Suppose that, instead of giving a lecture to 170 people as I did at the conference, I were to meet with each of them individually. Suppose I took one person off into a little room and there we had an interactive conversation instead of an expository lecture.
…then my partner would be involved. The juices would be flowing faster, his mind would be going a mile a minute, and he’d learn a lot more, wouldn’t he? From my point of view, I’d be getting my point across a lot more effectively, wouldn’t I? But the problem was, there were 170 people in that lecture room, and only one of me, and if I used the interactive method, I’d still be conversing with individuals. The expository method is so much more efficient.
And that is the nature of the problem. The interactive conversation is effective, but the expository lecture is efficient…every communicator has been forced to sacrifice effectiveness for efficiency – until now. Because now we have a technology that changes all that. With the computer, I can take my ideas and express them in the form of algorithms, and then I can code those algorithms in a program, and put that program on a floppy disk, and then we can mass produce that disk. We can make millions of copies of that disk and spread it all over the world so that millions of people can play my game. They can interact with my ideas. Because they are interacting, I achieve effectiveness. Because we are mass producing the disks, I achieve efficiency. This is the revolutionary significance of the computer. It allows us to have both effectiveness and efficiency.
It’s been many years since I’ve been in a classroom, but I feel like we could and should have a highly advanced system for individualizing education in a way that works with most learning styles.
It’s been many years since I’ve been in a classroom, but I feel like we could and should have a highly advanced system for individualizing education in a way that works with most learning styles.
I agree with your intent, but my point is underscored by the second to last sentence in your quoted text:
" I can code those algorithms in a program, and put that program on a floppy disk, and then we can mass produce that disk. We can make millions of copies of that disk and spread it all over the world so that millions of people can play my game. "
That person isn’t going to do that for free. They’ll likely expect payment (a reasonable ask) for the initial production, but also the ongoing support/update of the curriculum. All of those costs would be in addition to the resources spent on the lecture for the other student.
I feel like The Dragon Speech is relevent here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBrj4S24074
Overall it’s a fantastic speech that is well worth a watch, but I found the relevent parts here: https://www.erasmatazz.com/library/the-journal-of-computer/jcgd-volume-6/i-had-a-dream.html
It’s been many years since I’ve been in a classroom, but I feel like we could and should have a highly advanced system for individualizing education in a way that works with most learning styles.
I agree with your intent, but my point is underscored by the second to last sentence in your quoted text:
" I can code those algorithms in a program, and put that program on a floppy disk, and then we can mass produce that disk. We can make millions of copies of that disk and spread it all over the world so that millions of people can play my game. "
That person isn’t going to do that for free. They’ll likely expect payment (a reasonable ask) for the initial production, but also the ongoing support/update of the curriculum. All of those costs would be in addition to the resources spent on the lecture for the other student.