A while ago I wrote a plan for a Leraar on Demand (teacher on demand). The idea was that we could record good teachers, while they explained their subjects in class and then put the video online. This way the students could access the teachings even though they might have missed the class, had forgotten it or similar problems. The idea originated during beer nights with a group of friends at Twente University. It had been pitched to the faculty of Eductional Technology there, but didn't receive attention. I tried to pitch the idea to Kennisnet and the Ministry of Education in The Netherlands, but I didn't find anyone who was really interested and as it isn't my main field so I didn't pursue it full force.
I thought about entering the idea into Google's 10100 project as I still think it's a great idea. It would be great for both the First as well as the Third world. In both the First and the Third world we have a huge lack of good qualified teachers (both in numbers as well as quality). Fortunately I did a bit of research tonight and you know what, there are now two initiatives pursuing the same kind of idea. One in Sweden called "Teacher on Demand" (looks very good) and one in the US called Teacher Tube. So I am not going to submit it to Google as I'm hardly original anymore. However I do want to spread the word on these good initiatives and it's nice to see good ideas will find their way.
What I am still missing is that not an entire curriculum has been put online and can be downloaded. That would be cool. It would allow students to really search for the stuff they didn't understand well. Also it would allow third world countries to download these movies and distribute them via DVD's. At 35 dollar for a DVD player, this has become an idea that can be easily realized.
Also have a look at http://sdu.ictp.it/eya/about.html
ReplyDeleteThe Enhance your Audience system used in Italy is extremely interesting. It is fully automated. Using a 7 megapixels camera it also makes highly detailed pictures that can be zoomed in. I like it alot. clickable link
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration Rudolf. I feel there is much to be done in the education sector, and the network service providers and their suppliers especially have a big role to play in helping to ensure that our western enconomies re-emerge from bankruptcy in quick time and in good shape.
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