15 July 2010

Report from TEDGlobal Session 10: Who's the Teacher?

Sugata Mitra shares his amazing experiences with self-organized, self-directed learning by kids. He drops off a computer and a task, to come back to children working together to learn new and complex information.

Conrad Wolfram wants to revolutionize math education by recognizing the role of computers in calculation. Why are we teaching kids how to solve long, difficult problems by hand when we could be teaching them how to solve more complex problems through computer programming?

Ralph Simon asks, “What makes a really good song?” In response, he tell the stories behind the hits “My Sharona” and “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

Game designer Tom Chatfield thinks that we can learn a lot about engaging both crowds and individuals in real life from virtual reality.

Chris Anderson proposes that the rise of online video has given birth to a new concept — crowd-accelerated innovation. He notes that cycles of improvement, from better TEDTalks to better breakdance, have been driven by people watching videos on the web.

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