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'In the Knowledge Economy, We Need a Netflix of Education' (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: When we want to acquire useful knowledge, we have to search the web broadly, find experts by word-of-mouth and troll through various poorly designed internal document sharing systems. This method is inefficient. There should be a better solution that helps users find what they need. Such a solution would adapt to the user's needs and learn how to make ongoing customized recommendations and suggestions through a truly interactive and impactful learning experience. Before Netflix, Spotify, Reddit and similar curated content apps, you had to go to numerous sources to find the shows, music, news and other media you wished to view. Now, the entertainment and media you actually want to consume is easily discoverable and personalized to your interests. In many ways the entertainment model is a good framework for knowledge management and learning development applications. The solution for the learning and development industry would be a platform that can make education more accessible and relevant -- something that allows us to absorb and spread knowledge seamlessly. Just as Netflix delivers entertainment we want at our fingertips, the knowledge and learning we need should be delivered where and when we need it.

144 comments

  1. We already have it. by technoid_ · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just look at Coursera, EdX, Code School, and others.

    Are they free? No, but neither is Netflix or Hulu.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but 3 lefts do - Lew of GO magazine
    1. Re:We already have it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe this is clever click bait for those sites. Get you to mention them. :)

    2. Re: We already have it. by RecycledElectrons · · Score: 1

      Youtube is free, and is the closest to a Netflix of Education.

      Ask Youtube how to do anything. There is probably a video.

    3. Re: We already have it. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Youtube is free, and is the closest to a Netflix of Education.

      Ask Youtube how to do anything. There is probably a video.

      And hundreds of people who are there to tell you,

      A) You're doing it wrong
      B) You don't need to learn this, because the Earth is flat and Jews control everything
      C) You're a fag for wanting to learn this. And probably a Jew.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    4. Re: We already have it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Videos are one way to learn. Then there are these things called books which I've heard can be quite educational and offerred in quickly downloadable formats.

    5. Re: We already have it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We have it already - CuriosityStream

    6. Re: We already have it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do you have a problem with Jews? What did they ever do to you?

      If you're not careful, CNN will dox you.

    7. Re:We already have it. by Smidge204 · · Score: 1

      There's also CrashCourse which *is* free...

      =Smidge=

    8. Re: We already have it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And are also available for free in places called libraries!

    9. Re:We already have it. by ccb621 · · Score: 1

      Nearly all of the courses at edX are free.

    10. Re: We already have it. by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      Youtube is free, and is the closest to a Netflix of Education.

      Ask Youtube how to do anything. There is probably a video.

      And hundreds of people who are there to tell you,

      A) You're doing it wrong
      B) You don't need to learn this, because the Earth is flat and Jews control everything
      C) You're a fag for wanting to learn this. And probably a Jew.

      If I'm looking at a how to video (laptop tear down comes to mind), why would I bother with the comments?

      Also:
      D) Prophet!!!

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    11. Re:We already have it. by m00sh · · Score: 1

      Just look at Coursera, EdX, Code School, and others.

      Are they free? No, but neither is Netflix or Hulu.

      Videos are the worst way to learn.

      Stackoverflow, slack, redit discussions are better way to learn.

      Best is to do a project and post it on github, bitbucket, VSTS.

    12. Re: We already have it. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      If I'm looking at a how to video (laptop tear down comes to mind), why would I bother with the comments?

      I'm not talking about the comments. I'm talking about the videos.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    13. Re: We already have it. by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      OK. I have never run across any content like you describe while searching for "how to" videos.
      I guess I'm just blessed with mundane interests...
      Now, there are a ton of people that don't know what they are talking about, but that's what happens when you give everyone a voice.
      It never means we are obligated to listen.

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    14. Re: We already have it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Studysauce.herokuapp.com/register

    15. Re:We already have it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have never solved a problem based on the advice from StackOverflow. Am I stupid, or is every answer on StackOverflow missing a key part?

      OCW (Open CourseWare) sites are far better:

      https://www.google.com/search?q=ocw

    16. Re: We already have it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are probably looking for answers that are plainly in the manual of whatever app you're using. Stack overflow is for programmers.

    17. Re: We already have it. by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      True, but there are still at least a dozen people willing to spend an hour telling you about the correct technique for using a skew chisel, taking apart a $200 professional impact driver, analyzing it in minute detail and filming the mechanism in high speed, or showing you how to perfect your stick welding technique on medium section right angle joints.

      Youtube is bloody amazing if you ignore the dickheads.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    18. Re: We already have it. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Youtube is bloody amazing if you ignore the dickheads.

      Naw, you're right. I had an old lockbox/safe with a rotary combination that I'd long forgotten. It's a very nice box, and I didn't want to ruin it or damage the contents. I watched a YouTube video on how to crack the combination and I got it in three tries. I felt triumphant. But it did occur to me that thieves can also watch these videos, which tempered my enthusiasm a little bit.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    19. Re: We already have it. by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      They sank the Titanic.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    20. Re: We already have it. by TheCastro1689 · · Score: 1

      Yup, the Icebergs, they are a little known Jewish family from the North.

    21. Re: We already have it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you find ignoring the comment section difficult?

      If you use a Roku, you don't even have to know that there IS a comment section.

  2. Already exists. by gurps_npc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Called the Khan Academy.

    Great site with lots of topics.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    1. Re:Already exists. by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      with videos that are actually on youtube.
      it's a youtube link list.

      the answer is youtube. netflix implies that you would pay for it. which implies the writer wants cash to start up a business.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Already exists. by netsavior · · Score: 1

      Khan has tons of interactive content as well. Yes there are a bunch of youtube videos curated there but the curator problem is one of the things that TFA dances around solving.

    3. Re:Already exists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL. We could have replaced teachers by automated machines years ago. Adaptive learning exists and would be far more personal and far more effective than one person in the front attempting to explain a concept to a bunch of people. Blame teacher's unions and school district budgets. They are stuck in the stone ages and it really should be considered torture to young adults.

    4. Re:Already exists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lots of free, high quality coursework can be found here:

      Cisco Networking Academy

      Redhat Academy

      There are many more. You just have to look.

    5. Re:Already exists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was hopeful about KA, but the few Khan Academy videos I've looked at were mediocre, at best. I hope they've improved, haven't looked at them for a while.

