If you want to learn something new, TED Talks offers thousands of videos over the most various topics. But what do they say about education?
At SkillTransfer we are curious about what people think about online education all over the world, so we reviewed 3 of the most popular educational videos and gathered the best ideas for you!
Do schools kill creativity? – Sir Ken Robinson
We may feel that… Probably many of us thought already once in their life:” Oh, if I’ve had the opportunity in school to learn this or that, my job/life would be so much easier/better/more interesting/ etc.” – or at least I had that couple of times. Or “if the XYZ teacher would have been more interesting I’m sure I’d be….”. Familiar, right?
Well, according to Sir Ken Robinson this happens to almost each and every one of us. But why is that?
“Our education system is predicated on the idea of academic ability.” – says Sir Robinson. Therefore education around the world focuses on subjects that are suitable for this path. It’s an outcome of the industrial system from the 19th century and we haven’t reformed it ever since. Of course, it is very drastic to say, but in basic terms, it’s very true.
This method doesn’t allow us to make mistakes. Do you still have the shivers from the memory of making a mistake in a maths class and being told off for it? I sure do.
“All kids have tremendous talents” and they are not afraid of making mistakes. It’s a cliche, we’ve heard it a lot. As Sir Robinson says: “If you are not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” Education which is focusing on theoretical knowledge instead of creativity encourages people to think inside the box and make them forget how amazingly creative and talented they are.
This funny and entertaining video is very enlightening, makes you rethink how you want to teach, and how you want to learn.
What we are learning from online education – Daphne Koller
Though this video is from 2012, it’s still interesting what Coursera co-founder explains about online education.
Normal lecture-based education has its own limits, we can agree on that. Personal contact is important, but online interaction opens up almost endless possibilities in learning – we can especially experience it nowadays.
The main point in online education is the option of personalizing your structure of the study, spreading your time whenever it is comfortable for you, and choosing your location, whether it’s on a balcony, in your living room, or in a study room in the local library. Either it varies in space or time, online courses help people to acquire the knowledge they are interested in at any moment in their lives.
Nevertheless, all online platforms provide feedback systems to all teachers to improve their work. Which is very important and explained more in detail in the next video.
Teachers need real feedback – Bill Gates
Imagine that you are in high school again, and your teachers ask you to rank them. It happened in my school, we gave feedback to all the teachers, and one, who we didn’t like, and she didn’t like us either, was upset by the results and gave away our class. Of course, high school students are not objective. But feedback is super important, even if it comes from a bunch of awful teenagers.
As the title of the video states, this is not a unique problem. According to the data Bill Gates shows in this fragment, the highest-ranking schools worldwide are based on a well-done feedback system, that gives advice and confidence to teachers. Teachers also don’t grow on trees, some might have natural talents, but as in any other profession, in teaching, there’s always space to improve. Giving the right feedback is key for future generations in the education system.
With SkillTransfer it’s always easy to give feedback, and have a good personal connection with your mentor, so there’s the opportunity to grow for both of you! As an online platform the diversity of study options is given, and talented people are working on projects with you, to bring the most out of our programs.
What’s the last thing you learned (online)?
