A VC - Latest Comments in Hacking Education (continued)

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

ShanaC — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:08:26 -0000

Istria on 57th Jake?

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

SwitchedOnMom — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:29:57 -0000

I just found this discussion and wanted to say "right on!" There *are* parents out here who are paying attention, who in the hard effort of trying to get their kids an appropriate education have learned that "the system" is broken--and have not been blinded by multimillion dollar, cheerleading school PR departments. We're moving on. Life is short, my child's childhood is short and I'm not waiting for the system to change. But in the meantime I'm going to do all to spread the word that there are alternatives, that there are choices, that we can speak out and speak the truth. I too would love to see some kind of homeschool/school hybrid opportunities, but sadly where I live it's not up for discussion. Pity. And the school system's loss.

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

fredwilson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:58:19 -0000

Nice

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

Matt Teichmann — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:04:41 -0000

I thought of this blog topic when I read this quote from Bruce Lee:

"If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you."

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

fredwilson — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:30:06 -0000

I'd like to learn more abiut open study

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

Ashwin Ram — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:11:02 -0000

Nice post. You spoke with Payman regarding OpenStudy (http://openstudy.com), just launched out of Georgia Tech and Emory. Our vision is nicely aligned with your points #1,2,3,6,8,10,11. We want to take the 10-15 hrs/wk today's kids are spending on social networks and channel that engagement towards studying (peer learning). The site provides online study rooms for high school and college students. Would be interested in comments from you and your readers, if you'd like to take a look.

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

fredwilson — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:11:21 -0000

And tv networks get disintermediated but tv shows do not

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

briandbutler — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:45:01 -0000

universities will be disintermediated... teachers willl not.
its like newspapers being disintermediated.... not the journalist/ blogger / reporter.

the parallel is a good one.

another:
record labels get disintermediated, not the artists.

hope that helps

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

esha — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:51:34 -0000

I was searching on google for worldwide college and study abroad guide for international students and i found a great website

http://www.education-guide.net. It has all the information needed by the new comers.

So i strongly recommend to check that website and leave your feedback.

Thanks

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

Troy Steele — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:05:04 -0000

Very interesting read. Traditional eductaction seems to rely on a teacher passing on knowledge from a reliable source to the student. Won'y a push for self education and home schooling remove the unbias and have the new teacher pushing opinions rather than facts?

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

fredwilson — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:40:50 -0000

I agree

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

briandbutler — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:02:57 -0000

The education marketplace may radically change over the next 5-10 years. With falling costs of producing and delivering digital content, the education market could face radical disruption to the traditional business model. Think about the following…

1. Falling cost to create content
* any professor with a video camera can upload his / her lesson to Youtube (or similar sites). With the drastic fall in cost to create content online, professors all over the globe are uploading lesson plans online for free viewing. (see my list of online distribution sites here)
* economics of “scarcity” no longer applies to basic undergrad content in courses such as economics, marketing, finance, etc.
2. Falling Distribution cost
* internet communication technology drives the cost of distribution of content to free
* monopoly of “physical space” no longer applies since the number of “seats” at the lecture is now infinite.
3. Lessons from history:
* every industry that faced both falling production & falling distribution costs….underwent fundamental radical change (disruptive). In no industry that faced both of these factors did the landscape turn out the same as it began…
* Parallels with other industries - newspaper, music, computer (Dell)
* the education industry will soon face major disruption to their business model…much as other industries have in the face of falling costs of creation & distribution of content. Think about the transformation we have witnessed in:
o music industry: record labels lost the monopoly of creation & distribution when costs fell and the internet grew
o reporting / journalism industry: the newspaper lost its monopoly over creation & distribution when costs fell.
o computer distribution: companies such as HP were challenged by Dell who dis intermediated the wholesaler, and went direct from manufacturer to customer…using the tools of communication to reach people directly.

more on KookyPlan blog: http://blog.kookyplan.com/?...

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

tdrake — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:39:33 -0000

Chicago is leading here:
http://www.k12.com/cvcs/

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

Sean Swayze — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:09:00 -0000

excellent views on a subject that has been close to my heart
what has disappointed me is the dearth of video game simulations for more job related tasks to ensure that new employees can learn in a harm free environment, certainly we can have some standards met through this type of training, and also because there is the opportunity to monitor behaviour while under simulation potentially hazardous people can be identified at a point in their training where they would not have exposed the public to potential harm. Most kids I know, all of them have high proficiency with computer interaction, the cost savings for school boards that purchased e-texts alone would be worth a bit of a culture hack as well. A hardened e-book reader a la fisher-price (TM) is called for I think and potentially cut school board paper requirements by a third, thereby in a cost / performance way actually INCREASE the services that school boards could provide to their students. I'm also pretty certain that most parents would be happy to shoulder the purchase cost of these devices if they felt confident that their children were getting better and clearer access to the content they need to know... certainly room in this environment... would be interested in further discussion on this :)

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

CS — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:16:20 -0000

Livemocha.com

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

m-roch — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:41:27 -0000

i have only recently become interested in this concept of "niche learning communities". i am a student and would be extremely interested in this become a popular reality.

i did find it interesting that all four of the above online programs were Islamic. Religion already commands a devoted audience. if highly structured religion can adapt to a new age of education shouldn't general education adapt as well. In my community(far from the norm) where private religious education is considered irreplaceable, there is an intense debate about how to lower the ever-rising costs of the private school system. I would be interested in suggesting online classes to those involved in reforming ideas. Current ideas include charter schools and after-school programs. However neither of these ideas completely eradicate the high costs of paying for real estate and humans and also give up some of the control they desperately "need" to hold on to. The internet idea/ niche learning community idea solves both problems.