    6. Re:Already exists. by Rakarra · · Score: 3, Insightful

      LOL. We could have replaced teachers by automated machines years ago.

      There's no substitute for a good teacher. Everyone learns differently, and everyone has different places where they can get stuck. There's no better way to get past a mental roadblock than just ASK in person.

    7. Re:Already exists. by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Blame teacher's unions

      Is it their fault you can't use an apostrophe properly?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    8. Re: Already exists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure 10% of teachers might be goo. But fo they have time for all students? I would let computers do majority of teaching and let teachers make better apps and help in biggest problems. Because the problem is not that some students dont get it all. The problem is that majority doesn't learn it and still they are pushed into higher level.

    9. Re: Already exists. by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Umm... I think that might be correct. The unions, belonging to the teachers. So, teacher's unions?

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    10. Re: Already exists. by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      That would be a union of one teacher, which isn't much of a union.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. Khan Academy? by acoustix · · Score: 1

    Isn't that what online services like Khan Academy are already offering? I haven't used it and don't know much about it. But it seems to me these education outlets already exist.

    --
    "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
    1. Re:Khan Academy? by NetNed · · Score: 1

      Too free and not enough monetary returns for the education industry. Just like copyrighted curriculum in colleges. Put a copyright on it, change for it and make money while calling it SO much more better than that free garbage!!!

  4. Don't we have several of them? by sid+crimson · · Score: 1

    EdX, Udemy, Lynda, etc.
    Not to mention, there is value in learning how to research.

    1. Re:Don't we have several of them? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I prefer using Udemy for online instruction, especially when courses are available for $10 each.

    2. Re:Don't we have several of them? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Are Udummy the ones that are like "I will tell you what is one wariable. It is nothing but name of the location where you can be storing one walue" or am I getting them confused with Pluralshite?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    3. Re:Don't we have several of them? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Are Udummy the ones that are like [...]

      Beats me. I'm currently taking a content marketing course. No coding required.

    4. Re:Don't we have several of them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What content are you planning to market?

    5. Re:Don't we have several of them? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      What content are you planning to market?

      Not sure. Slashdot is my fishbowl for this experiment. We will find out in the months ahead.

    6. Re:Don't we have several of them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what does your marketing course tell you about things like this? http://imgur.com/a/vjebp (copied it from a russian site, just so you can take it down)

  5. There are already several by redmid17 · · Score: 1

    Just like there are Amazon, Google, Netflix, Apple providing entertainment for a fixed fee. There are training sites that do the same. Lynda is merely one of them.

  6. I thought this was Stack Overflow? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or Wikipedia? But then "useful knowledge" is under-defined. Are you talking technical, scientific, medical, financial...? Of are you asking for a tool that will help one understand what they need to look for?

  7. Counterpoint by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-08-13-why-we-don-t-need-a-netflix-for-education

  8. We have it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...It's called Youtube.

  9. instructional videos or quick answers is wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Critical thinking is more important than finding the answer in google or adding on a calculator.

    1. Re:instructional videos or quick answers is wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Instructional videos are fucking awesome. Sure, I could critical-think my way through analyzing how the fuck my washing machine is put together, but that'll take days. Or I can just look up someone's instructions on how to change the clutch, and that's fucking that; the job is done two hours after I get the part in the mail.

      I don't need to become an expert on my washing machine's anatomy. Laziness is sometimes the perfect fit.

  10. Open Stacks by Geodesy99 · · Score: 1

    It's called a public library. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/....

    1. Re:Open Stacks by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      The newer public libraries tend to be smaller than the older public libraries of yesteryear. When a new public library and community center opened near my home, the library was a tiny little room inside a huge building. The rest of the building was a fitness center, a basketball court , a café and community rooms that the city collects rental fees on.

  11. We had two by randomErr · · Score: 0

    They were called 'The Discovery Channel' and 'PBS.' Both were created to be an education only networks, The Discovery Channel as a pure educational cable network that dis just documentaries. However after teh first 2 years it was no where near profitable. So it it got spun off into a commercial entity showing primarilly reality television series, such as speculative investigation. Then it started making a ton of money. PBS went political, the cable networks came, and finally YouTube stole most of their audience. PBS is barely holding on with life support..

    --
    You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
    1. Re: We had two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PBS should stick to music and arts.

    2. Re:We had two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PBS has been dumbed as well. Compare an Old Nova to a Modern one. No dramatic music to guide one's feeling. Dry and full of a lot more information.

  12. Wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When we want to acquire useful knowledge, we have to search the web broadly, find experts by word-of-mouth and troll through various poorly designed internal document sharing systems. This method is inefficient.

    Wrong.

    1. Re: Wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Troll is the new trawl!

    2. Re: Wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haha, I came to make that joke. If you're actually trolling your way through education sites, that's probably where you're going wrong. Sad that it took so long for anyone to notice that, and in an education-related thread to boot.

  13. Up to a point. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Curation can be useful (and essentially that is what formal education is. Are you 100% satisfied with formal education?), but so is the ability to do independent research. That was one of the driving ideas behind the web, not hosting tv shows. General education can't be an echo chamber and be effective anymore than anything else. Also, sites like Lynda.com already exist. There is little philosophical difference in what is being proposed here simply because it would be wrapped inside an app (that's pretty much all innovations in tech of the past decade have been, the creation of different interfaces to accomplish the same task using the same information). This post reeks of millennial obliviousness. On the other hand, specialization is necessary for specific skills or subjects. We figured this out centuries ago. Nuance, young'uns, nuance.

  14. probably not the best approach by Roger+Wilcox · · Score: 2

    Netflix, Spotify, and Reddit curate in such an oppressive manner that I cannot imagine such a model being good for anyone who likes to direct his own habits. And for one who doesn't like to direct his own habits... education curated in such a manner sounds downright dangerous.

    Netflix and Spotify (ostensibly) show you what they think you want to see. The curation is perhaps somewhat accurate but I end up feeling like a browsable index would suit my needs far better than having so much content hidden, even inaccessible, behind what they divine my "tastes" to be. As an example: Netflix no longer displays a category for anime on my account because it has decided I don't like anime. Simply not true! I want that category back! Their curation makes my self-direction more difficult because they have forced me to spend extra effort locating the content I really want to see.

