ThinkVein

A simple but powerful story about Zack Matere from Kenya who uses the internet to disseminate knowledge throughout his community via a simple wooden noticeboard. The democratization of knowledge is changing everything, but I like to reflect sometimes on the simple yet radical impact this is having on poorer developed countries. I’m left inspired by his closing remarks:

“So many people have access to information but there is no follow up to that. I think that follow up is knowledge. So many people have access to information but it is how we use it that will define us.”

As was covered previously by thinkvein contributor, Paddy Walsh, Sal Khan has made an enormous contribution to the education space in the form of educational YouTube videos. Sal has since made significant progress in this space by creating a educational platform for students, teachers, parents and tutors to consume information, monitor their pupils and engage with other pupils around the world. Essentially, Sal wants to create a global education platform.

In moving to a self paced eLearning model, interesting dynamics occur. Teachers have begun turning the traditional learning model on it’s head, assigning students Khan lessons at night and using class room time to work on homework. This simple adjustment has enabled teachers to create a more interactive and engaging class room experience. By working on homework during class room hours, stronger students are now empowered to assist weaker students – further adding to class room dynamics through peer monitorship.

The Khan Academy learning platform is also providing schools with highly granular business intelligence on their students. This data enables the teacher to proactively reach out to students who are struggling or assign a peer to mentor the student through a particular learning module. As Sir Ken Robinson said, ‘collaboration is the stuff of learning’ and I truly believe the learning experience is amplified for all parties involved. You can be confident you have a firm grasp of a topic when you can explain it to a struggling peer.

What I’m most excited by is the enormous opportunity this presents for developing countries. Not only will students be able to avail or high value free learning resources, but will have the opportunity to engage with other students in nearby villages or in far away countries. Furthermore, the traditional custom of sending a child to school for the entire day may not be practical for children who live far from school or who may need to assist their parents working during the day. The Khan Academy model will enable educational institutions to break down the traditional structure of learning and innovate training programs to cater to their needs.

Sal Khan attained a perfect score in the math portion of his SAT, a undergraduate/masters in electrical engineering/computer science from MIT and a MBA from Harvard. He then worked as an analyst at a Silicon Valley based Hedge Fund where earned “under $1 million” in a relatively short period. In short, a very smart guy.

Somewhere along the way he began teaching his niece algebra via YouTube and MS paint. Pretty soon he was receiving comments from people all over the world exclaiming how incredible his tutorials were and begging for more. So he kept going.

To date his Khan Academy’s 2,000 tutorials have been viewed 20 million times and include everything from basic mathematical concepts to advanced university subjects, including: Banking and Money, Finance, Venture Capital, Valuation and Investing, Credit Crisis, Physics, Probability, Statistics, even GMAT Preparation.

I stumbled across and tweeted about this incredible resource last year when attempting to get my head around Credit Default Swaps. It has been thrilling to follow the success of the Academy since. Fareed Zakaria’s GPS programme among many other top media sources have featured it and MAJOR kudos to Google for awarding Khan Academy a $2 million grant this month.

It’s clear a new era of education is upon us. It’s unbelievable to think that anyone can now have free access to same teacher as Bill Gates chooses for this kids, or attend lectures from the leading universities in the world via iTunesU. Thinking of developing a IPhone app? I just completed a 5 hour Stanford lecture series.

I had major learning difficulties in first year at school and was diagnosed with an having  ‘learning block’. The learning expert I was sent to took the approach of starting all over again with all the basic concepts: “What goes through your mind when you add 3 + 4 + 6?” I would then be taught a good method for approaching this (i.e. 6+4=10, then 10+3=13).

The results were dramatic and life changing. Within 6 months I went from absolute bottom of the class to near the top and remained there for the rest of my academic life.

Khan’s tutorials like ‘basic addition‘ are strikingly similar to those tutorials that helped me grasp critical concepts and ultimately radically changed the trajectory of my academic career. I think that’s why the story of Khan Academy resonates deeply with me. While online video can never trump 1 on 1 interactive teaching, it has the power to transform the lives of so many for the better. I simply feel compelled tell as many people as I can about it.

This is a fascinating talk about education in developed and under privileged countries. Charles Leadbeater uncovers the lessons that developed countries can learn from those less fortunate. Given the severity of the education issues in countries such as Brazil, Leadbeater has encountered inspirational innovators in the educational space that are leveraging new technologies and operational processes. Innovators such as El Sistema or Taio Rocha have redefined the educational landscape in these countries by rethinking what Education should look like.

The institution of education has been stagnant for hundreds of years. And I suppose this is understandable as the playing field didn’t change all that much during that time. However, in recent years – largely thanks to technology – the playing field has changed considerably. Those working in the educational space have more tools and access to information than any other time in history. These changes should result in a dramatic shift in the educational process. However, the educational institution has become so protected that these changes are not taking place. If free market economics were applied to the educational space today, I’m confident we would see a massive shift on almost every functional level – operations, instrumentation, delivery, financing and beyond.

Whats even more startling is that the children of today are changing too. Not only are educational processes becomming outdated but they are becoming ineffective on the students of today. If you subscribe to the belief that experiences shape your way of thinking – the children of today are being shaped by XBox’s, Social Networks, Mobile Phones etc… Our ability to engage with and relate to children is dependant upon our understanding of their vantage point.

I am both worried and excited by this prospect. I believe there is huge potential in radical innovation in the education space. Radically executing educational innovations in developed countries are unlikely as we’ve more to loose. Schools are typically ‘set in their ways’ and run by principals who’s priorities are influenced by the security of their pension. However, there exists an opportunity in developing countries to radically reinvent the concept of education. To leverage new technologies and connect with disparate sources of knowledge around the globe.

My take away from this video is not about education. It’s about sources of inspiration and innovation. Leadbeater notes that ‘vantage point determines all of what you see’. Our perspective determines our understanding of our surroundings. Porter talks about a country’s ‘natural advantage’. Arguably, I have a natural disadvantage living in Ireland – a country that is socially, culturally and technically led by others. If my goal is to succeed through radical innovation I’m most certainly going to fail. As Leadbeater notes, ‘the questions we ask determine much of the answers we get.’ And if my experiences living in Ireland shape my way of thinking, then the answers to my questions are not likely to lead to anything radical.

Thoughts? Am I talking rubbish?

Following on from my previous post on Cameron Herold, I think this is a really interesting TED talk given by Temple Grandin. She talks about the challenges people face who suffer from Autism, ADD and bi-polar disorders. Echoing Cameron and Sir Ken Robenson, these conditions can bring some very special talents. For instance, those who are bi-polar are know to have the ‘CEO disorder’ and those with Autism operate on a micro level – focusing on the smallest of details. In every walk of life, these skills are highly valued – we just need to tap into them.

There are lots of interesting points amongst this longwinded life story. I was particularly interested in his thoughts about how we nurture our kids. Why do we encourage our kids to be straight laced? Why do kids get grinds in the subjects that they are weak in? Why do kids have allowances? I think there are many parallels between Cameron’s talk and Sir Ken Robenson’s talk at TED – our methods of nurturing and educating our children are becoming commoditized. I’m going to be posting a follow up post by Temple Grandin – an autistic lady who recently gave a fascinating talk at TED about the different types of minds and thinking.

Here is video that Cameron shows at the end of his talk. It was made by Grasshopper – a startup that Cameron mentors.

Hans Rosling: Smokers in High Income Countries – GapMinder.org

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity (via TED)