The New Face of Education

I spent twelve years in public schools, then another seven years in university.  I am a product of an educational system that worked for generations.   All those years, I sat in classrooms, absorbing knowledge delivered by a teacher.  That was the only option. Not anymore.

Much has changed about the education process.   Now you can buy interactive learning apps for your smart phone on a wide variety of subjects. Interactive learning allows students to absorb knowledge at their own pace with learning interfaces that can be incredibly engaging and fun.

Sal Khan

Sal Khan started recording byte sized 'You Tube' learning modules to help his kids with their homework.  He took that idea and, with the help of the Gates Foundation, has turned it into the Khan Academy, a website with thousands of free, byte sized learning modules.

My niece, Lindsey, is getting her masters in education at Harvard.  She's also working part time at a company that develops interactive learning systems.  This is clearly a growth industry, and not just for those of us fortunate to live in a deveoped nation. There are tens of millions of children in the world's poorest places that have no little or access to education.  Girls especially find roadblocks to learning in many cultures.  Cheap laptop and tablet computers tuned to interactive learning have the potential to change that in a very profound way. 

Education is essential to building a future that is sustainable.  I think of the children in the Eastern part of the Congo in Africa, an area that is plagued by lawless genocidal violence.  How much better off they would be if they could learn to read and write, and about how nature works, and about how they fit into the whole scheme of life.  

The emergence of interactive learning is the foundation of a revolutionary new era in eucation.  Young people these days face challenges that did not exist during my formative years.   The best thing I can say about that is they also have direct and often free access, through their computers and cell phones, to  knowledge and understanding that required a much more formal education process for previous generations.