    Imagine this applied to education: You want to learn about Japan? Well our AI doesn't think you really do, so we'll present options to learn about how great USA is instead! How is this good?

    And Reddit? Well... Reddit is curation by an angry mob. Has OP ever even been to Reddit?

    In short: Make educational content easily available? Absolutely. Use some fancy AI or groupthink to do so? Probably not the best approach.

    1. Re:probably not the best approach by Roger+Wilcox · · Score: 1

      Perhaps a tad gauche replying to my own post, but... Give me a centralized, well-indexed collection of all the education available and let me be the curator.

    2. Re:probably not the best approach by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      As an example: Netflix no longer displays a category for anime on my account because it has decided I don't like anime. Simply not true! I want that category back!

      There's a page that lets you manually override those assumptions and specify your interest in particular categories and subcategories, though I think you have to do that via the website.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  15. Wikipedia could of been it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But they decided to delete obscure knowledge as "not notable" (violating Wiki is not paper and "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing. ") and having WP:OWN violating admins running revert scripts on their favourite articles. Jimbo Wales should be arrested for spreading inaccurate knowledge and the donation money seized and given back to it's donators or to legitimate charities.

    Captcha: Schools, which is a target of deletionists.

  16. In the Knowledge Economy.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In the Knowledge Economy we need to learn how to use google.

    http://lmgtfy.com/?q=online+education+videos

  17. We have it but it is not education based by oldgraybeard · · Score: 1

    I used to buy many expensive tech books. But I have not purchased a book in years.

    I also do not think it is based in education apps, the whole education method is obsolete. The information is grouped in subject matter sites.

    In the tech world I just use google and type in my question and the answers are in sites like Stack Overflow, W3C Schools, etc.

    The education model using the old style teaching ways is over, but those in education don't know it yet.

    Most of what is taught in schools today are things that really are not needed and even the things related to the subject are out of date.

    The current education system should stick to the RRR's and make sure students know how to learn and have the tools. Education through grade 12 is free in the US. Those who don't want to learn never will, those with the drive and interest can get all the specifics they need from the net. Providing they have the basics for learning.

    As for Collage, the (i know this will go over badly) only reason to go to collage is to get credentials so you can work for someone else. In the future will it be more than that? Just wondering ;)

    1. Re:We have it but it is not education based by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Did you got to college? Where did you find your feet when it came to the tech world?

      The reason I ask you this is that the Google method is fine as long as you know what you're looking for but when you're not sure it can be a daunting task. Class room learning should bring about a well rounded understanding of the subject and give you the foundation for knowing what questions to ask. At that point you still have to know the wheat from the chaff. You were probably walked through a lot of concepts that Google-cation simply doesn't teach.

      I know a lot of people with a lot of random knowledge that can kind of cobble something together on the fly but what they produce is somewhere between inefficient and a total trainwreck. And it's not that they're dumb people, it's that they lack the knowledge foundation in that particular discipline. For every self-taught who really shines there are dozens of others who are just trying to tread water.

    2. Re: We have it but it is not education based by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Totally agree. I'm self taught IT EXCEPT a few CS courses - those few courses in objects and algorithms has been mind bogglingly helpful in my IT career (not a developer ). Not sure I would've learned some of that on my own. At least to that depth.

  18. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a web search engine.

    1. Re:So... by Scarletdown · · Score: 1

      a web search engine.

      Preferably not yet another search system where the majority of your search results are merely the same question from one or two different users with a whole bunch of responses that are nothing more either than "Me too" posts while quoting the entire original post, or replies quoting the entire post and then a one line response encouraging the OP to fucking use Google (it is almost like many do not seem to understand where the search engines get their results).

      Oh, and let us not forget the many search results that do not seem to even have any of your search terms in it when you do click on the result.

      --
      This space unintentionally left blank.
    2. Re:So... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      a web search engine.

      Preferably not yet another search system where the majority of your search results are merely the same question from one or two different users with a whole bunch of responses that are nothing more either than "Me too" posts while quoting the entire original post, or replies quoting the entire post and then a one line response encouraging the OP to fucking use Google (it is almost like many do not seem to understand where the search engines get their results).

      Oh, and let us not forget the many search results that do not seem to even have any of your search terms in it when you do click on the result.

      Yeah, I really hate those.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  19. iTunes U - Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Umm, what about iTunes U... there are bucket loads of free courses from various universities.

  20. curiositystream.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For $3 a month, pretty hard to beat, although it is obviously not a full solution.

  21. Panels of Experts by SeattleLawGuy · · Score: 2

    Just look at Coursera, EdX, Code School, and others.

    Are they free? No, but neither is Netflix or Hulu.

    Do any of those have solid expert panel discussions?

    --
    Real lawyers write in C++
    1. Re:Panels of Experts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a physics degree from a very good school and don't recall a single panel discussion. That goes for both the physics and substantial number of mathematics classes. In fact, there was very little discussion of anything except when a few students couldn't solve a homework problem in the bi weekly lab sections and those could be resolved invariably by careful reading of the text book.

  22. One critical flaw by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    What Netflix et al are doing is to see what you have been watching, find something that kinda fits the bill and offers it to you. That makes sense, because if I'm interested in subject A and watch relevant content, it's likely that other content that deals with subject A will be to my liking and I'll enjoy watching it. If I'm on a Doctor Who marathon, it's likely that I enjoy SciFi, so suggesting Star Trek makes sense.

    Because when people do what they like, they stay in the same category. People usually have interests that focus on a narrow field.

    This is not necessarily the case when you're trying to teach or learn. And we're not even talking about a broad curriculum that you'd be dealing with in a general education in a high school, where anything from literature and drama to math and geometry would apply.

    Take IT. A rather narrow field when you compare it to what could be considered the total knowledge out there waiting to be learned. Even here you have a very, very wide range of topics. Hardware design (that alone with its many facets would warrant writing its own paragraph), Software design (same deal), theory (from Big-O notation to database normalization), statistics, electronics, logic, mathematics... and let's be honest here, they intersect heavily with other studies.

