Web 2.0: Professors as Video Stars

In the early 1970s I worked on a math series for education television. The idea behind the series was to identify topics that were difficult for students and could be better addressed through the medium of television rather than in a typical classroom setting. The ability to show motion is very powerful. The microchip came out in 1974 and computers as a vehicle for education entered the scene. The World-Wide-Web became a phenomenon in the late 1990s. Distance learning became possible. Students didn't have to be physically present in a classroom. More recently, Web 2.0 is allowing people all over the planet to work together in a way that has never before been possible.

The rock stars of teaching now have the potential to educate anyone who "tunes in." Colleges can now have channels on YouTube and podcasts on Itunes. Berkley has taken the lead and others are following. A new web site named the Big Think, a YouTube for academics, was recently launched.

Twenty years ago, the president of Trinity predicted that technology in education would go the way of educational TV, that it wouldn't have much impact. Now we are on the verge of something really big. Universities are sharing their education. People everywhere are contributing. What changes will this bring?



If "a picture is worth 1000 words," how much is a moving picture worth?

I would like to embed one of my favorite videos, but for now you'll have to take the link to view it. Thanks you, Professor Walsh for making "The Machine is Using Us." http://youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g