Gates' Future of Education Straight Out of '60s

theodp writes "Bill Gates really should have talked more with ex-Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie. While Khan Academy's new self-paced exercises, coach management options, and game mechanics (merit badges/points) prompted Gates to gush to the high-rollers at Salman Khan's TED Talk that they 'just got a glimpse of the future of education,' Ozzie's seen this movie before, having written similarly-featured PLATO courseware as a student at Illinois. In the '70s. On plasma terminals. With touch screens. Fifty years ago last Friday, 27-year-old EE PhD whiz kid Don Bitzer and partner Peter Braunfeld demonstrated the nascent PLATO system to assembled dignitaries at the 'President's Faculty Conference on Improving Our Educational Aims in the Sixties.' Hey, everything old is new again! Gates is hardly the only tech luminary who don't-know-much-about-PLATO-history — CS Prof Daniel Sleator felt compelled to school the Web's founders on PLATO in '94."

Comments

Existence != Importance

[Byzantine]

Just because something existed in the 70's doesn't necessarily mean people should have known about it or that it had any impact on future developments.

Re:Existence != Importance

[Anonymous Coward]

You sure are optimistic, but unfortunately you're wrong. A basic database system can cost the school district a few millions and years to create, when in reality it should only take a few months at the most for less than a hundred grand. Anytime the government gets involved, it costs more than it should and implementing anything in a school system will cost taxpayers more money than it's worth. PLATO was terrible and I remember hacking it at school so I'd constantly get 100% on everything.

Re:Free youtube videos = more accessible

[tverbeek]

You seem to have a rather limited understanding of what "education" consists of.

Re:Free youtube videos = more accessible

[clutch110]

Actually education is there for the taking. There are those who seek out knowledge.

Solidarity with workers, not Wall Street parasites

[spun]

That's right, it's all about getting the teachers no matter how bad they are more of the hard working tax payers money.

It isn't your money. When you buy a pack of gum, is it still your money? No. The money belongs to the person who sold you the gum. When you live in a society, the money you pay for the privilege is no longer your money. You exchanged the money for your citizenship rights. If you don't like the bargain, shop around and see if you can do any better. If not, that's not our problem.

Teachers make crap money. Government workers make crap money. Instead of coming after the little guy who is just trying to get by, why not go after the people who are really eating your lunch, the corporate CEOs? Here's a little joke for you. A Wall Street CEO, a Teahadist, and a teacher sit down to enjoy a plate of a dozen cookies. The CEO takes eleven cookies. When the Teahadist looks at him, aghast, the CEO says, "Hey! Watch out for that teacher. He wants part of YOUR cookie!"

Slef-paced education is not a panacea

[TrentTheThief]

self-paced study courses have a major problem. They need a specific type of student. The student must be exactly smart enough to easily learn the material, yet dumb enough not to play the system to "get it over with."

Self-paced study material can be a major frustration for students who need a little more help (perhaps to have a concept presented differently) or who need more practice. If a student does not grasp something quickly enough, a rapid demoralization occurs and learning stops.

When smarter students becomes bored, they too become frustrated and learn ways to play the courseware. That rapidly supplants learning the material.

Self-paced learning is absolutely not a solution to a major need in education.It can't replace stand-up training. BG should spend some time and get himself an education degree and then spend a few years teaching before making grand pronouncements. He has no qualifications to speak on this subject.

Re:Solidarity with workers, not Wall Street parasi

[spun]

You don't know any security guards that make that? Maybe that's because "security guard" is not the private sector equivalent: "bodyguard" is a better analogy, as the levels of danger are more equivalent. Most professional bodyguards make more than $54k per year, and they do have better pensions. Police can retire from the force after a given number of years, but still face a penalty for early retirement before the age of 65, just like anyone else. Do you really think $54k is a lot of money? That's barely middle class. Shouldn't police officers be able to afford a home and college for their kids?

The rich want us to fight each other to the death over the scraps they cast off, and you seem only too happy to side with them. Stop looking greedily at the meager compensation public sector workers make, if you want to blame someone, blame the ultra-wealthy ruling elites. They stole your pay and pension, and now they want you to blame someone who still has theirs. Well, if you want what the public sector has, stand up to the greedy bosses and UNIONIZE!