Living in high-tech world bring a lot of advantages to
kinds. High speed internet, 3G or 4G technology and high performance computers, Ipad, Iphone and so on.
In “Bill Gates’Classroom Of The Future”, Gate has given an idea for the future that education will a lot more rely on distance learning as it not only would save more money
in parents’ pockets, but also provide broader
opportunities to higher education’s students .
I do agree with him since nowadays high-end technology
influence our life. In other words, we can’t live without technology. Let’s
imagine that if you lost your cell phone for a day, your life would be mess up,
right? We are more and more relying on technology. And, in the same ways,
the education in the future will not decline influences of technology which
will ease video conference and distance learning methods.
Distance learning provides a lot more opportunities to
people who live far away from universities. A MIT lecture on youtube might be a
very good example; it gives chances for everyone to access their lectures which
are taught by elite professors, including Thermodynamic, Machine Design,
Calculus and so forth. Actually, I have
to admit that I was fascinated by it in the first time I discovered since an engineering
student in a Thai university like me
have an opportunity as a student in one the best universities in the world.
Moreover, I also agree with Gate’s idea that distance
learning is economical in terms of money and time. Since most of the lectures
are recorded, universities or school will be able to reduce a number of lectures.
As a result they can save a lot of money and the tuition fee will decrease. Besides,
video records are reviewable, so it could save professors’ time in other terms
too.
However, to take a distance learning cause, students have to
be patient and disciplinable; otherwise there might be some downsides of distance
learning such as lack of students’ motivation and varying of students’ results.
As far as I’m concerned, in the nearest future, technology
will be a big momentum that encourages distance learning to be popular because
it will be cheaper fairer and more convenient. I’m so jealous our new
generations.
Reference
Fink, E. and Segall, L. (2013, March 8). Bill Gates’ classroom
of the future. CNNMoney. Retrieved March 12, 2013 from http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/08/technology/innovation/bill-gates-education/index.html
This idea reminds to when I was in high school, me and my friends had vdo lectures in tutor school, for example, Davance and the tutor.I never attend in live class because of there are too many students waiting for these class.
ReplyDeleteBill Gate's idea is different, do I need to pay for the future class room? If I have a question, what should I do to get the answer?
I like this idea very much. Because not only does it help the students save cost of studying, it also saves cost of living for international students who study abroad. Also, they can have the equivalent quality of studying no matter where they are. What's more, it's convenient for those who have a problem to wake up in the early morning and get struck in traffic for many hours.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I agree with ploy that what I can do if I have a question.
I think this is a good news for who do not want to attend the live class and it would be fantastic for who live in remote area where need to travel into city to study which lots of expense. However,our king had launched some kind of live teaching through satellite from a school that under his patronage in Huahin to other schools located in border of Thailand. Althrough they are lectured by VDO, teacher in class is so important to clafify or give some more answer when they need.
ReplyDeleteI think this idea is good for theoretical section but not in practical section. Not every subject can be taught online since there is a limited condition ;for example, you can not do lab experiment online. For me, I used to study at Davance like Ploy too, and I think it is effective by studying via the VDO tape since the subject they taught were Thai and Social Studies. These subjects do not need the practical section. However, I think it would be better if I can ask the lecturer to answer my question too. I suggest that the lecturer should set up a blog for students to leave their questions.
ReplyDeleteI definitely like Poom's blog idea.
DeleteIf you look on the right, the last entry in the list of OR FOR SOMETHING TO LISTEN TO? suggestions is a link to a lecture series by one of Harvard University's leading academics - Michael Sandel. As I note there, this is a bit more challenging than the other suggested listening sources I've listed, but Sandel is a brilliant lecturer, which I guess is why his series of Harvard lectures has been such a success.
The more relevant point is that Sandel also set up a class blog for the 1,500 students in his class (he is also, and deservedly so, one of Harvard's most popular lecturers). If you would like a good example of how a university lecture at Harvard or a similar top tier university is conducted, check out Sandel lecturing on justice.
Before I sent my last email with a note about why we blog, I thought it would be a good idea to actually check that my memory of what goes on in the Harvard lectures I cited was correct, so I've just been listening again.
