interacting with them via IM, audio or videochat.

Also, for me personally, it feels that the act of "just showing up" sort of primes your mind for commitment, even if you spend the hour not taking notes and half listening with a hungover head. I think with a video I would "zone out" completely much easier if my mind wasn't in a studying mood that day. With a real person in the room, I'm more inclined to pay sharper attention, possibly out of a social norm for politeness or perhaps some more basic primate programming.

[LMNO]

Listening to a lecture without being able to ask questions....might as well be reading a book.

This.