The Web has unlocked the keys to a worldwide virtual school, potentially leveling the playing field for students around the world.
The observation that there hasn’t been a major disruption in the education industry (such as the like seen in music, film and books) is so true. And just imagine the effects of such a disruption! Traditional education institutions becoming as relevant as Blockbuster was to the film industry.
There have been changes sure, wikipedia, youtube, google and electronic text books - but nothing that means students learn more out of the institutions than inside them. These changes have been no different that what the CD was for music.
This is where I think the “gaming layer” will break that ground. Such initiatives as Gameful and all the other game based learning software that I’ve been mentioning in previous posts, will mean that the hours and hours spent by people playing games will actually replace the hours and hours spent sitting in a class room doing tasks and projects.
The prime example I always refer to - imagine if Pokemon was based on biological science! We’d have a whole generation that could skip 1st year biology class.
The Web gives lifelong learners the tools to become autodidacts, eschewing exorbitant tuition and joining the ranks of other self-taught great thinkers in history such as Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Paul Allen and Ernest Hemingway.
