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South Korea to Digitize Entire Curriculum by 2015

31 points by ajhit406 15y ago

mindstab 15y ago
So california teacher's union want's to ban digital classroom tech at the same time Korea as a country is pushing into it full speed ahead. Calafornia teacher's are worried about themselves and their jobs, Korea's are worried about giving their kids the best education they can. Which system do you think is going to prosper in the decades to come?
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- dmerfield 15y ago
  Taking the wishes – negative or positive – of one group of people and extrapolating them to condemn or praise a society is a dangerous strategy.
hugh3 15y ago
Y'know, for a random BBC news article, that was pretty well written, and set out pretty well the advantages and disadvantages of these sorts of things. I strongly reckon that the best way to learn anything is in a one-on-one conversation with an expert. The second best way, I've always thought, is a small interactive lecture where you can ask questions. The third best way is with a well-written book, and the fourth best way is in a non-interactive lecture. However, I can see that there's an opportunity for a new second-best option just below the one-on-one conversation with the expert, and that's one-on-one interaction with software that simulates an expert. (An infinitely patient expert, in fact.) It can explain something to you, test your knowledge of it, and if you don't understand it then it'll go back and explain it again. A really well written teaching system like this could make learning things far easier than it currently is. Writing these sorts of things, though, is incredibly difficult. I may be an expert on certain subjects, but I can't anticipate all possible lessons in advance. It would be a huge time and money committment to put such a lesson together -- you'd write it, test it, improve it, and slowly get to the point where it really worked well. In order to make this worthwhile, you'd need an assurance that the lesson, once finished, would be widely used for some time to come.
- mahyarm 15y ago
  You have to do a lot of practice and prep work before you talk with that expert, and all of the time in between. Khan's (of khan academy) cousins started preferring his youtube recordings vs his live tutoring, because it's far more flexible. I think the best combination are recordings, automated drill software and tutoring when you need it with no social or official penalty.
  - hugh3 15y ago
    Right. One-on-one lessons are the most efficient way to learn things, but not necessarily the most practical, because experts generally don't have infinite patience for stupid questions. If I were Unquestioned Emperor Of The World, I'd learn everything from calling the appropriate expert into my office, but as it is I can only do this sometimes. Still, I'm often amazed by how long I can spend trying to understand something tricky in a book, and how quickly I can get un-confused as soon as I start talking to someone who really understands it.
itsnotvalid 15y ago
I just feel sorry for the kids, that, they have to use a notebook or something to read is just painful. They should have limited the thing to e-ink(tm) tablets to make it easy on eyes that are vulnerable to myopia.
taiyangong 15y ago
I think it should be eink screen.

31 points by ajhit406 15y ago

So california teacher's union want's to ban digital classroom tech at the same time Korea as a country is pushing into it full speed ahead. Calafornia teacher's are worried about themselves and their jobs, Korea's are worried about giving their kids the best education they can. Which system do you think is going to prosper in the decades to come?

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
dmerfield 15y ago
Taking the wishes – negative or positive – of one group of people and extrapolating them to condemn or praise a society is a dangerous strategy.

hugh3 15y ago

Y'know, for a random BBC news article, that was pretty well written, and set out pretty well the advantages and disadvantages of these sorts of things. I strongly reckon that the best way to learn anything is in a one-on-one conversation with an expert. The second best way, I've always thought, is a small interactive lecture where you can ask questions. The third best way is with a well-written book, and the fourth best way is in a non-interactive lecture. However, I can see that there's an opportunity for a new second-best option just below the one-on-one conversation with the expert, and that's one-on-one interaction with software that simulates an expert. (An infinitely patient expert, in fact.) It can explain something to you, test your knowledge of it, and if you don't understand it then it'll go back and explain it again. A really well written teaching system like this could make learning things far easier than it currently is. Writing these sorts of things, though, is incredibly difficult. I may be an expert on certain subjects, but I can't anticipate all possible lessons in advance. It would be a huge time and money committment to put such a lesson together -- you'd write it, test it, improve it, and slowly get to the point where it really worked well. In order to make this worthwhile, you'd need an assurance that the lesson, once finished, would be widely used for some time to come.

mahyarm 15y ago
You have to do a lot of practice and prep work before you talk with that expert, and all of the time in between. Khan's (of khan academy) cousins started preferring his youtube recordings vs his live tutoring, because it's far more flexible. I think the best combination are recordings, automated drill software and tutoring when you need it with no social or official penalty.
- hugh3 15y ago
  Right. One-on-one lessons are the most efficient way to learn things, but not necessarily the most practical, because experts generally don't have infinite patience for stupid questions. If I were Unquestioned Emperor Of The World, I'd learn everything from calling the appropriate expert into my office, but as it is I can only do this sometimes. Still, I'm often amazed by how long I can spend trying to understand something tricky in a book, and how quickly I can get un-confused as soon as I start talking to someone who really understands it.

itsnotvalid 15y ago

I just feel sorry for the kids, that, they have to use a notebook or something to read is just painful. They should have limited the thing to e-ink(tm) tablets to make it easy on eyes that are vulnerable to myopia.

taiyangong 15y ago

I think it should be eink screen.