

Sal Khan and the Khan Academy to the rescue - derekc
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2329-sal-khan-and-the-khan-acadamy-to-the-rescue

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pavs
Free online accredited college/school is an idea up for grabs and needs to
happen.

Monetization could be paying for the exams (fixed price per course as opposed
to per credit) and a single "sponsor" per course where the sponsor pays for
the cost_of_making_the_course + $x for the ability to be a "sponsor" of that
said course for first year.

ie, MS/Apple/Google sponsoring CS related courses. Where they sign contract
stating to not have any influence on study materials.

Exams on brick and mortar exam halls (rent rooms in traditional colleges?).

The only problem I can see for this kind of online only college is for some
courses where you actually need hands-on lab experience.

Possible?

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ig1
If you have to pay for exams then how is it free ? - there's already a wide
range of course material on-line available for free. The material isn't the
issue.

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pavs
The cost of hosting exams in a rented place has to come from someplace. I was
thinking more in the line of having a "structured" course, with syllabus,
study materials, quiz/test and even free e-books. Not bits and pieces of video
and texts randomly sprinkled all over the web.

The idea is to be an actual replacement of a brick and mortar college where
anyone can give an exam anytime they want when they feel ready, instead of
being forced to go through months of "learning". If you fail a course exam,
you can give the exam again next week (albiet different questionnaires).

Other ideas:

\- FAQ sections where students can send in questions on each course which can
be answered in the form of video/text. Have enough of those over time and it
replaces the need to have one-on-one interactions with instructors with
questions.

\- Add social aspect to the "online school" where students can see if there
are others in his area studying or have passed the same course that he/she can
meet up for a study group.

\- Online forums, Chat (moderated) on each courses with instant feedback.

\- Let companies/individuals/employer "sponsor" each course/major. Lets say
each exam costs $100-$200, Google/MS can give away 100 free exams to encourage
people to study computer science.

\- All materials is open for everyone to see, read, study, participate.
Students only pay for exams.

Just brainstorming.... We can dream, right? :)

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JadeNB
> Have enough of those over time and it replaces the need to have one-on-one
> interactions with instructors with questions.

As a teacher, I may have a vested interest in your being wrong; but I think
that 'replaces' should be 'reduces' here.

~~~
pavs
:) My idea is not to replace traditional college, and I am pretty sure some
people will always require one in one interaction to be able to learn. My hope
is remove the barrier to higher education, the way things are right now anyone
who wants to join college needs to invest lots of money and time. It should
never be like this and anyone who is self-motivated should be able to have
easy access and learn and finish college.

~~~
JadeNB
I'm sorry; I didn't mean that you couldn't replace the traditional college
experience (I wouldn't want to try it, but I don't see any reason why someone
with infinite time and money couldn't), but rather that I don't think any
static FAQ, no matter how comprehensive, can _replace_ the need for
student–teacher interaction.

EDIT: Also, I whole-heartedly agree with your vision of universal
accessibility of education.

~~~
pavs
_but rather that I don't think any static FAQ, no matter how comprehensive,
can replace the need for student–teacher interaction._

Good thing you pointed it out. I failed to explain myself better how I wanted
the FAQ to work. It shouldn't be static, but rather the quality of the FAQ
will get better as students/educators suggests ways to improve/amend existing
questions and will be updated accordingly (think moderated wiki). Any single
question doesn't need to have one answer, but can have different take on the
same question from different people. It can be in the form of videos or Texts.
As for the educational resources itself (which will be different from the FAQ)
will be made by educators in their respective fields.

Thats the way I was thinking about it, but not the way it came out.
Regardless, I agree with you that in-person education experience is unique
that can-not be replaces by other means (as far as experience is concerned),
but the quality can definitely be improved, when the education resources is
fine-tuned for the experience of learning as opposed to the experience of an
education institute and everything that comes with it.

I am serious about this and I want this to happen, I am currently working on
proposals and fine-tuning my ideas/plans of action to get some funds going to
start working on something rudimentary and get feedback on it. Keep your eyes
open for me :).

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MikeCapone
You can find his "Khan Academy" site here:

<http://www.khanacademy.org/>

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paulgb
The quantity and quality of content Khan produces is astounding. I've found
the videos useful for reviewing linear algebra and probability problems.

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jacquesm
Besides wikipedia he's one of the best things to come out of the internet from
an educational point of view. Simply amazing.

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paulgb
Agreed. Also on my list: PlanetMath and MathWorld.

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jacquesm
It would be nice to have a list of such sites!

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1353362>

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keeptrying
Theres some real quality here and I daresay some kind of business model
because theres so much value in his videos.

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cpr
But the whole point is _not_ to have a business model--he's doing it for
philanthropic reasons.

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keeptrying
Understood. But what I meant was that if someone was trying to create a
startup in this space, they might use some of his ideas. I think its great
that he's doing it for philanthropic reasons but I think education businesses
could definitely learn something from him.

~~~
owyn
These guys have a startup that is exploring this area:

<http://www.supercoolschool.com/>

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morphir
Haha! Khan Acad. keeps growing and growing in terms of videos and popularity..
this is just awesome! :D