    Trying to do the same "see what the person was watching and let's find out what else he wants to see" is probably going to end up with results ranging from hilarious to cringeworthy.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  23. Not exactly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First off, today there is no "one stop shopping" for media. It's a jumbled, hodge podge world, including not just Netflix, but Hulu, Amazon, Google and a host of others. Finding what you want is a major problem. Secondly, as others have pointed out, there are a tremendous number of offerings for personalized education, many free. jr

  24. The Great Courses by werld · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I love this "streaming app" on my roku. It's $20's a month which is a little high for my taste but even though I do not really use it as much as i'd like (at least not yet). I have taken some chemistry courses from Georgetown and one of the Photography courses and I really enjoyed both of them. I still pay because its sort of like a donation each month because I think it is a good idea and I want it to succeed.. I also do the same with Curiosity Stream. Cheers

    1. Re:The Great Courses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How did you find Curiosity Stream? I know they have a trial period but I've never talked to an actual user. Is it just more of the same as you'd find on the Science Channel or is there some advanced stuff worth watching?

      I'm not looking for the 600th astronomy show that feels the need to take 5 minutes tell me what a blackhole is AGAIN. I want shows that understand I'm past that concept but want to understand the mechanics of the accretion disk and not just what it is. I don't need Phil Plaite telling me that the universe is trying to kill me for the umpteenth time, I'd be more interested in a knowledgeable series that helps explain nucleosynthesis and its relationship to what a third generation star is producing.

    2. Re:The Great Courses by werld · · Score: 1

      Curiosity Stream is actually pretty good. A lot of their own material and very updated. It's very cheap compared to 'Great Courses' at only 4 dollars a month. You can see everything that is available under these categories to your liking. Just click on the category and see whats available regarding that topic. https://app.curiositystream.co...

  25. You can't fix lazy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Either you are motivated to learn or you are not.
    Making an interface that has only 7 buttons instead of a full keyboard with google and you-tube is not going to suddenly make people smarter.

    The article makes is sound like we need to dumb down the education process.. (Or People Will DIE!)

  26. TED Talks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ted talks, Khan academy, MIT online classes. There are plenty.

    1. Re:TED Talks... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I was about to write about TED talks too. It took a lot of posts before someone finally mentioned them.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:TED Talks... by ponraul · · Score: 1

      TED talks are mostly trash. They are more of a motivational pitch to advance the speaker's career with some pop science. The only good TED talk is "2070: Paradigm Shift."

  27. They exist, but aren't that popular by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · · Score: 1

    Khan Academy has some great series. The depth varies quite a bit between subjects - last time I checked, the math parts were much better developed than the biology ones - but it has some really useful stuff.

    What I'd like to see are more comprehensive trade school education resources online. Yeah, I know there are instructional videos on YouTube, but they tend to be for quick things (some exceptions, obviously) and it's not always easy to find the good ones.

    --
    Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
  28. Also from the point of bingeing at our own speed. by Chas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is what frustrated me so terribly about public schooling.
    "Hurry up and wait for the slow kids."

    Was worst in grade school, got only slightly better in high school, and college was simply more-of-same.

    Even afterwards, classes for various forms of certification are just DREADFULLY slow.

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    If I'd had something like Netflix to absorb information from, I might have done a lot better in school (blew out testing, but classwork destroyed my GPA).

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  29. Re:For all my friends browsing at -1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks for sharing your story. I can see why you call yourself "adventurous" person.

    Did you eventually reach your grandmother's house?

  30. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    For me, it's not much about the speed but the way schools worked in 1980~1990. Just learn and learn and learn, then try to apply what you just learned. I'm more of a learn-as-I-go guy so school was just a horrible learning experience.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  31. Knowledge is not skills or learning by Bodhammer · · Score: 1

    "the knowledge and learning we need should be delivered where and when we need it."

    The premise of this is fundamentally flawed. Knowledge is not an on demand need. Much of the purpose of modern education is to learn how to think and learn how to learn. Only a small subset of learning are skills that can be delivered on demand. There are plenty of sources on where I can get a video on how to fix my dishwasher. Learning the background of heat transfer, metal phase change, and how to measure and cut metals for welding is not an "on-demand" domain and should not be taught as such.

    --
    "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
  32. Lecture and quiz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's still the lecture and quizzing type of teaching. it's not the best way to learn.
    All we did with Khan and Cousera was translate the mass production teaching methods to an electronic format.

    Basically all we are getting are prerecorded lectures and automated quizzes. In this day and age, we could have discovery type of learning - like Montessori for adults. or something even better.

    The things I learn with traditional ways I forget very quickly. But the things that I learn via discovery - trying to figure things out - sticks with me forever.

  33. useful knowledge doesn't grow on trees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No easy production of "useful knowledge", like the top-tit peach! Thus no efficient consumption. What was tough (code) to write will be tough code to read. Unfair? It's a bitch! Fini.

  34. Maybe a good use for the dying Library system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Big publicly funded storehouse of information just waiting to be tapped. Or is this about making money and not raising public education.

    "Digitize all books!" / "Oh well you know; copyright"

    What I'd like to see is like IKEA - which is kinda like a lumber yard that sells you instructions. Educational institution that gives you the framework for learning and its up to you to gather learning resources. The speed and level of focus is up to the individual.

  35. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    I got a citation (not the good kind) for looking at the other children when I was done with my work, instead of putting my head down on my desk and waiting quietly. Literally. LOOKING AT THE OTHER CHILDREN IS BAD MKAY. Never mind that even by third grade I was a head taller than all the other children, and putting my head down on my desk caused me back pain.

    The system is out of order.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  36. Weirdly build article... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 1

    I'm still not too sure what was the objective of the original article (on TechCrunch), but it appears to be confusing some stuff there. It appears whoever wrote it also never had any experience in online learning, which is just weird.

    We already have plenty of similar platforms for education as Netflix is for entertainment. Lynda.com, Khan Academy, Coursera, EdX, Udemy, Udacity to name a few. Kinda egregious that the article talked about none of those despite them being as popular and ubiquitous as Netflix.

    But what the article is really talking about is an AI powered platform that aggregates all sorts of educational information that's far more focused on specific tasks, and tools for getting in contact with real instructors and whatnot.
    That's not Netflix for learning... that's basically online classes. And they exist too. They could be helped with some new tools for material aggregation, but in the end it'll need to be curated in some way, so it'll only extend what online courses are.

