The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined

It may seem odd that I read this book but haven’t actually viewed a single video from Khan Academy. But I’m an old guy, and that’s how I roll. Anyway, as I understand it, Khan Academy a series of videos on topics of math and science, narrated over a visual of using Microsoft Paint as a substitute for a blackboard. As such, I fail to understand what the fuss is about.

Take a standard text book and rewrite it into short units of one or two pages each. Allow independent study. And if you don’t want to waste paper, post it as an ebook. Is this ‘revolutionary’ in the year 2013?

With regard to education, there’s so much more potential for computers to be used in an environmentally immersive, interactive, and hands-on experience.

As an example, I humbly submit a teaching video on the Arduino, using Sketchup graphics:

Also I made a video series on how to model molecules in Sketchup, everything from water to the DNA helix. Here for example is the one on benzene:

You can check out the entire series of modeling molecule videos here.

Now, this isn’t about the quality of my work (which I’ll admit is not professional). It’s about the potential of the technology. And there are people out there who are doing far more impressive stuff. Those people should receive attention and grant money, and I hope they do.