"I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom. I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients." Gustave Courbet

14 September 2012

Mastery.

Gérôme, Pygmalion and Galatea, 1890


How, exactly, will education look in 30 years? "I wish I had a crystal ball," [Udacity founder, Sebastian] Thrun says. But technology is enabling educators -- not to mention Silicon Valley entrepreneurs -- to personalize education and scale it up:

Classes will involve a sequence of increasingly more challenging exercises and quizzes aimed at helping students master a particular concept or skill.

A single class might enroll tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of students, but "there will be no more one-size-fits-all," Thrun says. "Education will respond to you."

Grades -- what Thrun calls "the failure of the education system" -- won't exist. Rather, students will take as much or as little time as they need to demonstrate mastery of a particular skill or concept.

Instruction will be free, but related services might involve a fee. Among those are certification and exams, which will be conducted separately from the learning process.


Read the rest at USA Today.

Udacity is here.

No comments: