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Although it is great to have lectures, slides etc. online (check also the Open Course Ware initiative from MIT), it is still a difference if you are just listen
by kaiser 18y ago
Although it is great to have lectures, slides etc. online (check also the Open Course Ware initiative from MIT), it is still a difference if you are just listening to the lectures or if you can really interact with the people attending.
Education is more about interaction and struggling for ideas than it is about listening to lectures.
Still great complimentary resources ... (also for lecturers).
- dreish 18y agoIf only there were some way for people around the world to communicate with each other as they watched these lectures ... Not trying to be snarky. I just wonder whether there's an opportunity there.
- aneesh 18y agoOmnisio-style comments overlayed on the video itself would be a start, especially if you could control whose comments were displayed.
- netcan 18y ago>Education is more about interaction and struggling for ideas than it is about listening to lectures. I disagree. Education is about acquiring skills & knowledge. Lectures, interactions, books, tutors, classmates.. these are the way education is delivered. Maybe university experience is "more about interaction and struggling for ideas than it is about listening to lectures," but saying that about education as a whole sounds a lot like saying news is about printing.
- yters 18y agoEducation is about learning how to learn. You can either learn by yourself or with others. Learning with others is more effective and enjoyable, which is why sites like HN exist. Learning to learn with others is something you get from going to university, i.e. interaction and struggling for ideas.
- netcan 18y agoI don't disagree that this (the recent availability of online lectures) is not a mirror replacement for uni. It's also not entirely new. The possibility of getting a uni equivalent education without enrolling has always existed (at least partially). Books, uni Libraries. Many places will let you sit in on virtually all classes without enrolling. But it has always remained in the sidelines. But... Pointing to any developed of this kind and saying 'this isn't uni' as if it means something really substantial is short sighted. The improvement & accessibility of free online learning materials is going to have a profound effect, most probably. If Universities' value is kept only in the fringe: 'interacting with others,' 'the personal & social experience' & the rest of the things that cannot be replaced by online study, well... Universities have an educational (skills & knowledge, if you prefer) role and a gate-keeping role. If they loose their edge on those, they loose their edge.