Comments on: “Is the internet, not formal education, the great equalizer?” Join this TED Conversation

By: Do I Need A Formal Education? | The Art of Polemics

Do I Need A Formal Education? | The Art of Polemics — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:24:26 +0000

[...] “Is the internet, not formal education, the great equalizer?” Join this TED Conversation (ted.com) [...]

By: Allinone Game

Allinone Game — Sat, 26 May 2012 17:01:29 +0000

I somebody plant that, primarily, it is what the internet AVOIDS or CHALLENGES, that is the most educational. I register broadcast reports and diary posts for keywords…sorta equivalent a big tag cloud. All in One Game

By: whoami command

whoami command — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 04:17:25 +0000

whoami command…

[...]TED Blog | “Is the internet, not formal education, the great equalizer?” Join this TED Conversation[...]…

By: Third American Home - Social Change and Tech Flux: Downton Abbey

Third American Home - Social Change and Tech Flux: Downton Abbey — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:24:18 +0000

[...] 1. This takes place at the beginning of the slow disintegration of the class system. We are also on the cusp of a modern day class struggle with the momentum of the Occupy movement, the idea of the Internet being the Great Equalizer. [...]

By: Chris Simon

Chris Simon — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:50:02 +0000

Absolutely. On the one hand the web offers accessibility. This has not changed. What has changed is what I would call the “flocking” behaviors. A recent experience taught me while a social network may be freely open to all, it is still composed of individuals. Control structures are so new they are overlooked by most participants. Groups are edited by greatest contributors, moderators, owners, and other members who increasingly have vote powers. Though this may sound like a conspiracy argument, what I am saying is social people need something to be social about. Much of the work of moderation is to quash over zealous “connections” between content areas. This is the focal point of social groups. While moderators struggle to order the chaos, they also introduce restricting and compressing forces as part of the editing process. Thus, while a web space may appear to gather the best ideas from the entire net, what it actually does is work silently to conform those who persist in participation with the group. And what other defensible standard is there than a moderate one? While higher education does pander at times to what students want for their classes, foremost higher education is the vanguard of the future of culture, business, and education. Its the difference between politics and law.

By: Hinerangi Courtenay

Hinerangi Courtenay — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 06:57:30 +0000

I think the internet is fantastic in combination with traditional learning, but it’s not yet at the point of being the great equalizer. The internet has made more information more easily available to more people in more places, and it’s possible to learn almost anything thanks to the internet. But for now navigating the wealth of information requires a certain level of discernment.

As for learning to read and write, there are some great resources out there such as starfall.com, a free website that teaches children to read with systematic phonics. It has games and animations, and kids can navigate the site themselves and essentially take charge of their own learning. For adults there are sites like gcflearnfree.org/reading.

The internet is like a huge library, and Open-source and Creative Commons licenses are enabling creators and content makers to easily share their resources while retaining control of their copyright. Gutenberg.org, Khanacademy.org, and iTunes U are great examples of how organizing this library can help education.

By: Derry Birkett

Derry Birkett — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:50:08 +0000

Fully agree with above posts: To consider a simple communication technology a great equalizer grossly misunderstands the capitalist system.

By: jamesmcbennett

jamesmcbennett — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:39:58 +0000

On a separate note to above, the industrial revolution crashed the price of labour. Pre revolution, animal and human labour were expensive, post-revolution machine labour changed everything. In the case of the internet revolution, the price of content has crashed, to zero in the case of Napster and coming back up again in the case of some of the new music companies such as spotiy.

Education as content has the opportunity to follow the price crash in content and is doing so in organisations like khanacademy where the cost of content used to thousands and now is free.

By: jamesmcbennett

jamesmcbennett — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:35:32 +0000

In any univerity or programme, there is content, network and badge value. I feel content can not only be found online, it is better online. The network and the badge value can be sought in other ways. While TED provides content, presenting at TED holds both network/badge for those that get there.

By: jamesmcbennett

jamesmcbennett — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:31:41 +0000

I have narcolepsy and have not stayed awake in lectures at college. I learn through the internet (TED for example, alongwith longer lectures offered by universities) and get accredited by university. Unlike above, I didn’t have a choice, but think it will all work out.