kitchen table math, the sequel: Ben Calvin on internet & education

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Ben Calvin on internet & education

Here's Ben replying to my observation that "I don't think we understand the internet yet":

I completely agree with you on the current state of web-based training. But the present is not the future. I can't predict what is going to take off, but I think one or more alternatives will.

A 3D holograph AI (artificial intelligence) teacher giving you one-on-one instruction, like Kortana in Halo or Professor Kawashima in Brain Age?

A Facebook group of students that hires teachers in India to give lessons via video conference?

Some other idea we're not thinking about?

I don't think the change will happen overnight. But 20 years ago it was pretty obvious that the newspaper business model was obsolete. Now that the revenue crash is coming it's pretty dramatic. But the dynamic has been in place for quite a while. That's where I think we are with education in the U.S.

I may have to go ahead and get Clayton Christenson's book. Christenson predicts that "by 2019 about 50 percent of courses will be delivered online." Clifford Stoll's book, High-Tech Heretic: Reflections of a Computer Contrarian, is the one to read on the subject of distance-learning-as-fiasco.

It's an interesting time. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the "correct" model already exists but I just haven't heard about it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My suspicion is that distance learning works well only for students who are diligent and self-motivated and have good executive/organizational skills.

I suspect that the same students who need extra one-on-one help in a traditional classroom will suffer further in a distance learning environment.

Ben Calvin said...

That makes sense. to me, GoogleMaster. But any future collapse of the U.S. school model is likely to come from the diligent and self-motivated leaving first, as more options become available.

In another thread there is mention of the CA Virtual Academy charter school, where the state pays for homeschooling/distance learning materials. It's when these separate threads come together that we will get models that will draw more and more students from the current public system.

On a more sci-fi note – what I'm thinking about is the time in the not-to-distance future when we won't be accessing this stuff through computer screens. Check out this .pdf from the 3D@Home Consortium or Build Your Own Holograms at Home with this Handy Kit.

Catherine Johnson said...

Google Master - that's definitely what I've seen (in my own behavior & in the experience of a h.s. kid I know).

In my "n of 2," neither of us has completed the course(s) we paid for!

I'm very interested in "developments"....it strikes me that the public schools are under extreme stress at this point: stress in the sense of stress intense enough to lead to change. I'll get a link posted to the new survey out, which I think is devastating (people rate the local police & post office more highly than they do their public schools).

Events at the Democratic convention are nothing short of astounding, to me at least. You've probably all seen them, but I'll get those links up, too.

At the moment I'm thinking it's a shame neither candidate has any particular interest or expertise in education. (I may be wrong about that -- ?)

If I had to bet, I'd bet that Ben is right about the current situation: the most diligent will be the first to go. NPR had a show on homeschooling in which the expert interviewed, who may have been a historian of homeschooling, apparently said that the first wave to leave the schools were serious Christians; the second wave is serious academics.

btw, I hope I'm not offending people by using the word "serious" to modify either "Christian" or "academic." I'm not quite sure what word to use there, so I'm hoping people will know what I mean.

Still, I think "serious academics" is a pretty tiny group.

My guess about the next large group would be parents of boys and girls who are fleeing the "mean girls" situation in public schools.

A subject for another post.

SteveH said...

"Still, I think 'serious academics' is a pretty tiny group."

I don't think it's too small. Many struggle to make it work in the (sink or swim) public school system. They don't make a big stink even when schools take credit for their success.

I do think that there is a philosophical/educational divide among parents, and I'm not talking about a correlation to SES. I meet many high SES parents who just don't seem to have a clear understanding or expectation about school. They want to see good grades, but they only react, rather than plan.

Our schools are under stress because of NCLB(proficiency), but they are not under stress to provide serious academics. They talk about having all kids work at their highest levels, but they don't provide the means. They can't or won't separate kids. They won't set higher standards because that requies them to separate kids.

Things change in high school, but it can be superficial and it is definitely sink or swim. The schools might crow about how their graduates go to Harvard or MIT, but they don't (want to) know the details of how they got to that point.

I'd like to see a tipping point, but I don't see one, especially coming from the serious academic types or high SES communities. If it comes, I see it coming from the inner cities with arguments over things like Green Dot schools.

Jo Anne C said...

"the CA Virtual Academy charter school, where the state pays for homeschooling/distance learning materials"

I've signed on with CAVA-LA, an online charter school in CA that uses the K=12 program. I just received a large shipment of supplies and textbooks and a brand new computer all paid for by the State. Wooooo, hooooo!

My husband is thrilled, and so am I.

We managed to get a foreign language package included (for 5th grade!). The teacher we meet with was a can do gal, the focus is on mastery and keeping parents happy, they will work with you to make it happen.

N is happy as a clam, and tells me how much he loves the program. His comment this a.m. was that he doesn't have to wait around to move on to something else.

There have been bureaucratic speed bumps. The textbooks didn't arrive until day 2 of the school year and some are still missing, so I've had no time to organize, and must print lesson sheets off the web site for now.

The lesson plans are scripted so I know just what to say as we review each lesson.

So far so good!