Massive educational reform facilitated by technology

More than any other sector, education is currently poised for significant reform, of an expansionary, inclusionary, complementary nature, with the fingers of change that have long been present being gathered into inexorable industry-shifting waves. The hand of technology is the beneficial enabler.

Distance learning, and digital recording and streaming technologies have been steadily improving which has given way to a new way of connecting large worldwide audiences. What was the initial opening up of courses to online students has now turned into classrooms of huge online audiences in the range of 60,000-70,000 participants. This in turn has brought attention to the need and possibility of innovating educational methods to make material more dynamic. It may be possible to reorganize pedagogy in the new venue of the large-scale online audiences. Some ways are by communicating in real-time for both exercises and feedback loops to instructors, and by participating in dynamic exercises. This could help in making educational content more alive, experiencable, and interactive.

Big data facilitates new era of knowledge, education, and thinking

Big data and the internet continue their sweep across modern life by facilitating a new era of education, and possibly, thinking. As traditional educational institutions have become financial institutions intent on merchandizing their brands, students are finding other means of accessing educational content.

At present
Some of the newer models include MIT OpenCourseWare, the Khan Academy, Coursera, and Codecademy. These free or low-cost education services confer the direct benefit of their programs, and advantages by using the large numbers and real-time aspects of the internet to obtain and incorporate immediate feedback from growing student populations. This is leading to a better education product, and a mechanism for learning about learning.

The near future
A next stage could add course-level (rather than degree-level) accreditation and a basic algorithms interpretation layer à la Google Translate, Spell Check, and Ngram Viewer. Simple machine learning algorithms applied to large data sets could allow an expansion from quantitative testing to semantic testing (and more importantly, semantic living, in the sense of a broader intellectual life). Core knowledge elements could be identified in data corpora and reviewed for comprehension in student-produced material.

The farther future
Taken to its logical extreme, what if distance learning were to completely replace local educational institutions? Are there risks of homogenization of thought if everyone is taking the same classes from leading worldwide professors? Does personalized learning, via sommelier-assembled curricula, increase inherent biases that might otherwise be countered by institutional education? Does the U.S. need 5-10 philosophy/etc. professors at 5-10 universities per state? Clearly there are systemic aspects, and costs and benefits, of a more radical reinvention of education. These can be managed effectively through the lens of overall goals, perhaps the most important of which is extending the depth and capacity for thinking, both within individuals, and to more individuals.