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Cool. But is the future of education really having professors give lectures, except now it's online? Here are some brainstorm ideas for alternatives: * Allow

Cool. But is the future of education really having professors give lectures, except now it's online? Here are some brainstorm ideas for alternatives: * Allow anyone, not just existing professors, create a course on any topic and of any length. May the best teachers win. * Allow and encourage students to make their own lectures and courses. * Enable and encourage two-way communication. Perhaps people can post responses to other people's lectures.

jayfuerstenberg 15y ago
Good ideas but I think you're describing the internet as it exists in general. Youtube is only one-way I suppose but it facilitates channels like the Khan Academy ( http://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy http://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy ).
- Astrohacker 15y ago
  YouTube is good, but it isn't really designed for education. How can you give out assignments with YouTube? What about paying teachers? A YouTube-for-education would be explicitly designed to bring people together for learning purposes. And money would probably need to be involved... people should be paid to teach. After watching some free samples, students would probably be willing to pay to watch videos from some teachers, or to have their work critiqued by those teachers.
keiferski 15y ago
Those don't address the credential aspect of a degree program.
- Astrohacker 15y ago
  I don't think credentials are very meaningful. An alternative is to let students simply display all their work on the internet. Employers can check out their work to determine their eligibility for a job.
  - dagw 15y ago
    How long do you think it would it take an employer to read through 50 Masters level thesis papers on chemical engineering, plus few hundred shorter lab reports and papers, to determine which of the 50 people applying for a job actually knows anything about chemical engineering? Also where will these potential employees get the lab equipment needed to conduct the experiments necessary to produce this work to put up on the internet?
    - wisty 15y ago
      If there's 50 qualified candidates, then about 3 hours. They will just scan them, and pick the student who's work seems the best fit / highest quality / whatever. If there's 49 useless candidates, and 1 good one, a similar amount of time. It doesn't take long to spot a sub-par paper, especially if the students have an incentive to be very clear about what they have done.
- troymc 15y ago
  Bingo. Accreditation-on-demand is the second half of the puzzle. One interesting solution is that offered by Western Governors University (created by 19 governors of western US states). It's non-profit, online, low-cost, and... "nationally, regionally, NCATE, and CCNE accredited." They have a low, flat-rate tutition per term, regardless of how many courses or credits you take. Most interesting of all (I think), they mainly care about what you know, not how much time you spend with WGU: if you already know something, you can get "assessed" (e.g. tested) and move through the program faster. http://www.wgu.edu/about_WGU/WGU_different http://www.wgu.edu/about_WGU/WGU_different
  - itiztv 15y ago
    I've read some pretty bad reviews about WGU and their competency based model as well as the alienation of students from anything close to a real educational institution. From what I heard you're asked to read a book answer a few questions and thats it. Something more of a diploma mill There are no all-inclusive class interactions where student inputs and discussions come into play. The best you get is a mentor or sort who calls you once in a while to ask 'how do you like WGU, have you had any problems so far? Answer 'yes and he'll ask you to continue reading the recommended books because the answers are hidden somewhere in there.
ErrantX 15y ago
http://www.wikiversity.org http://www.wikiversity.org is trying to head down that sort of route.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- jeffreymcmanus 15y ago
  It's not clear to me that volunteer efforts will move fast enough or be sustainable enough to do technical education effectively. Even Khan Academy needed some of Bill Gates' money to get where they are today.
Miserlou57 15y ago
May the best teachers win: www.forgetthetextbook.com

jayfuerstenberg 15y ago

Good ideas but I think you're describing the internet as it exists in general. Youtube is only one-way I suppose but it facilitates channels like the Khan Academy ( http://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy http://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy ).

Astrohacker 15y ago
YouTube is good, but it isn't really designed for education. How can you give out assignments with YouTube? What about paying teachers? A YouTube-for-education would be explicitly designed to bring people together for learning purposes. And money would probably need to be involved... people should be paid to teach. After watching some free samples, students would probably be willing to pay to watch videos from some teachers, or to have their work critiqued by those teachers.

keiferski 15y ago

Those don't address the credential aspect of a degree program.

Astrohacker 15y ago
I don't think credentials are very meaningful. An alternative is to let students simply display all their work on the internet. Employers can check out their work to determine their eligibility for a job.
- dagw 15y ago
  How long do you think it would it take an employer to read through 50 Masters level thesis papers on chemical engineering, plus few hundred shorter lab reports and papers, to determine which of the 50 people applying for a job actually knows anything about chemical engineering? Also where will these potential employees get the lab equipment needed to conduct the experiments necessary to produce this work to put up on the internet?
  - wisty 15y ago
    If there's 50 qualified candidates, then about 3 hours. They will just scan them, and pick the student who's work seems the best fit / highest quality / whatever. If there's 49 useless candidates, and 1 good one, a similar amount of time. It doesn't take long to spot a sub-par paper, especially if the students have an incentive to be very clear about what they have done.
troymc 15y ago
Bingo. Accreditation-on-demand is the second half of the puzzle. One interesting solution is that offered by Western Governors University (created by 19 governors of western US states). It's non-profit, online, low-cost, and... "nationally, regionally, NCATE, and CCNE accredited." They have a low, flat-rate tutition per term, regardless of how many courses or credits you take. Most interesting of all (I think), they mainly care about what you know, not how much time you spend with WGU: if you already know something, you can get "assessed" (e.g. tested) and move through the program faster. http://www.wgu.edu/about_WGU/WGU_different http://www.wgu.edu/about_WGU/WGU_different
- itiztv 15y ago
  I've read some pretty bad reviews about WGU and their competency based model as well as the alienation of students from anything close to a real educational institution. From what I heard you're asked to read a book answer a few questions and thats it. Something more of a diploma mill There are no all-inclusive class interactions where student inputs and discussions come into play. The best you get is a mentor or sort who calls you once in a while to ask 'how do you like WGU, have you had any problems so far? Answer 'yes and he'll ask you to continue reading the recommended books because the answers are hidden somewhere in there.

ErrantX 15y ago

http://www.wikiversity.org http://www.wikiversity.org is trying to head down that sort of route.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
jeffreymcmanus 15y ago
It's not clear to me that volunteer efforts will move fast enough or be sustainable enough to do technical education effectively. Even Khan Academy needed some of Bill Gates' money to get where they are today.

Miserlou57 15y ago

May the best teachers win: www.forgetthetextbook.com