The case of online education

I would like to change this view: not only will online education be as good as traditional education, but it will be even better.

To say that online education will never be as good as that in the classroom (because it is not as good at the moment) is like saying that the Model T (1908 Ford Model) is uncertain, and let's face it. Better to go back to horseback riding.

The reason online classes end up getting better than traditional ones is very simple:

"We can measure and respond to student behavior better when learning is digital than traditional."

On the other hand, what does a good classroom teacher do? A good teacher is someone who:

- Presents interesting and fascinating content and explains complex cases
- Takes into account how students relate to this information
- Quickly change the style based on this information

A good teacher can look students in the eye and say immediately whether a certain topic is accepted by them or not. He or she has the opportunity to repeat something that is not clear or to answer a question. This is what we mean when we say that the classroom experience is "more personal" and it is difficult to imagine how online education will catch up soon.

But let's forget about doubt for a second. In theory, a computer can absorb much more information than a human and respond to it much faster. According to Scientific American, two years ago the fastest computer could store almost 10 times more information than the human brain and process it almost 10 times faster.

Online training companies do not currently use even a small part of this information.

Imagine how good a teacher would be if he knew exactly where the student struggled during the lesson, how long it took him to complete an exercise, or even what the student's psychological attitude to the content was (for example, by monitoring heart rate or eye movement. via webcam).

There are a handful of studies that are already tracking this data, but it barely touches on how we can use it to make education more compelling and effective.

This brings me to my second, even more convincing argument:

The biggest problem with classroom education is that it encourages a straightforward style of learning: equal treatment for all.

In any classroom, there are students who are ahead and those who are behind.

Even the best teacher in the world must take into account what leads to the following question:

Do I have to slow down to make more students understand, or do I have to hurry to cover more material? And so, they inevitably end up making a compromise decision to move somewhere in the middle. As a result, classroom learning is not always optimal for a large group of students.

Online learning can solve this problem because it allows for personalized learning. The learning content and style can be adapted to a particular student and his attitude to a particular lesson.

Imagine a world in which the same class is different for each student. A world where a programming lesson, for example, is adapted for someone who already has programming experience or is a beginner - why not use concepts that the student already knows so that he can learn new things faster. Or one in which the material is conveyed differently depending on whether the student is an auditor, an artist, or a kinesthet (who learns through movement).

Or a world in which the order of lessons is shifted. Or a world that can predict from an early age that a student may have difficulty with the lesson and translate it into negotiation to reinforce important concepts and avoid feelings of frustration that could lead to lesson abandonment.

In fact, you don't have to imagine this world, as Salman Khan has already created it at the Khan Academy:

http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html 

(Watch from 13:35 if you are still not convinced of the value of personalized training).

Finally, advances in online learning allow teachers to treat classes the same way people who start a business treat their products.

There are hundreds of tools for testing, gaming, email campaigns, measuring customer satisfaction, etc. that are used when starting a new business. Why not apply these tools to online learning? This will inevitably happen, it's only a matter of time.

This is why it is annoying when we hear people dismiss online education as a failure that will never matter.

Let's look at online classes as something they are: a first try. 

Source: fullstart.com .