Posted on 04/05/2012 12:03:00 PM PDT by RoosterRedux
Using Khan Academy as inspiration, Sebastian Thrun decided to bring his Stanford class on artificial intelligence online. Anyone could sign up for free. And 160,000 people from around the world did. He saw the power of creating interactive lectures and distributing them for free. He left Stanford and launched Udacity, a company focused on bringing free university-level education to the world.
In the interview above, Sebastian Thrun, Co-Founder of Udacity, talks about how he will help students improve their careers, whether or not the goal is to replace traditional universities, how the classes are different from iTunes U style taped lectures, and why some of his Stanford students preferred to watch him online.
Sebastian used to think that becoming a Stanford professor was the pinnacle of achievement for a computer science teacher. Then he discovered Khan Academy was reaching millions of students. Suddenly, his popular lectures drawing upwards of 200 students didn’t seem so impressive.
Classes are currently focused on computer science since that’s what the team already knows how to teach. Examples include: Building a Search Engine and Programming a Robotic Car. As one of the inventors of Google’s self-driving car, Sebastian is perfectly suited to teach a class on how to program one. Udacity plans to expand to other subjects with the goal of building a full university online.
All classes are currently free, and the goal is to keep it that way. When asked how it will make money, Sebastian pointed out that recruiting good technical talent is something that companies pay for. Udacity knows who the best students are and could pass them along to companies looking for new hires.
(Excerpt) Read more at techcrunch.com ...
That's not his business model. Makes one wonder what it actually is?
BTW, you can be sure that someone is feverishly developing a slick accreditation system (and a billion $ start up to implement it) that will turn the education world on its head.
I agree, lousy business style/plan.
But.
The ability to explain/teach the most complex subjects down to big-bird level helps.
PING
In fact, it is possible he won't reveal it until time to go public (in the meantime, each venture capitalist who is party to it signs a very tight non-disclosure agreement)
The age of brick and mortar schools/universities is on the decline. And its probably way past time.
From a political/cultural/spiritual standpoint, maybe we can actually teach kids instead of indoctrinate. As well as provide more flexibility and choice for those that do not necessarily need or want a traditional education or degree.
Michael Medved had a very interesting guest on his show who was proposing that we eliminate the traditional degree/diploma system and go with a national set of credentials that one could obtain by passing a test.
If you wanted to be an engineer, for example, you would have to pass the National Engineering Test. If you did so, you would receive a credential which allows you to work as an Engineer. Whether you learned the material at Harvard, Slippery Rock, Community College, thru apprenticeship, online or in the library would be irrelevant.
I was picturing thousands upon thousands of hangers-on who draw paychecks from academia, their blood running cold at that suggestion.
Pingferlater!!!
Pink for later.
Pink?
ping
Home-schooling provides education better than what is received at today’s “universities”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.