The eduFire Blog

In the interest of open sourcing our business I wanted to share a few links that my good buddy Josh sent over. We probably won’t do this too often unless something really earth-shattering comes across our desks but every once in a while it’s fun to give y’all a peek under the kimono.

U.S. schools may join inexpensive-laptop project – Bottom line is that it’s going to be tough to scale world-class education without the use of technology. Get a laptop and a broadband connection in front of someone though and you can change their life. We’re convinced of that. It’s definitely not *all* about technology but technology will play a huge role in this. Go read The End of Poverty if you have any doubt about that.

P.E. classes turn to leg-pumping video game – I think this is a harbinger of things to come. Compare the innovation in the video game industry to the innovation in the education industry over the last couple of decades. I’d venture to say that innovation in video gaming is advancing at least 100x faster than in education. Go look at Spore for proof of that. If traditional education doesn’t innovate (it currently is showing no signs that it will) you’ll start to see outside approaches encroach. Heck, if kids would rather play DDR than dodgeball and it’s more effective at achieving stated goals then why not let them? Bucking the trends here for the sake of nostalgia isn’t going to work or benefit anybody.

Calculators tell teachers which pupils need help – This is where technology can really rock it. In a normal classroom you have a teacher and say 30 students. Only a few of the students are actually on pace with the teacher. A bunch are bored silly because the material is too easy and a bunch are struggling to keep up. That fundamental problem with traditional education has existed for centuries. Technology has the opportunity to radically change this. It’s going to be a lot of fun playing a part in making that happen.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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