TED+Talks

TED Talks

And Now The Good News - TED Global 2010 talk
media type="youtube" key="OykhBlvYkQc" height="360" width="640"

The speaker, who never identifies himself, makes a bold claim that "We have the opportunity to flatten global education and make it free an accessible to everyone." He later identifies this as eSingularity. While recognize the importance to dream big, I am skeptical of grand predictions about the future. Looking at how far technology had brought us gives us much to dream about for the future. The future seems limitless. The speaker uses many terms of which I have never heard and he doesn't attempt to define them. They include: cue ups, intelligent agents, lines at milo, artificial culls, and IPTV to name a few. My concern is that his perspective has tainted his view of the future. It is easy for a middle-class tech-savy American to get lost in the American dream of reaching for the sky. I have a number of friends that have visited the developing nations of Cambodia, Mali, and Udanga. Their perspective would be quite different I am sure. The speaker claims that "80% of the world is connected." If that is true, and I am not sure that it is, I would like to know what connected means. The Worldwatch Institute says "the Internet now connects about 600 million users." With global population set to hit 7 billion this month, this is far short of the 80% the speaker claims. Also Worldwatch says "the United States, with less than 5 % of the global population, uses about a quarter of the world’s fossil fuel resources—burning up nearly 25 % of the coal, 26 % of the oil, and 27 % of the world’s natural gas." This is the the one of the major obstacles of his eSingularity dream. Energy is not limitless. Even if we were to convert to renewable resources, it would take decades. We simply don't have the resources available to connect a global population set to hit nearly 9 billion by 2050. Capitalism is another factor that would inhibit his dream. Offering all this free is laudable, but not profitable. Poverty and oppression are other factors that keep young people from getting an education today. I don't see technology solving those issues. If people don't have enougth to eat or are forced to work in sweat shops then they won't be connecting through technology.

Why we don't need computers in school
media type="custom" key="11058610" Clifford Stoll is fun to listen to as he jumps around the stage and his mind jumps from topic to topic. I am not sure he ever talked a lot about why we don't need computers in school, but the impression I got was that experience trumps reading about something. Kids learn better from doing than hearing about something. He uses the example of measuring the speed of sound with the use of oscilloscope. I tend to agree that computers that are used simply as an electronic book are no better than books at teaching. Surely we can learn a lot from reading books and reading things on the computer, but there is no substitute for a real teacher leading you through eye-opening experiences.

Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge
media type="custom" key="11230764"

This program is very empowering for children. Simply letting children know that adults believe in them and their ability to make a difference give them confidence to do so. Letting the children come up with the ideas for change is also empowering. I am sure there were ideas that didn't work so well and didn't get highlighted, but there were many that did work. Getting the community behind it was also good. It gives hope to others when they see so many coming together for positive change.

How to learn from mistakes
media type="custom" key="11321976"

"You need to let kids fail as a part of the learning process" is the central tenet of this TED talk. Diana Laufenberg makes the point that students, like the rest of us, learn from doing and not from being fed information. She gives good example of things she has tried and what has worked for her. I think most good teachers today know this to be true. The downside that she doesn't address is that it takes a lot more time to teach this way. Incorporating activities that help the students learn by doing is still a good idea.