    You don't go to Netflix to search for specific bits and pieces of entertainment... you get served a pre-selected and pre-curated range of movies. They are either missing the point or making a very bad analogy.

    It's just another weird article talking about the miracles AI will supposedly make happen, but with a very shallow understanding of what it's talking about...

  37. We need something better than a netflix of ed. by atomicalgebra · · Score: 1

    Like many people said we have online platforms that provide this (Coursera, Khan, etc), but they are all inherently flawed. This is because they are all using passive learning methodologies. Passive learning is reading a video, sitting in a lecture or watching a video. Passive learning is provably less effective than active learning which is learning by doing. The highest form of active learning is an expert tutor. What we really need is a digital tutor. A cloud based A.I. system that will teach a student using mastery level techniques.

    1. Re:We need something better than a netflix of ed. by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Like many people said we have online platforms that provide this (Coursera, Khan, etc), but they are all inherently flawed. This is because they are all using passive learning methodologies. Passive learning is reading a video, sitting in a lecture or watching a video. Passive learning is provably less effective than active learning which is learning by doing.

      I always wondered why I was able to learn so much about history through Wikipedia, while back in grade school my history books were hated, and it was my worst subject. I think it's because on a Wikipedia article I was able to explore tangents at my leisure, easily click on a name I didn't still recognize to remind myself who that was, and explore any direction. I was always a science kid, never particularly enjoyed history, and now I can blow an afternoon on Wikipedia clicking through history articles. The branching format of the wiki worked better for me (and more reflects the relationships between people and places) rather than the linear front-to-back of chapters.

    2. Re:We need something better than a netflix of ed. by atomicalgebra · · Score: 1

      When you are interested in a subject, a dopaminergic circuit forms between your hippocampus and substantia nigra. Dopamine is the pleasure neurotransmitter. This circuit has been has been demonstrated to improve long term memory formation. Interest drives memory formation.

      Second when you connect ideas together, such as following branches on wikipedia, you form new associations. It has been demonstrated that new long term memories form more rapidly when you associate it to an already established memory. New memories are the result of protein synthesis at the synapse. Repetition works(from route memorization), but association and dopamine is more effective.

      One of the reasons an expert tutor is superior to all other forms of education is because they can connect new ideas to ones the learner already knows (association) and impart subject enjoyment(dopamine).

    3. Re: We need something better than a netflix of ed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In khan you don't have to watch videos you can just do exercises. Videos are something you use when you get stuck.

  38. I think I know what they mean by houghi · · Score: 1

    What they mean is that you need to ignore the majority of the information, just like the majority of the content is not available.
    Also that content changes. Bit like how we always have been with war with Eurasia.

    At every time in history there was an overload of information. "History?" I see what I did there. Nice example. I went from one country to another in Europe. The historic facts where the same, the history lessons where not. I did not get a lot of facts in one country and I did not get them in another.
    Methods of education where different. The books where different. For that last one you do not even need to go to a different county. Just go to a different school or get a different teacher.

    The downside of Netflix is that everybody gets the same things. That is not a good thing when you talk about education. We already have way too many people that are pushed through the schooling system as if they where sausages.

    Different methods for different people is not a bad thing. To me Netflix is not a good thing as it reduces the variation, not enhances it. It dumbs it down, not enriches it.

    This because Netflix operates worldwide, not just on a local level.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  39. I did a search ... by PPH · · Score: 1

    ... for on-line education. This:

    https://www.mooc-list.com/

    came up near the top of the list. I'm sure there are other resources.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  40. Yes! but first... by jediborg · · Score: 1

    We need to get rid of state mandates for public education. Before you freak out, notice I didn't say 'Get Rid of public education' I said 'get rid of mandates'. I would much rather put my kid through Coursera, Khan Academy, Liberty Classrom, or "Ron Paul's Home school Curriculum" but if the state I live in mandates my kid still go to what is essential a prison for 8 hours a day to be taught a bunch of falsehoods like "World War II got us out of the great depression" and "Alexander Hamilton was a great founding father" or "The constitution is a living document" then all the great "Netflixes of education" in the world won't help. Kids get burned out by bad "education" systems and then think learning isn't fun.

    1. Re:Yes! but first... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      When I was in school in the early 1980's, the history textbook ended before Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency. I had to go to college to find out what came after that.

    2. Re:Yes! but first... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      not surprising given the state of 'murkin education.

  41. Re:For all my friends browsing at -1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I did, but when I told her why I was late, she keeled over. Sorry grandma!

  42. We need an Uber of doing. by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

    As already commented there are already dozens of different online "Netflixes" of learning.

    What we need is a meat space hands on "teaching on demand" service. You can throw youtube videos and engineering books at me all day long and I may eventually learn. What we need is a hands on skilled trade teaching service. The "hands on" learners are the ones getting left behind in the push for everyone to go to college and learn online.

  43. We need a for education! No we don't! by eepok · · Score: 1

    Oh my deity! Get over trying to find a silver bullet for education. It's a waste of time. There is no "knowledge economy", it's called "education" and "information". And we need a Netflix/Uber/Killer App for education like medicine needs a jackhammer for neurosurgery or penicillin for steel smelting. The success of one concept in one area does not imply that the framework would work in another environment.

    Case in point: Coursera, Khan Academy, MIT lectures, and the like have done NOTHING to affect the education of the masses because the barrier to entry is too high for the masses and, most importantly, you must have continual will and commitment to seek these classes out and take them seriously to get a full education out of them. That's not to say that these concepts are without function. I've taken a couple Khan Academy courses and loved them... but then again, I have a 4-year degree and care enough to post on Slashdot. My wife watches stuff on Craftsy, but she is like me. In fact, all these programs are great for people who already have access to quality computers, broadband internet (mobile and wired), time, space, quiet, solitude, and SELF-STARTING WILLPOWER.

    Look, education is hard. Like really, really hard. As a teacher, you have to gain trust, build relationships, and inspire before you even get down to the required curriculum. You have to react to individuals on the fly and remember how people change. You need to be sensitive to nuance in character, communication, and culture. No app can do that. No piece of software will build that trust.

