Folium: Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education via TED

Folium: Let's Use Video to Reinvent Education via TED

Folium: Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education via TED

Folium: Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education via TED

Now here is an idea worth sharing! Salman Khan, the creator of the online Khan Academy, speaks in this TED Talk about how and why he believes the traditional school agenda should be flipped completely upside down with the help of technology.

We all know that the internet has been integrated into just about every facet of the human experience with the inventions of social media and online learning. Traditionally, the normal set-up for schooling has failed a great many students simply because of the emphasis on grading and graduation rather than the actual learning experience. In addition, online education has been viewed as downright impossible for those who need real face-to-face time in order to successfully complete a course. What if we could combine all three aspects into a power house for learning freely and easily?

The Khan Academy has effectively created a medium for the traditional concept of schooling to be revamped. By posting educational videos on (mostly) math and science, Khan has suggested an open, more adaptable curriculum. He believes that the student should be able to learn at his or her own pace, after which they would be able to take the lesson into the classroom to practice. In this way, the “class work” can be done at home while the “homework” is completed in class, while a teacher is around to help iron out the kinks in the concepts of the lesson.

Considering the freedom this new style of learning offers, I believe students will be inspired to be more successful in the shorter and longer terms! Imagine how convenient it would be to pause your professor and rewind his lecture in order to better understand his point. In a classroom setting you would have to interfere with the flow of the lesson just to ask a question. Many students feel embarrassed when they don’t understand a concept fully and have to approach the confusion this way. With video lessons it is now possible to learn entirely at your own pace within your own comfort zone.

You might say: Well, what about languages?! As you might have noticed, The LEAF Project is very similar in theory and design, and we’ve even been working on a similar project ourselves! We’ve uploaded a bunch of video, photo, and phonic flashcards that you can access here:

http://www.leaflanguages.org/language-activities/spanish-language-activities/

As well as our free language lessons:

http://www.leaflanguages.org/language-lessons/spanish-language-lessons/

http://www.leaflanguages.org/language-lessons/french-language-lessons/

And other free learning links:

http://www.leaflanguages.org/language-resources-free-spanish-language-links/

Happy Learning!

Alyssa Davis, LEAF Intern

Resources:


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