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This has been a thought running through my mind for a while. The Khan Academy is fantastic! I've had a few great teachers/professors in my time, but I still th

This has been a thought running through my mind for a while. The Khan Academy is fantastic! I've had a few great teachers/professors in my time, but I still think of him as the best. I would love to see Rosetta Stone style software mixed with his lessons. Personally I was really interested in pursuing opportunities in educational software a while ago (If changing the world is your goal as an entrepreneur education is a pretty low hanging fruit) So I went to one of my old teachers. She has won several awards over the years, and is the kind of person open to new ideas. I decided to spend a few hours with her to learn how school has changed, and how we can use technology to make learning better. Going into the conversation I had the idea of a social network for students/teachers. However while talking I soon learned that what she really wants, and what would really help is more data. Students take various assessments, but the tests are fairly infrequent. In the time between assessments things change for each child, but the progress of the lesson may not proceed in proportion. It was at this point I changed my way of thinking. I don't think the most efficient education is had by retrofitting new technologies into the classic classroom. Instead like Khan described, the role of the teacher could be shifted to software that guides a student through learning while tracking their progress, repeating concepts as needed or advancing difficulty in a very dynamic manner. The teacher can than transition into a role as a guide, perhaps helping students learn more offline, helping students find answers to questions etc.

aik 16y ago
That's exactly what needs to happen. The teacher as a knowledge spout doesn't make sense anymore in most places since we can get the knowledge from 100 other sources faster and probably better. In addition and regards to your assessment point -- I agree assessments still need to happen, and perhaps even more regularly than now, but there needs to be a shift in the mindset around the purpose of the assessment. It's common to think of assessments as the primary method of getting "grade/mark points" and that's it, however the most beneficial part of assessing are the learning aspects. Assessments: 1. Give the student a chance to use the knowledge they now have and strengthen it as a result, 2. Figure out where the student is for the benefit of the "teacher"/"guide" to better guide the student in further learning and, 3. Help the student figure out where they are themselves and where they're struggling and doing well.
danac 16y ago
And hopefully burdened with less administrative tasks and armed with more data that tracks progress and speed of learning, teachers can act more as a curator of knowledge (and guides, as you described) that cater more specifically to the needs of each student. It could very well be that in a few years, our children are bombarded with more educational content that they know what to do with, and the roles of the teachers will also rightfully shift.

aik 16y ago

That's exactly what needs to happen. The teacher as a knowledge spout doesn't make sense anymore in most places since we can get the knowledge from 100 other sources faster and probably better. In addition and regards to your assessment point -- I agree assessments still need to happen, and perhaps even more regularly than now, but there needs to be a shift in the mindset around the purpose of the assessment. It's common to think of assessments as the primary method of getting "grade/mark points" and that's it, however the most beneficial part of assessing are the learning aspects. Assessments: 1. Give the student a chance to use the knowledge they now have and strengthen it as a result, 2. Figure out where the student is for the benefit of the "teacher"/"guide" to better guide the student in further learning and, 3. Help the student figure out where they are themselves and where they're struggling and doing well.

danac 16y ago

And hopefully burdened with less administrative tasks and armed with more data that tracks progress and speed of learning, teachers can act more as a curator of knowledge (and guides, as you described) that cater more specifically to the needs of each student. It could very well be that in a few years, our children are bombarded with more educational content that they know what to do with, and the roles of the teachers will also rightfully shift.