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The article says "He graduated from Stanford University Online High School at age 11, and soon after enrolled full-time at UConn." Did you go to the online hig

by imp 17y ago

The article says "He graduated from Stanford University Online High School at age 11, and soon after enrolled full-time at UConn." Did you go to the online high school also? If so, what is that like?

SlyShy 17y ago
Yeah, I did. My thoughts on that subject are a bit mixed. Before online high school I was home schooled, and I'm certain I would've learned more had I remained home schooled. However, as an alternative to a brick and mortar high school, I think the idea has a lot potential still to be unlocked. The high school I attended (Stanford's EPGY Online High School) botched the concept, for lack of good technology. Thus far online HSes have generally hobbled along by using corporate teleconferencing software--a clearly deficient solution. But with tailored software the experience could be very good. In fact, it's my personal view that online education + OLPC or similar initiative could do wonders for third world countries. One of the biggest obstacles to education in, say, Africa are the lack of school buildings and the lack of local teachers, according to my friends who've done peace corp. Both of these problems are mitigated by online education assuming you have internet infrastructure. Since internet infrastructure is a major component of recent investment in that part of the world, I think it would be achievable.
- aptimpropriety 17y ago
  Somewhat unrelated, but I help to run an organization that is generally unhappy about the raving media attention OLPC gets repeatedly. While OLPCs cost many hundreds of dollars (not counting the high volume of volunteer hours/dollars), we ship computers all around the world at a cost of usually around $100/computer. Plus - from a sustainability perspective, our group is leaps and bounds ahead - instead of 3 year-old computers being sent to china to be 'recycled' (which results in significant waste) they are used and reused by very careful and grateful users in Africa, the middle east, and other parts of the developing world. http://rso.cornell.edu/ccra/ http://rso.cornell.edu/ccra/ - Check out our website. We're an undergraduate-run org and to our knowledge are the largest organization of our type in the nation. Our efforts to get programs started at other schools have been underwhelming.

by imp 17y ago

The article says "He graduated from Stanford University Online High School at age 11, and soon after enrolled full-time at UConn." Did you go to the online high school also? If so, what is that like?

SlyShy 17y ago

Yeah, I did. My thoughts on that subject are a bit mixed. Before online high school I was home schooled, and I'm certain I would've learned more had I remained home schooled. However, as an alternative to a brick and mortar high school, I think the idea has a lot potential still to be unlocked. The high school I attended (Stanford's EPGY Online High School) botched the concept, for lack of good technology. Thus far online HSes have generally hobbled along by using corporate teleconferencing software--a clearly deficient solution. But with tailored software the experience could be very good. In fact, it's my personal view that online education + OLPC or similar initiative could do wonders for third world countries. One of the biggest obstacles to education in, say, Africa are the lack of school buildings and the lack of local teachers, according to my friends who've done peace corp. Both of these problems are mitigated by online education assuming you have internet infrastructure. Since internet infrastructure is a major component of recent investment in that part of the world, I think it would be achievable.

aptimpropriety 17y ago
Somewhat unrelated, but I help to run an organization that is generally unhappy about the raving media attention OLPC gets repeatedly. While OLPCs cost many hundreds of dollars (not counting the high volume of volunteer hours/dollars), we ship computers all around the world at a cost of usually around $100/computer. Plus - from a sustainability perspective, our group is leaps and bounds ahead - instead of 3 year-old computers being sent to china to be 'recycled' (which results in significant waste) they are used and reused by very careful and grateful users in Africa, the middle east, and other parts of the developing world. http://rso.cornell.edu/ccra/ http://rso.cornell.edu/ccra/ - Check out our website. We're an undergraduate-run org and to our knowledge are the largest organization of our type in the nation. Our efforts to get programs started at other schools have been underwhelming.