    Educating children is hard work. It takes time, effort, and passion (which dies with burnout). If you want to find a killer app to fix education, make one that magically properly funds our K-12 education so that teachers make a living wage appropriate for their region and hours of work, reduces class sizes to 20 children per class, and guarantees healthy food for everyone working or learning on a K-12 campus. Do that and watch education improve.

    Because a "Netflix of Education" is going to do nothing for the masses. It's just a really nice idea to give Futurists happy thoughts about the next decade while ignoring the problem at hand.

  44. Also The Teaching Company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Also consider The Teaching Company:

    http://www.thegreatcourses.com/

    Hundreds of lectures from a self-learning / self-teaching company with a corporate history that goes back decades. Audio & video, covering history, philosophy, science, mathematics, art & architecture, and even languages.

    I've gone through dozens of their courses on the drive home over the years. Not to be missed.

  45. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was going to come here to say something like this, but add that if there was something like Netflix for education (of which others have already pointed out that there is), what will happen is what is already happening. People who in general wish to learn, go and use the tool, and people with no wish to learn won't. My grandmother used to say that you can't teach stupid people anything, and while I think she was a little harsh the essential sentiment that school isn't for everybody is spot on. I know a guy for whom school was a torture. He barely completed high school. He ended up as a welder and makes a great living. We could have spared him a lot of agony, and no doubt his classmates and teachers the frustration of waiting for him to learn something he had no interest in, had he been placed into a vocational track early.

  46. The Economics of Knowledge by geekmux · · Score: 1

    You want to know what the Economics of Knowledge looks like today? It's a twenty-something college graduate who can't find a job, holds decades worth of debt, and is still living at home with Mommy and Daddy.

    The "Knowledge Economy" is nothing more than a greedy capitalistic bitch of an education system who works hard to convince you that a fucking mortgage worth of college debt is still worth it. Let's hope whatever engine replaces that method of teaching will at least be financially sound, and not result in crippling debt for the consumer.

    1. Re:The Economics of Knowledge by Moof123 · · Score: 1

      The flip side is that we have business world that uses degree requirements as a blunt screen. You can be just as competent as everyone else, but without a slip of paper from ACME University you won't get past the initial screen by HR. You need to either be exceptional, or be in a super desperate field to manage to get around that barrier.

      So unless the whole business world changes to one where they look at candidate skill instead of candidate credentials it won't matter if you get a Harvard quality education off of Youtube, Uni-Flix, or Net-Degree.

      Entry level tracks simply have dried up for many fields. My current design group is all over 40, and wants 15 years experience when we do hire. We have a couple college interns, but there are no 10 year experience positions for them to ever move into. The manufacturing support based entry level track I used to get into design is long gone, sent overseas 15 years ago. The way things are there are far too few ways in the US to get that first 5 years experience out of school in my field. It is no wonder that an ever increasing number of candidates are visa holders, green card holders, and so on.

    2. Re:The Economics of Knowledge by geekmux · · Score: 1

      The flip side is that we have business world that uses degree requirements as a blunt screen. You can be just as competent as everyone else, but without a slip of paper from ACME University you won't get past the initial screen by HR. You need to either be exceptional, or be in a super desperate field to manage to get around that barrier.

      So unless the whole business world changes to one where they look at candidate skill instead of candidate credentials it won't matter if you get a Harvard quality education off of Youtube, Uni-Flix, or Net-Degree.

      Entry level tracks simply have dried up for many fields. My current design group is all over 40, and wants 15 years experience when we do hire. We have a couple college interns, but there are no 10 year experience positions for them to ever move into. The manufacturing support based entry level track I used to get into design is long gone, sent overseas 15 years ago. The way things are there are far too few ways in the US to get that first 5 years experience out of school in my field. It is no wonder that an ever increasing number of candidates are visa holders, green card holders, and so on.

      An ever-increasing cost of education paired with ridiculous employment filters serve to do nothing more than usher in the era of UBI that much faster. Automation is working to destroy the entry-level employment opportunities that represent the lower rungs on the proverbial ladder of success, making it essentially impossible to climb.

      Greed will ultimately be the demise of the traditional education and employment system.

  47. BUT WAIT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You mean Netflix isn't educational?

  48. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    LOOKING AT THE OTHER CHILDREN IS BAD MKAY.

    They probably assume that kids doing that are trying to copy the answers. I sure would! There was plenty of that at my school.

  49. We need to break down the ivory tower monopoly by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    We need to break down the ivory tower monopoly.

    Even community colleges have credit transfer issues even in state now some go there as it's easier others do it as it can cost way less.

    ITT , UOP, devry and have tried in some ways but they still got sucked into the system and did a poor job at the GEN EDU / accreditation parts while doing better at the real skills parts.

    Tribeca Flashpoint College is good but it started mainly with just being 2 years (now they do have 4 year plans) but they have the same accreditation / credits transfer issues that other tech / trade schools have.

    full sail is very hands on but has a very high cost with the same accreditation / credits transfer issues.

    Also do doctors really an full 4-5 years pre med? why not let them do an 2 year gen edu and then start med school?

    1. Re:We need to break down the ivory tower monopoly by micahraleigh · · Score: 1

      Slashdot users broadly appeal to how college trustees aren't paid and how this is the recipe for success. Traditional colleges are taking "the profit motive out".

      Well, that is NOT how Netflix became a success.

      Netflix makes a lot of money giving ordinary people (i.e. the people Hillary Clinton's campaign staff explicitly said she hates) what they want. Traditional universities just offer a lot of bloviation and buffoonery that some people hope will help them find a job but don't value or respect very much personally.

      Every time a private school succeeds, the government comes in and puts a stop to it because the government has to control everything and we have to understand ourselves as pitiful, helpless minions of the government.

  50. Fancy education for $1.50 in library fees by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

    Willpower is the key, as you point out. The resources are there already (Khan Academy, MIT Open Courseware, etc). The problem is the lack of folks ability to sit through it and do the work, and lack of talented folks willing to do quality teaching. I've noticed that the farther you go back generation-wise, the more folks seem used to doing hard study and work. When I see this "Gimme a Netflix for Education" crap, I don't see see the problem as one of access, but a lack of ability to apply themselves. Most people I know with highly specialized skills didn't acquire them via some cushy interactive video, they learned via experience, hard work, and self-motivated study & research.

