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Education is not a technology. How do you replicate a discussion class? Everyone logs on at the same time in virtual reality at the same time?

jonknee 17y ago
Seems like we're having a discussion right now... Online. On my other screen I'm following Apple's special event in real time. The technology is already here.
- omouse 17y ago
  Ah yes, but can you share the information from that special event with us? Oh, we have to click a link to view it? Well what good is that. And we can't properly annotate it. Well shit, might as well go back to pen & paper.
  - jonknee 17y ago
    Of course I can share it. What's wrong with giving you a link? That's the base of the web. It's just text and graphics, you can annotate it however you want.
    - omouse 17y ago
      Yes and the base of the web is insufficient. I won't get into it now though, I haven't had a coffee yet.
philwelch 17y ago
meetup.com. Most of these are really simple problems if you're targeting the subset of people who care enough to take the initiative for their own education. In that case, the problem is not what to replicate, the problem is what to get rid of. One thing to get rid of is spending tens of thousands of dollars on tuition. Another is having to convince bureaucrats in the admission office to let you in. People will still move away to study if they can't find a community of peers where they live. The more self-directed students, though, don't need to pass through the admissions barrier or become part of an institution. The social aspects of college could actually be improved this way. Instead of being stuck with whatever 20-somethings were selected to the same college as you by merit of income level and admissions fiat, you could work with a self-selected group of ambitious full-time students and even experienced professionals trying to maintain and further their education. You're right--you have to build a social system, not just a technical system--but it's not impossible to build a better social system than the university. Technology's only an enabling factor, not the whole solution.

jonknee 17y ago

Seems like we're having a discussion right now... Online. On my other screen I'm following Apple's special event in real time. The technology is already here.

omouse 17y ago
Ah yes, but can you share the information from that special event with us? Oh, we have to click a link to view it? Well what good is that. And we can't properly annotate it. Well shit, might as well go back to pen & paper.
- jonknee 17y ago
  Of course I can share it. What's wrong with giving you a link? That's the base of the web. It's just text and graphics, you can annotate it however you want.
  - omouse 17y ago
    Yes and the base of the web is insufficient. I won't get into it now though, I haven't had a coffee yet.

philwelch 17y ago

meetup.com. Most of these are really simple problems if you're targeting the subset of people who care enough to take the initiative for their own education. In that case, the problem is not what to replicate, the problem is what to get rid of. One thing to get rid of is spending tens of thousands of dollars on tuition. Another is having to convince bureaucrats in the admission office to let you in. People will still move away to study if they can't find a community of peers where they live. The more self-directed students, though, don't need to pass through the admissions barrier or become part of an institution. The social aspects of college could actually be improved this way. Instead of being stuck with whatever 20-somethings were selected to the same college as you by merit of income level and admissions fiat, you could work with a self-selected group of ambitious full-time students and even experienced professionals trying to maintain and further their education. You're right--you have to build a social system, not just a technical system--but it's not impossible to build a better social system than the university. Technology's only an enabling factor, not the whole solution.