Mary Beth Marklein spotlights in her article the online venture of Google VP and professor Sebastian Thrun. She showcases an unprecedented education system that focuses on free, or close to free education for the masses.
Thrun established this online entity in Palo Alto, CA just down the street from where he professes at Standford University. His "classroom," if that's what you can call it is a cramped soundproof studio ladened with "twenty something" graphic designers building the courses that will appear on the site entitled Udacity. The site gives it's users the ability to learn for free as well as it's administrators the ability to convey information to large numbers of people. The system offers those yearning to learn the opportunity to learn from top experts of specific fields with no or relatively small costs. Where the instruction is designed to be free, there will no doubt be costs associated with examinations and certifications. But for the most part, tests and grades are held separate from the education.
Thrun says that his type system will "involve a sequence of increasingly more challenging exercises and
quizzes aimed at helping students master a particular concept or skill." It will not replace the traditional classroom just as movies did not replace live theater. It is just another way to supplement learning in an "industry that is long over due for an overhaul."
As a future educator, I find this type education to be a great opportunity for people seeking to expand on a particular skill or concept. As far as an overall education, direct instruction is required. I do not perceive the arguments discussed in this article to threaten the jobs of educators, but to suggest that a well balanced, thorough education can be obtained strictly online is unrealistic. Whereas education is overdue for overhaul, the concept of brick and mortar schoolhouses is not. In order for students to achieve a well rounded and thorough education, they must leave their residences and interact with people. There is alot more to learn about life than the curriculum relayed over the internet. As far as people seeking supplemental education, Thrun's classes and classes like it seem to be perfect. I read somewhere that more people learn to play an instrument than before because of the rampant (and free) instruction that can be found online. Where people used to have to seek someone to instruct them directly, usually for a price, they now can learn as much as they want to without a cost. Furthermore, they can do so at their own terms on their own schedule. This is no different than Thrun's class.
As far as the fore mentioned "industry overhaul" is concerned, our education system does in fact need to incorporate technology at a rate that not only meets that of other industries, but probably should exceed other industries with a priority that is appropriate for an industry (education) that is our future. With that said, a "flipped classroom" and classrooms equipped with the latest of technological advances brought by expanded budgets should be applied. Our ideal future for education is not an internet system that can accommodate thousands of students. Our ideal future is teachers directly instructing students in classrooms (as they have always), excpet they do so with unlimited hi-tech resources at their disposal.
No comments:
Post a Comment