I realize my community is far from the norm but nowadays everything is- that's what a niche is

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

fredwilson — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:42:51 -0000

Maybe

We'll only know when the economy comes back

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

jeremystein — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:23:15 -0000

do you think that the declining value of the degree is being accelerated by current market conditions?

what we're seeing in the job market is similar to inflation-- too many candidates chasing too few jobs. what appears to be devaluing in this situation is the degree.

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

mpstaton — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:25:05 -0000

Technically I'm an independent that would call myself conservative if that didn't come with a loaded ideology. I've not seen conservatives have great ideas when it comes to education. I support vouchers, but think it should happen in concert with a lot of other changes that republicans aren't willing to think up or fund.

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

Vince Milot — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 11:35:44 -0000

Schools are such a place of anti-education now that any change would be an improvement. Teachers at my school look at you funny if you try to use fancy words, vary your vocabulary, or delight in a well-turned phrase. Then they make students memorize lists of fancy words. Male teachers and administrators appear to spend far more time discussing sports performance than anything else.

Having worked in private bilingual education most of my career abroad, I am not afraid of change, and I can see how bad things are here in the States. That bit about training the industrial worker is right on. Don´t forget, though, that education is really a baby sitting service, and despite exorbitant baby sitting fees paid to us teachers, economies of scale still make it cheaper than a lot of baby sitting services. Also don´t forget that the affluent class has always had and used the means of making education relevent, but for the poor, using existing technologies to the same end has always been stymied. The reason is clear enough; power brokers want dumb consumers, not educated citizens who can cognizantly participate in democracy.

Computer tutorial programs and digital systems are already cheaper than teachers, and teachers´ aids may well play the role of the on-site baby-sitter who switches the programs on and off while watching the kids (software will monitor all twitter and network dialogue)--no teacher needed. But price point for digital hardware and software for education is always just beyond our reach so that can only afford what is already outdated. And the digital industry operates on the same business model as everyone else, making some new gizmo or expensive download necessary for a particular system to work.

I´m in the teacher´s union and have mouths to feed like everyone else, so the notion of losing my job isn´t pleasant, but I support a revolution in the education system anyway. Indeed, the economies of scale of packing thirty kids together in one room for 8 hours a day may make sense from the vantage of baby sitting value, but it brings out all the worst social instincts in humans, adult and child alike, and this forms the foundation of our disfunctional nations.

Twenty years ago, I wrote a diatribe calling for the integration of youth with adults in the workplace as their main educational experience with skills building time at the work site. Portable computers and internet makes this more feasible than ever. The element that needs to be in place, however, and that is not in place now either, is the critical discourse on the ethics of what is being learned and the direction of industry.

At any rate, it isn´t what is available or what isn´t working, and much less is it the analogy of the banking or media industries that will dictate change. It may be when the uneducated cease to be consumers and begin to be severe economic burdens owing to increasing production abroad that reduce unskilled labor jobs to nill in the U.S. Then we will understand the importance of better education for all to keep our economy afloat.

One thing I´d do is emphasize early childhood reading, and make learning and cooperative strategies for project based activity at the core of curriulum rather than facts-based transmission conveyed information. This is the only way to keep learning adapting to society needs. Curriculum and learning activities must to be pegged (rather like a stock index) to ´blue chip´sources that reflect the real discourse patterns used in real life nonacademic life in real time.

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

fredwilson — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:45:11 -0000

Disrupting class was good. I'm on to my next education book, by my wharton prof russell ackoff

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

mpstaton — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:56:52 -0000

nuke.

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

mpstaton — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:14:50 -0000

I've spent the last three days thinking of insightful things to say, but all of them just affirm or ramble on about these 11 points. Good conference. Wish I could have been there.

One thing I've forgotten to do as an entrepreneur, and you pointed this out to me, Fred, is to use Christensen's model of disruption and start by serving the non-consumer. When I read "Disrupting Class," suddenly online universities and high schools and the terrible remediation learning environments didn't seem so smarmy. And, now I've got two products that serve the status quo! (In a good way, though!)

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

Scott — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:17:04 -0000

Yea -- that's everyone's reaction. They're apprehensive. I hear a teacher's voice in my head, "Good students must do all of their homework and eat all of their vegetables!"

The problem with this centers on the real world. Things have changed. I outsource things I'm not good at all the time; whether it be to individuals in other countries or other team members.

Heh, It's all about results. Am I wrong?

Re: Hacking Education (continued)

Michael Lewkowitz — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:57:49 -0000

Here in Ontario, Canada we have great support. Can use any of the school programs/resources. Even tried a school track before we switched to homeschooling that was "Adult Participatory Learning Environment". Originally came from homeschoolers and became part of the official system. The limitations still seem to be in trying to provide interest-driven education for a room of 30 kids.

It's as if there's an opp to reinvent the distribution system/supply chain of education/learning. Move away from gathering students in a place to provide education to enabling students to go to the places where the education is available. In some weird way I'm now thinking of a logistics based student delivery system... instead of school infrastructures we have student transporation infrastructures coupled with distributed programs and online interest based communities and discovery.

It's kind of what we are starting to do but on a family basis... not really coordinated. Hmm...