The Future of Education

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

ƒ/2

100 mm

1/400

2000

Bill Gates is a big believer in online education.

Gates organized a TED session this year and brought Salman Khan, an educator that left his job as a hedge fund analyst to pursue online video education, now reaching 1 million students per month.

“The first feedback came from my cousins. They told me that they preferred me on YouTube than in person.”

“And so you can imagine, so here I was, an analyst at a hedge fund. It was very strange for me to do something of social value.”

“If Isaac Newton had done YouTube videos on calculus, I wouldn’t have to.
well.. assuming he was good.”

In an interesting flip to the traditional classroom script, teachers can assign the videos and interactive online exercises for home and do what used to be homework in the classroom.

“By removing the one-size-fits all lecture from the classroom and letting students do work and interact with each other in class, these teachers have used technology to humanize the classroom.”

The TED talk just went online, with Q&A with Gates at the end, who concludes: “You just got a glimpse at the future of education.”

21 responses to “The Future of Education”

Astrocatou

Mar 9, 2011 at 7:43 pm

Seems a lot of neurons on stage….
🙂

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DixonTJ

Mar 9, 2011 at 9:15 pm

Very timely–working on a client initiative right in the thick of this transition.

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solerena

Mar 9, 2011 at 9:53 pm

wow!! it does look like a future of education, as a parent and a person who likes to learn – this is fantastic! Since Los Altos is 5 min away from our school district, hope it comes to us as well! Will talk to our teacher/principal about it…
Absolutely love the idea of the global classroom! Eventually we will probably have one large field of knowledge accumulated by mankind (with some memory enhancements for each being involved)… not much of science fiction here:)
Also great how he explained that many times the labeling students “fast” or “slow” in one particular subject area can be wrong and based on temporarily assessments and teacher’s perceptions.
This new emerging system leads to raising potential of each individual to its maximum. And it is fascinating how basic analytical research tools were used to redesign the process of education itself (evaluating students, facilitating and improving the quality of teaching and learning overall).

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drona

Mar 10, 2011 at 12:33 am

I liked the part where he said that teachers can spend more meaningful time with their students with these new online learning techniques. And BTW, this also frees up teachers’ time, giving them a chance to learn and keep their skills up-to-date.

One cannot replace the value of 1×1 student-teacher learning with these techniques. This type of approach lends itself more to self-paced-personalized education.

There is a whole other discussion to be had about the value/importance of education and getting kids to understand the importance of learning.

But that would have to do with teaching *parents* the value of learning and helping parents prepare their kids to go to school.

And finally, let’s not forget that the vast majority of kids in the world don’t have access to the Internet.

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John Furrier

Mar 10, 2011 at 3:10 am

Steve: you’re photo is amazing.. nice shot

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jurvetson

Mar 10, 2011 at 3:56 am

thanks. After several experiments with the low-light environment, I have settled on what I call my "TED lens" — a prime 100mm f/2 lens. I set the camera to a high ISO, f/2 and -2/3 EV, and it works like a champ. This photo, for example, is straight from the can, without even a crop.

v_j: I like it better that way. Keep us guessing.

drona: Khan was saying that he enriches the in-class experience. Debatable. Bill Gates would go further still, and argues that “Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world. It will be better than any single university. College – except for the parties – needs to be less place-based.” (from Technonomy)

Sol – yes, the institution of tracking in schools, a relic from the 1950’s, is particularly insidious.

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tifotter

Mar 10, 2011 at 6:04 am

I’m working at an ed tech company right now. There is plenty of room for improvement out there, and in my opinion, so much to learn from the entertainment and gaming sectors. I’ve been shocked by how low the bar is set in education. Khan Academy curriculum seems mostly about fluency and practice for math, and not teaching fundamental concepts through interaction, but only through video. Granted, I have only played for a few hours. I hope 5-years from now the bar has been raised much higher, all around. Salman Kahn’s enthusiasm is infectious.

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Pieces of Eye

Mar 10, 2011 at 8:19 am

I would love to see this taken to the upper division college level (and not just videos of lectures).

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Dr DAD (Daniel A D’Auria MD)

Mar 10, 2011 at 11:14 am

When it comes to education, I think it’s all about capturing kid’s attention. Make it interesting at their level, put it in the context of their daily lives (YouTube),and concepts suddenly have relevance. Put it in a standard book and present it in a dry monotonous tone in front of the class and you have a lullaby!

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Astrocatou

Mar 10, 2011 at 12:08 pm

I thought it was the teachers role to engage the students…
Not the technology…

But then….whats that famous line….
"Its the medium that is the message"…?
Who was that… Woody Allen…?

*inside joke if you have seen the movie… (? 1980)

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tull

Mar 10, 2011 at 1:44 pm

I feel the participatory learning component (with practice questions) offers more potential for this website to improve education than just the videos. Videos of lectures on any topic offer a false sense of learning, unless the audience is committed to testing themselves on the subject matter. In other words, familiarity must not be confused with true understanding.

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Dr DAD (Daniel A D’Auria MD)

Mar 11, 2011 at 11:30 am

@daveh56 I would agree Dave, but by what ever means necessary. That is what separates a good teacher from a great teacher.

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Astrocatou

Mar 11, 2011 at 11:38 am

And then there is the concept that an (internal) love of learning will kick in…

And the concept of future benefit from short term pain….
(How interesting can you make grade 12 Calculus…?)
A concepts perhaps no longer reinforced as much in N America,as opposed to other cultures…
Thinking of math,science performance here.
Just another Luddite viewpoint…but then I am old enough to remember banging chalk brushes together to clean them…..(!)

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jurvetson

Mar 11, 2011 at 4:24 pm

well, gosh, my son loves calculus. It’s what he loves to do after school. And he’s in elementary school.

As for me, that grade 12 Calculus was a highlight of my educational experience.

Jeany – I’m pretty sure he will. He liked the last one.

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Astrocatou

Mar 11, 2011 at 4:32 pm

🙂
I was lucky,and had a few like that too….

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vennettaj

Mar 11, 2011 at 4:43 pm

well.. i was also present at school mostly because of math challenge.. but then things changed lol… ok, kids are different…things go differently for different people…something knew can catch the attention of somebody who’s been for whatever reason spacing out, but has more potential.. that can be a new teacher as well..

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Pieces of Eye

Mar 14, 2011 at 9:50 pm

@Jurvetson Did you go through limits and derive the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus?

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jurvetson

Mar 14, 2011 at 11:14 pm

yeah… and I thought that was pretty cool… but my son has already done that too

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Pieces of Eye

Mar 14, 2011 at 11:39 pm

Well I assumed you had. 😀
I was asking if you had taught him limits.
I’m glad he did. 🙂

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ceaseless reward

May 5, 2011 at 8:14 pm

Very nice shot

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academicadvantage

Aug 13, 2012 at 6:09 pm

Great photo!

Reply

The Future of Education

21 responses to “The Future of Education”

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