  51. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by redmid17 · · Score: 1

    If you've already turned your work in, then what are you going to copy?

  52. We need more funding for college by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    like we had in the 80s and 90s before Reagan/Clinton. We don't need more info. Kids are awash in info. The internet means that with a little to no cash you can get practically everything you need on any subject up through the 400 college levels. Math, Engineering, Medicine. You name it. There's hands on stuff you can't learn otherwise, but 'Netflix for education' won't help there.

    This is just another cynical attempt to justify the continued cuts to education. Works too.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  53. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You could have picked up a book and did your own reading if you were really ready to bust out.

    That isn't to say you're 100% wrong but self education has been around for as long as people have been taught the basics. Waiting for someone to force that on you isn't a problem for those who really want to get out there and learn it. The technology is changing but the human condition isn't. Maybe what we need is a better guide to help self-starters find what they're looking for but the basics have been accessible for sometime.

  54. Go old school with a dead tree book... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    If I need a quick and dirty introduction to a subject, I would grabbed a Dummies book. When I was the lead tester for Backyard Football, Backyard Baseball and Backyard Hockey for the Nintendo GameCube/GBA at Atari, I grabbed the Dummies book for each sport, got up to speed to understand each sport, and used it as a reference during testing.

    1. Re:Go old school with a dead tree book... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I need a quick and dirty introduction to a subject, I would grabbed a

      Mixed tenses. Better to say, "If I needed [...] I would have grabbed [...]" or "If I need [...] I would grab [...]" -- See how both constructs are more sensible than yours?

      When I was the lead tester for Backyard Football, Backyard Baseball and Backyard Hockey for the Nintendo GameCube/GBA at Atari, I grabbed the Dummies book for each sport, got up to speed to understand each sport, and used it as a reference during testing.

      Run-on sentence. Break it up to make it more readable. For example: "I was the lead tester for Backyard Football, Backyard Baseball, and Backyard Hockey for the Nintendo GameCube / GBA at Atari. I grabbed the Dummies book for each sport, and was able to quickly gain an understanding of the sports. I used those books as important reference materials during testing."

      For Dummies

      If ever there was a more apropos series of books for Creimer, I'm not aware of it.

    2. Re:Go old school with a dead tree book... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      If ever there was a more apropos series of books for Creimer, I'm not aware of it.

      The Idiot books are no longer popular these days..

  55. Youtube? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We have one - it's called youtube... Last weekend I built a mini backyard foundry from youtube videos, and I'm learning to sandcast metals.

  56. Knowledge Needs Reproducibility by dcollins · · Score: 1

    Knowledge and experiments need reproducibility. If Alice finds/asserts some fact, then Bob needs to be able to find it or establish it in the same way, or he won't be convinced. If information is "personalized" such that different people see different things, this will foil reproducibility. No one will believe anyone else. No one will be able to find/confirm what anyone else is talking about. Everyone will be in a little Matrix-like silo being unable to talk to others.

    We already have this problem with customized ads on walled-garden social-media sites. We can't ascertain what political advertising or propaganda is being seen by our fellow citizens. We can't verify that apartment or job listings are violating nondiscrimination laws or not.

    --
    We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
  57. A Better Example is Declara by rwenn · · Score: 1

    Declara is far along the path to developing the capabilities this article describes. They have active networks in Australia and Mexico and have one under development in California called Collaboration in Common. References to Coursera and Khan miss the importance of developing informal professional learning exchanges that take place around a team effort to create something. They also do not follow personal needs and interests and introduce content and expertise based on a person's current interest and focus or make it east to collect and share what they know or discover with others. Declara is not the only effort to make progress to support informal learning networks, Amazon Inspire will be launching later this year with a focus on K-12 education and CLANED is under development in Europe.

  58. nope! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so we can have lots of "old" educational programs fall off availability and let the new, properly vetted, deconstructionist, properly edgy for the yoof of today videos that don't offend anyone?

    We have enough low info people who get their very opinions from F bomb throwing people on youtube, without ever bothering to even look up a whit of source material that isn't served on a plate and spoon fed.

    last thing we need is another way for "old and outdated" FACTS to be swept away and buried under a distracting "entertaining" Huxleyesque future. Already happening now, been ongoing worse and worse for a couple decades now.

  59. Bennett Haselton by dmomo · · Score: 1

    Is it you?

  60. You mean the Library of Congress by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 1

    Netflix of knowledge? What fucking moron came up with that analogy. Seriously? Your brain cells could go no further than Netflix. And I hate to break it to you, that's what the fucking World Wide Web is!

  61. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Agreed, but I'll raise you one.

    The current k-12 system largely entombs you in whatever track you're in. Sure, you can get bumped up or down into an advanced science or remedial history class. However, the mentality of "this is where an 8 year old should be" prevails - regardless of proficiency or deficiency in individual subjects.

    So say you can "Netflix" your class and ace it, but guess what - you're still not challenged, and you still lack the opportunity to advance and face a challenge.

    A "Netflix" approach would be nice, but it only solves half of the problem for me. I'd much rather see breaking up of the age/grade mentality. Rather than smart kids suffering through painfully slow lessons, put them in classes where they belong, with students of the same level of understanding. Don't force slow developers into "age appropriate" classes just so they can flounder and lose morale - let them take the class that suits them.

  62. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

    Teaching models are changing, thankfully. Now we have the mobile technology that is inexpensive enough that each student can have a device, and there is interactive course material that adapts to the student's comprehension and provides the instructor with feedback on the student's progress.

    It makes me jealous, actually, that the students that want to learn can do so at their own pace that doesn't involve just sitting there reading the text while the instructor deals with the mouthbreathers and kids with behavioral issues. More and more instruction is actually occurring out of class, and class time is being used for coaching and group activities.

  63. There's a difference... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... between knowledge and information. What they mean is an information retrieval system that understands what you're looking for. Until AI is advanced enough to replace librarians (not any time soon), we're dependent on them.

