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Yes! Amen, brother! Two years ago, Sal Khan and John Hennessy (president of Stanford), went to a conference and talked about the future of education: http://al

by temuze 12y ago

Yes! Amen, brother! Two years ago, Sal Khan and John Hennessy (president of Stanford), went to a conference and talked about the future of education: http://allthingsd.com/20120531/how-do-credentials-change-as-education-goes-online-stanford-and-khan-academy-respond-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120531/how-do-credentials-change-as-... They both concluded that lectures may not exist in the future! Sure, there are such things as lectures that have oratorical brilliance, that inspire students about their subject. However, for the most part, lectures are just inefficient ways to get information across. With the Internet, we have methods to get this information asynchronously, without requiring packing everyone into a room. Rather, the role of the teacher in the future will be supporting students. That's where humans outshine computers - answering questions, tutoring, understanding where students might be confused, etc.

lutorm 12y ago
It's not like Sal Khan was the first to say lectures are an ineffective way of learning. For example the "How people learn" report by the National Academies from 2000 (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9853 http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9853) is a very good overview for those new to the subject.
rimantas 12y ago
I am pretty sure lectures will exist well after Sal and John will not. It is so sad to see so many people failing to grasp what teaching is.
- temuze 12y ago
  Passive aggressiveness aside, what would you define teaching as? Me, I learned more from a textbook than I did in big 200 person lectures. You can go at your own pace, you don't have to wait for the professor to answer questions, etc. The best supplement, when I was confused with the material in class, was to have one-on-one time with a teacher.
VLM 12y ago
"lectures may not exist in the future" What would I listen to in my car streamed by bluetooth from my phone? Radio? No way. What might happen is someday, someone is going to record "The Ultimate verbal explanation of a PDA automata" or whatever, and then for the next 500 years that'll be The One that everyone listens to. It hasn't turned out this way in books because of legacy analog media combined with desire of publishers to maximize profits. Imagine if you could just download the Feynman lectures on physics. Aspects are out of date, but still going to be better than the local talent.
- nickzoic 12y ago
  Imagine! http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ http://www.openculture.com/2012/08/the_character_of_physical_law_richard_feynmans_legendary_lecture_series_at_cornell_1964.html http://www.openculture.com/2012/08/the_character_of_physical... OK, so that's not quite everything but it is a pretty good start, and there's lots of other stuff out there on the web.
- gggmaster 12y ago
  PDA has already included the word automaton.

by temuze 12y ago

lutorm 12y ago

It's not like Sal Khan was the first to say lectures are an ineffective way of learning. For example the "How people learn" report by the National Academies from 2000 (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9853 http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9853) is a very good overview for those new to the subject.

rimantas 12y ago

I am pretty sure lectures will exist well after Sal and John will not. It is so sad to see so many people failing to grasp what teaching is.

temuze 12y ago
Passive aggressiveness aside, what would you define teaching as? Me, I learned more from a textbook than I did in big 200 person lectures. You can go at your own pace, you don't have to wait for the professor to answer questions, etc. The best supplement, when I was confused with the material in class, was to have one-on-one time with a teacher.

VLM 12y ago

"lectures may not exist in the future" What would I listen to in my car streamed by bluetooth from my phone? Radio? No way. What might happen is someday, someone is going to record "The Ultimate verbal explanation of a PDA automata" or whatever, and then for the next 500 years that'll be The One that everyone listens to. It hasn't turned out this way in books because of legacy analog media combined with desire of publishers to maximize profits. Imagine if you could just download the Feynman lectures on physics. Aspects are out of date, but still going to be better than the local talent.

nickzoic 12y ago
Imagine! http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ http://www.openculture.com/2012/08/the_character_of_physical_law_richard_feynmans_legendary_lecture_series_at_cornell_1964.html http://www.openculture.com/2012/08/the_character_of_physical... OK, so that's not quite everything but it is a pretty good start, and there's lots of other stuff out there on the web.
gggmaster 12y ago
PDA has already included the word automaton.