and Post by Jason Rosoff
Now let me start with this quote from Noschese's blog:
"As my students would say, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Khan Academy is merely a player. We need to change the game."
I couldn't agree more with this statement. I see Khan Academy as part of the group that are trying to solve the problem of education.
In his comment, he mentioned the fact that there is a big chance that kids wouldn't be motivated by Badges and Achievements for very long, and I do agree with this statement, but the problem is that achievements shouldn't be the only motivator. Here is where we can take a lesson from the game development industry, what makes achievements so successful?
Achievements provide a quick goal and the combination of achievements give you an overall idea on how much progress you have made. There are two very important "Motivational" Tools that come with achievements:
1) A student will be able to "Quantify" his learning, this sense of progressing through a task is a big motivator, especially if you see that you progress rapidly, currently you could argue that school levels are marks of progress, but those come once a year, or more!
2)Competition, is the most motivating aspect behind passion, and with achievements you are able to get students competing amongst each other to gather as much points as possible or gather some achievements that others might not be able to.
So Achievements are not good to be the only motivators in school, but they are definitely some very valuable tools that we can use for motivation.
Now as I have mentioned before here I am very happy with Khan Academy, I see great potential, but there are definitely various aspects I still see as question marks. I addressed some of them on the post linked above, but all this Khan Academy has got me thinking...... and I noticed Ian mentioning some of this on his post.
To help me illustrate my thought, here is a sound clip from a masterpiece: Jurassic Park
"Yeah but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. "
The Khan Academy is providing great videos, technology and evaluation that supports the current education system, and a lot of the discussion being mentioned on my blogs is about how to use games to improve the engagement of the students.
But, are we making a mistake here?
are we looking to gamification to attract kids to the current system, when we should be concentrating on ways to make education not only fun but valuable for a kids future? I think there is no better way to understand this than to hear to Sir Ken Robinson
I talk a little about the way we should use technology to help create a more beneficial education system here.
I couldn't avoid sharing this wonderful video about the Independent Project as shown to me by Noschese:
I think it is wonderful to see what these kids are doing, it really shows how passion can lead the way to many successes. There is nothing better than seeking knowledge. When you are interested in something you want to know more about how it works, no matter what you have to do to learn it.
I noticed a comment on the video and maybe on one of the blogs, there seems to be some resistance to technology in education, and I just wanted to give three main reasons why technology is not only good, but a must have for education:
1)Adaptability: With technology, a students knowledge can be measured and the computer can adapt the difficulty to always challenge all students, but at the same time give them a valid chance to succeed.
2) Handicapped Children. There is a lot of material in education, but unfortunately most of it is not enabled for Handicapped children. With technology, it can communicate information in many different manners, improving the chances of handicapped children learning
3) Poverty. Perhaps one of the most Disgusting realities is that poor children are not given the same education as privileged ones. With technology becoming cheaper every day, we can soon begin to distribute the same educational content to ALL children around the world. Thumbs up for one laptop per child.
The big question would be how to grade this type of education, dedication and motivation? maybe, what do you think?
In conclusion I hope I communicated my thoughts well. I am very happy to have found such an understanding, respectful and critical group of people. If there is one thing I know, is that the only way education is going to change is with teamwork. One person can't have all the answers.
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