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[turbojet]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/11/technology/11online.html?_r=1&hpw

[concordancia]

It seems admirable, but it turns out that these funds are targeting online education for the population that has had the most difficulty with online learning. Their targets are the same type of students that are attending, dropping and defaulting on student loans at Pheonix and ilk.

These are the people who most need an education - leadership in the process of learning and applying.

[prytania3]

Where have you been? The Gates Foundation has been donating tons to education. In the beginning, it did some really cool things. Now it's got the usual bunch of non-prof idiots running it, and they are doling out money for stupid stuff. We have one of their grants, and the admin is just plotzing over it. Meanwhile, we're supposed to bend ourselves into pretzels to conform to the grant requirements. And then there's the paperwork.

[mickeymantle]

Yes, I agree with the first responder.  Technology is great, and I'm sure that many colleges, including mine, will increasingly turn to using on-line technology in these budget-conscious times.  But if students do not have the skills necessary to do well in reading, writing, and analyzing, then all the technology in the world won't help.  The secret, as the Times article notes, is the ability to give attention to each student, especially in K-12 education.  Everyone agrees that classroom size is important, but no one apparently wants to undertake any measures to remedy the situation.  End result: applying a seemingly beneficial, but actually shortsighted, solution.

[prytania3]

Yes, I agree with the first responder.  Technology is great, and I'm sure that many colleges, including mine, will increasingly turn to using on-line technology in these budget-conscious times.  But if students do not have the skills necessary to do well in reading, writing, and analyzing, then all the technology in the world won't help.  The secret, as the Times article notes, is the ability to give attention to each student, especially in K-12 education.  Everyone agrees that classroom size is important, but no one apparently wants to undertake any measures to remedy the situation.  End result: applying a seemingly beneficial, but actually shortsighted, solution.

Actually, research shows that class size isn't all that important unless the class is less than around 14 students. Reducing class size from 25 to 20 doesn't really do much. What has been shown as making a difference is school size. The smaller the school, the better students have a tendency to do.

But yeah, technology can only go so far.