There are two models of online education:I think the second, On Demand Knowledge, is the killer app of the internet. People all around me are fixing and building things, or learning to do stuff that would have been impossible without the internet. Almost every day someone tells me a story about fixing something, a car, appliance, computer, sick child or animal, something,.. by "Googleing it" or watching a YouTube video.
Of the two, the latter has been much more widely spread and far more influential.
- Preparatory knowledge, in the form of course-based video-delivered teachings: Coursera, Udacity, Thinkful, etc.
- On demand knowledge: Wikipedia, StackOverflow, Genius, etc.
What does that change?
It saves the world's consumers a lot of money? I know it's saved me hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand just on car repairs over the last few years. I guess, everything we do ourselves takes a little money out of some business's hand so it could hurt some but still, it gives consumers more to spend on elsewhere.
It's probably helped foster the current maker/hacker/experimenter revolution. Many young people have realized that we can do it ourselves. That we don't need an expert. This tinkering by the people at large could have dramatic affects in the future as a generation grows-up with an I-can-do-that attitude.
tnb
'via Blog this'
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