Classroom of the future. By Bill Gates
"Being there physically doesn't add much value,"
Gates told CNNMoney in an exclusive interview. He believes the days of big lectures with hundreds of students gathering in university classrooms may be numbered.
Gates envisions a college of the future in which students watch lessons online, delivered by the brightest minds in the field.
Today, classes are too big. Lessons are taught the same way to dozens or hundreds of students -- each of whom has different learning style.
As technology continues to change the way people learn on every level of the education spectrum, the best method for implementing new tools for instruction has become a fiercely debated issue. The rise of Massively-Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in particular has become a focal point of discourse, with college administrations adverse to the potential loss in revenue that online courses could present. But Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which partly deals in matters of education, believes that the college classroom of the future could use MOOCs and other technological advancements to create labs and discussions around course material delivered by the greatest academics in the world.
With the money saved from hiring professors, resources could be poured into labs and study groups.
Gates' idea is one of many visions for the quickly transforming education system in the United States. In a time where tuition costs are rising, and technology is quickly disrupting major industries, many entrepreneurs are wondering why innovation hasn't driven down the cost.
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At this year's South By Southwest technology conference, held in Austin, Texas, a host of startups presented new tools aimed at helping the education sector prosper. Gates delivered a keynote address to the group, highlighting problems in the U.S. education system and their potential solutions.
Gates' main theme was personalized learning, which can be enhanced by new technology.
Displaying a picture of Star Wars' Luke Skywalker crouched next to Yoda, Gates spoke about the importance of personalized learning. Yoda was a great teacher, Gates argued, because the Jedi master understood when Skywalker is losing interest.
"With this wave of software that's being created that personalizes to the student ... there's real promise here that the kids can go back and engage in a way they couldn't before,
" he said. The Gates Foundation is investing heavily in education technology. It recently announced that it has invested $100 million in startup inBloom, a service that helps teachers tailor lessons to individual students.”
Source: CCNMoney
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