Free Online Instructional Videos for K-12
The Kahn Academy is an online classroom of sorts designed to help make learning math and science (history and language in the future) easier and more accessible. It is a free resource that anyone can use worldwide. Every lesson is simply a video by Kahn Academy creator Sal Kahn or one of his employees. The videos walk the student through problems step by step. You can pause, fast forward, rewind, or start all over at any point in time. I use a website that is similar called Duolingo, which is a free online resource that teaches second languages. These kinds of websites are successful because they tap into what a student needs most: to feel like someone is working through problems with them and not talking at them. These positive online resources target a wide audience, one who is tech-saavy and craving solid educational resources that are free and easy to navigate.
Free Online University Classes and MOOC's
WJLA.com report tells about the University of Virginia's decision to start offering free online classes. On one hand, this could be a great idea. Providing free quality information will sound good on paper 9 times out of 10. However, I am concerned with the validity of these courses. The article gave some good points at the end about how free online classes will be expensive to run with almost no revenue. How are the schools that offer free online programs going to afford the classes and retain the validity of them? It is a hard question to answer. I am not convinced that these online classes are such a great idea, even though it is a noble one.
Plans for Free Online Degrees
Daphne Koller's Ted Talk: Free Education Worldwide was monumentally inspiring. While I am still not convinced that free online university classes are fool proof, I will admit that Koller's passion and way of explaining the subject made me a little more open to the idea. The fact that the courses she talks about stop to ask a questions about the content periodically throughout the class. This will help gage retention of material and encourage students interact with it. I love that she is passionate about making education a "human right" for anyone that is motivated and willing to achieve it. These are the kinds of things the world desperately needs to be focusing on.
New writers/ sources of textbooks
Apple is known for its innovation and iTunes U is no exception. iTunes U is a feature that allows teachers to create a dream outline for their classroom. They pull their favorite sources whether they be textbooks, articles, notes, you name it..and put them together to form the ultimate lesson plan. Teachers can map out their class time from A to Z. Videos, applications, interactive lessons and many other interactive tools can be used in the making of the iTunes U course. This is such a great way to organize class time. Instead of using only one textbook, teachers can combine the best of the best resources to create the ultimate learning experience for their students.
References
Khan Academy
Duolingo
WJLA.com report
MOOC list
Ted Talk: Free Education Worldwide
iTunes U
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