4 TED Talks on the Importance of Online Education
All over the world, online education is making the news, and changing the way people think about learning. Students today have unprecedented access to world-class education no matter where they are: all they need is time, the will to learn, and an internet connection.
If you want to peek into the growing and changing world of online education, check out these great TED talks from some of the best thinkers in the field!
Peter Norvig: The 100,000-student classroom
Teaching one of the most advanced topics available in classrooms – artificial intelligence – Peter Norvig realized that "while the subject matter of the class is advanced and modern, the teaching technology isn't." He and his colleagues at Stanford set out to create a better way of sharing knowledge, and ended up sharing it with over 150,000 students, across hundreds of countries.
Norvig and his colleagues achieved a lot of incredible things: making a high-tech remote learning opportunity feel like chatting in a bar with a smart friend, or example. And making a one-on-thousands teaching environment feel like one-on-one. And the result of all of this isn't just more educated students; it is students who are more engaged, more invested in peer tutoring, and more likely to see the implications of their education everywhere they look.
Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education
Daphne Koller grew up in an environment where she had access to all the education she desired – but she realized that not everyone was that lucky. For Koller, one of the founders of Coursera, an online learning resource, online education is an answer to the question: how do we get education to everyone who wants it? From residents of small towns in India to busy single mothers, online education opens the doors to possibility.
Koller also notes that online learning is different from classroom learning. Lectures don't have to be an hour long, or take place at the same time on the same day of every week. But structures – deadlines, quizzes, student interactions – are still valuable parts of the learning experience. And the online format allows students to get the extra material they need: if student A needs more grounding in a subject than student B, or more practice working through the problems, they can have that extra time and material without any worries of disrupting the class schedule or being left behind.
Alan Kay: A powerful idea about ideas
Alan Kay recognizes that the world is a complex place, and that computers are great tools to help us understand it – no matter your age or previous level of education. Kay emphasizes that giving learners the tools to experiment and find their own educational path raises their engagement and their understanding.
For Kay, learning isn't just about finding mental models or absorbing information: it's about working with others to see patterns and come to new understandings. Kay's work with computers shows how potent computer education and online learning can be.
Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education
With thousands of teaching videos under his belt, Salman Khan is no stranger to online education. And he stumbled into it on accident: he was tutoring his cousins, and decided to create YouTube videos to supplement the tutoring. And then he found out that his cousins "preferred the automated version of their cousin to their cousin!" With Khan's YouTube videos, they could pause and repeat content, review weeks later, and digest tine information at their own pace – without ever feeling like they're wasting his time.
Khan didn't set out to advertise his videos, but people found them, and loved them, and recommended them to others. Online education had a natural draw for all sorts of different people, from students who had struggled with the material in traditional classes to mothers of autistic children who had never been able to teach their children math before. And then another amazing thing happened: the videos came into traditional classrooms, too.
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Is Online Education Right for You?
Online education has tremendous potential, not just to transform the face of education, but to transform the lives of individual learners. Whether you're considering your first college courses or returning to complete or advance your education, consider if online education fits into your schedule and goals.
ECPI University has online degree programs in Technology, Health Science, Nursing, and Business & Criminal Justice. Get in touch today to learn how quickly you could earn an online degree in your chosen field – it could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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