DeleteIn the first 9 minutes, Sandel uses phrases like I think, and in my opinion zero times. His students, in contrast, say "I think" three or four times and "I guess" at least ten times (I think) (2009).
But Sandel has put in the time preparing and organizing his ideas; he has a very good idea of what he can and cannot support, unlike his students, who putting forward ideas for consideration which are unlikely to be so well prepared as to warrant the same strong, confident statement, even though they have done the background reading for the lectures - and Sandel does assume that they students have done the set reading for a class.
Reference
Sandel, M. (2009, September 4). Episode 01 "The Moral Side of Murder", in Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?. Harvard University (producer). [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY&list=EC30C13C91CFFEFEA6&index=1
For me, this topic makes me remind-able to the technological development in Thailand. 15-20 years ago, most people did not rely on technological devices. Only businessmen and politicians could use them for working,and communication. However, many people can reach to use these technological equipment, and these devices are developed continuously. We can see on the advertisement, such as High speed internet or 3G, and 4G, that illustrates the advance of these technology. Moreover, they are used as global education, and provided opportunity to students who are in rural areas, or in undeveloped countries.
ReplyDeleteFor me, this topic makes me remind-able to the technological development in Thailand. 15-20 years ago, most people did not rely on technological devices. Only businessmen and politicians could use them for working,and communication. However, many people can reach to use these technological equipment, and these devices are developed continuously. We can see on the advertisement, such as High speed internet or 3G, and 4G, that illustrates the advance of these technology. Moreover, they are used as global education, and provided opportunity to students who are in rural areas, or in undeveloped countries.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, This article is a brilliant idea for increasing opportunities to children who live in remote area. It might totally change their life and make their life even better. although it's true as Poom said, it's may not work in practical way but at least, it's good for some part.I do believe that education make people be more virtual and better.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Bill Gates' idea anyway :)
Pin Pin,
DeleteDid you mean "virtual" or something else?
I quite like the virtual idea, but I thought you might have meant something a bit different, something with which I might not agree.
you gays are right, distance learning lack of face-to-face activities and facilities such as laboratory. However, As I mention before, it suit for higher education. I can't ague for laboratory matter.but, just for the lecture hours can reduce a lot of money and time that students spend. Laboratory will be still in universities but not lectures. Another interesting point is university can improve laboratory form decreasing of real lecture courses. Do you agree?
ReplyDeleteI also have another idea to support. as you know,today, we have superb technology like simulation programs, 3d printers, and hologram.So, I think it is possible to have laboratory online in the future. How do you think?
ReplyDeleteI think Bar is right.
DeleteI can easily imagine a very realistic online simulation of anything in the near future, if not today. For example, pilot's now do a lot of flight training on computer run simulations. I'm not sure how easily this would translate to dissecting a rat, but I think that with a hologram image run by a computer monitoring our hand movements, it could be pretty impressively realistic. And much kinder to the rats.
Which brings to mind something totally different: if it's OK to chop up rats in a simulation because making it unreal removes the moral injunction against causing needless suffering to something, mustn't the same argument apply to simulated violent pornography, or just violence, for example in violent video games such as grand Theft Auto? Could it be morally wrong to play such games? (And my thanks to Bar for prompting this interesting question. OK, everyone else might think it's boring, but it interested me.)
I feel that education has gradually transformed the study culture of our world in the past few decades. Online education is very productive in terms of convenience and opportunity as long as students can access to the internet. Also, it is like doors to people who don't have time to study in regular schedule. That is, parents can study during their kids' bedtime at home and full-time professionals can study when they finish work.
ReplyDeleteYet, is it possible that lectures on universities will become something of the past as more online courses? I hope we can work out with the best solutions for students and academics. And I agree with Peter, whatever we imagine, technology will delivery as soon as posible.
And if you are interested in what technology might deliver in the not so distant future, question 8. on the list of essay topics might appeal to you as something to explore.
DeleteVery similar, though from a more anthropological perspective, is question 9, the ideas in which might not be irrelevant to question 4.