Advancing the Education System through Modern Technology

finbak

I have a very important message that I wish to bring to the attention of the education community. I want people to consider a different paradigm for education in light of the internet and modern technology. For about a year now I have held the belief that technology and video in particular can change education in this country and the world. Looking at lectures and video tutorials on the internet at websites such as Youtube; I think that video is a much more efficient means of communicating information for both educators and students. I have looked at every factor that I could think of and still hold the belief that this is the best solution for education of all levels.

If anyone wants to look more into this area, I express these ideas and beliefs in a short 5 mins video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhXGnvdJQnk. I expand on it further in a 3 part video which is around 25 minutes altogether which have been placed on the video sharing website Youtube at the channel http://www.youtube.com/user/ed4free. Additionally I summarise these points in text on a website I created at http://sites.google.com/site/practice123now/education. At least one other person shares a similar vision for the future of education, some may have heard of Kahn Academy channel on Youtube see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRf6XiEZ_Y8&feature=PlayList&p=A5B58BECB6E0A20F&playnext_from=PL&index=4.

It is recommended that all my points are considered before responding. I think the key to this is that students can be given the freedom of choice in how they receive their education and learn subjects. It is this right that I believe can be respected in classrooms and which students can assert. It is a mission of mine to see the government recognise the benefits of such a system and advance the education system in this way. I would be interested in any thoughts and feedback people may have on this proposal, the videos and the next steps to see this brought about.

cavedave

There is a video sharing site called 'Youtube'? should the commoners discover this they may gain literacy and threaten our exalted position as the ruling elite.

Also there is little evidence computers help people learn. For example in Romania they found giving poor kids computers made them do worse in school

I do think IT education may be a good way to combat Baumol's cost disease but I want to see some evidence it works before pumping money into OLPC and other initiatives

Sleepy

TBH, I'm not going to bother going off to YouTube to watch a video being pimped here by a poster who's just joined to promote it.

If you're proposing that video be used to replace teachers in classrooms, your proposal is quite foolish. Children simply will not teach themselves when given access to the resources.

If the suggestion is one that we should be fostering an eCollege, I'd direct you towards oscail.ie. It's vastly over-priced however and unfortunately, despite Irelands history of being a nation of scholars, our colleges are far from world-class.

Never mind the fact that we're in a recession and there simply isn't the moeny to fund such an overhaul of our education system right now. We need to focus on secularisation, curriculum updates, reversing the grade inflation being seen in Leaving Cert and at third level etc.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

cavedave

donegalfella OP, have you asked the TUI and ASTI how they feel about replacing their overpaid members with YouTube videos?

I have just searched youtube for "leaving cert Ireland" and various subjects. there is virtually no videos on it that would help leaving cert students. In a world of wikipedia you would think someone would put up school lessons online. All of MIT's lectures are online for example. A youtube teacher wont be as good as a real teacher but might be better than an awful one.

ednwireland

love the title

Advancing the Education System through Modern Technology

IBTL ?

sceptre

finbak, please read the forum charter where it requires you as thread starter to give birth to a discussion by starting one (merely pointing elsewhere isn' starting one) and requires a summary of any video links to be included for those that don't have access to youtube from wherever they're browsing and contributing to the forum. While the requirement for a summary is sometimes passed over even where it's intended as a serious part of the thread, it's not going to be where you want a discussion based on the contents of the video.

While I realise that you're promoting the use of video over text for education and assume that your videos probably expand on that and explain it's worth and so forth, we're still predominantly text-based, some people don't have acces to youtube at their places of work (or don't have time) or are using comparatively expensive wireless broadband and that's why the rules are in place. Send me a PM when your summary is typed and I can unlock this to let you slot it in directly.