  64. Amazon/YouTube Univeristy by Charcharodon · · Score: 1
    Get a course list from a university on the subject of interest. Look up the book requirements for each class and see if you can find the chapters/material covered in a posted syllabus. Buy an edition of that book that is 1 or 2 editions out of date for less than $40 on Amazon. Hire a tutor to work with 2-3 times a week as you work through the material. Use the hell out of videos on YouTube/Khan Academy. After 2-4 years of study you will have a similar level of education to that of a college graduate. Minus the $50,000-100,000 tuition debt. Pretty much describes my pursuit of an Engineering degree, but sadly it did involve more expensive books and tuition.

    There are a few times here and there I've found teachers to be handy to the learning process, but for the grand bulk of the time I've spent working on college degrees they were not necessary. Most of it was on me to read and digest the material, practice working problems, and preparing for the tests.

    The only place where I found teachers to be useful was helping you to develop a stronger work ethic and to help you push your boundaries. That kind of training and coaching does not require a university setting (and cost)

  65. Lack of Preschool Skills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The authors must have never looked for a book before. Go to any online book store or library, select non-fiction, type in your subject area, and get back tons of recommendations for what to read. Many sites will also show you other recommendations based off which books you select. And guess what! You can often receive the books in audio format or download them and use a text-to-speech program. No reading skills required. Amazing!

    Where's my VC money?

  66. TPB by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    Before Netflix, Spotify, Reddit and similar curated content apps, you had to go to numerous sources to find the shows, music, news and other media you wished to view.

    The Pirate Bay was the one stop shop, not Netflix and Spotify. We should probably copy TPB's model and use it for education and not the grossly incompetent Reddit, StackExchange, etc.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  67. Re:We need a for education! No we don't! by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

    Educating children is hard work. It takes time, effort, and passion (which dies with burnout). If you want to find a killer app to fix education, make one that magically properly funds our K-12 education so that teachers make a living wage appropriate for their region and hours of work, reduces class sizes to 20 children per class, and guarantees healthy food for everyone working or learning on a K-12 campus. Do that and watch education improve.

    Apps are not merely a replacement for teachers any more than you can just hand a kid a book and expect them to teach themselves. Unlike books though, apps are interactive and dynamic, and can be programmed to provide content that matches a student's comprehension level. What's more, apps also can provide useful feedback for instructors on where students are struggling and need coaching or encouragement.

    You're right that education is hard. Just throwing extra money at schools, without improving teaching methods and efficiencies, is wasteful though. Small class sizes and proper nutrition is needed, but it isn't the solution to a one-size-fits-all type of instruction. Ideally every student would have a personal tutor, but the most realistic approach is to give the instructor means to be the most effective, freeing them from tedious work and rote instruction so that they can give students the individual attention they need. Apps can be a very useful tool for that.

  68. Paging Mr Smith Paging Mr Smith... by laurencetux · · Score: 1

    https://www.hslda.org/laws/def...

    five states are listed as being tight with the regs

    1. Re:Paging Mr Smith Paging Mr Smith... by jediborg · · Score: 1

      I guess i just disagree with what they call "Moderate Regulation" looked at some of the states listed as that and it still seems pretty harsh, so thats more like 21 states with lots of mandates. That's still better than I thought it was so thanks for the reference!

  69. Troll? Really? by martinX · · Score: 1

    Trawl. You trawl for information. Is this stuff really that hard?

    --
    When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
  70. Netflix Rating System Is Horrible by Baby+Duck · · Score: 1

    I never trust the number of stars users have voted on. It's worthless.

    --

    "Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins

  71. Well...It's not the dumbest thing I'v ever read... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure where to start with this one; so I'll go with the classics and mention the "library", a convenient institution that has provided both a professionally selected collection and access to a very broad range of material(sometimes only by request, if it's an obscure thing that needs to be inter-library loaned). You might have heard of them; they've only been around for longer than most contemporary nation states.

    As for the "cry, cry, searching the web is hard and things aren't centralized!!!"; you would propose Netflix as a solution? The one that routinely loses stuff from its catalog because of rightsholder spats and the desire of competitors for exclusives? Netflix manages to both be non comprehensive and discourages you from stepping outside the app(particularly important for educational material, where you are more likely to be depending on the system because you don't necessarily know what reference material is most suitable: with entertainment it doesn't matter as much because either you find some something else that amuses you; or you know that something is missing and go elsewhere).

    A decentralized; but relatively easy to search, cross-reference, open in multiple tabs, etc. system might not be quite as elegant as the hypothetical ideal universal resource brilliantly executed by a rightsholder so benevolent that they would't gouge you for a brilliantly executed universal resource library; but that ideal doesn't exist; and seems unlikely to; which leaves the more or less open, if eclectic, option more appealing than various incomplete closed systems; often also badly designed.

    And, if your proposal is "But we should use magic standards to stitch all the content together at a high level!"; that's been tried for ages(DoD ADL efforts are early 90s, at latest) and while SCORM and friends are less fictional than the 'semantic web'; trying to make "learning management systems" play nicely with things their vendor didn't specifically design them to still really sucks.

    Content-agnostic HTML and hyperlinks may be inelegant and dumb as rocks; but it has the virtue of actually working while the 'elegant' approaches are busy trying to solve millennia-old epistemological problems so they can wrap the results in XML. Don't go there; just don't.

  72. Your problem was funding by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    same for me. I got bumped out of the AP courses because there wasn't enough money for them.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  73. Like Kahn academy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like Kahn academy?

    Apparently I'm required to type more than just that.

  74. I don't think so, jack by philmarcracken · · Score: 1

    >Just as Netflix delivers entertainment we want Netflix streams content and I cannot pay the content creator directly. I can pirate mkvs with much higher bitrates given to the codec within, use them on any player and edit them how I please. I do not want the educational version of that.

  75. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by strikethree · · Score: 1

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    As someone with ADD, being told to just stand there and hold my dick COMPLETELY destroys the learning experience, because it becomes so disjointed.

    I bolded the part that really throws me. I completely agree with you. You have accurately described the problem.

    Not that anyone will hear you or that anything will change. :(

    --
    "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  76. Re:Also from the point of bingeing at our own spee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    its not you. Americans, are fucking dumb, by and large.

    and education, ceased to be education, some thirty plus years ago.

    its now blatant propoganda.