3 ms·

We have plenty of promising prototypes. The original MITx / 6.002x had in the nineties rate it as being as-good-as or better than in-person. OLI before that ha

We have plenty of promising prototypes. The original MITx / 6.002x had in the nineties rate it as being as-good-as or better than in-person. OLI before that had good prototypes too. The low-quality junk came in scaling. Part of that had to do with culture and people (business people took over from academics). Part of that with economics (people didn't shop on quality). Part on difficulty training. Etc.

MattGaiser 6y ago
The problem is not in information quality. I agree that is a solved problem. But that was never the big challenge in education (besides the politics of it). The problem is in getting students to complete the work, be honestly assessed about the work, get feedback on their work as well as for employers to believe that the assessment means anything.
- bradlys 6y ago
  > The problem is not in information quality. Information quality can be interpreted many ways. I wouldn't say most teachers are good at their job or at presenting information. Most I had were not good at the job - a lot of them were babysitters and acted as such. At the college level, it's possibly worse where the people are so consumed with their research that they have absolutely no interest in teaching or getting good at it. Textbooks are also very poor quality. History textbooks are probably the worst offenders.
  - MattGaiser 6y ago
    I was mostly referring to why MITx isn't a solution to education. I agree with respect to the current education system. History is hard to correct as it is politically thorny and frequently disputed. If I built a e-learning system, I wouldn't include that.
- woofie11 6y ago
  Most of those are solved problems, technically. What's not solved are, as you put it "the politics of it." Business models don't align with good models. Markets are highly inefficient, timescales are long, and transparency is poor. MITx became edX because of that misalignment.

MattGaiser 6y ago

The problem is not in information quality. I agree that is a solved problem. But that was never the big challenge in education (besides the politics of it). The problem is in getting students to complete the work, be honestly assessed about the work, get feedback on their work as well as for employers to believe that the assessment means anything.

bradlys 6y ago
> The problem is not in information quality. Information quality can be interpreted many ways. I wouldn't say most teachers are good at their job or at presenting information. Most I had were not good at the job - a lot of them were babysitters and acted as such. At the college level, it's possibly worse where the people are so consumed with their research that they have absolutely no interest in teaching or getting good at it. Textbooks are also very poor quality. History textbooks are probably the worst offenders.
- MattGaiser 6y ago
  I was mostly referring to why MITx isn't a solution to education. I agree with respect to the current education system. History is hard to correct as it is politically thorny and frequently disputed. If I built a e-learning system, I wouldn't include that.
woofie11 6y ago
Most of those are solved problems, technically. What's not solved are, as you put it "the politics of it." Business models don't align with good models. Markets are highly inefficient, timescales are long, and transparency is poor. MITx became edX because of that misalignment.