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Granted, there are no papers to grade, and assignments aren’t free-form, but how does one professor handle so many students? We had four teaching assistants, and my initial plan was that they would spend a lot of time on the discussion forum, answering questions. One night in the early days, I was on the forum at 2 a.m. when I saw a student ask a question, and I was typing my answer when I discovered that another student had typed an answer before I could. It was in the right direction, but not quite there, so I thought I could modify it, but then some other student jumped in with the right answer. It was fascinating to see how quickly students were helping each other. All we had to do was go in and say that it was a good answer. I actually instructed the T.A.’s not to answer so quickly, to let students work for an hour or two, and by and large they find the answers.

Most students who register for MOOCs don’t complete the course. Of the 154,763 who registered for “Circuits and Electronics,” fewer than half even got as far as looking at the first problem set, and only 7,157 passed the course. What do you make of that?

EdX operates under an honor code, with no way to verify that the student who registered is the one doing the work. Is that likely to change? It’s quite possible employers would be happy with an honor certificate. We’re looking at various methods of proctoring. We have talked about people going to centers to take exams. There are also companies that use the cameras inside a laptop or iPad to watch you and everything else that’s happening in the room while you take an exam, and that may be more scalable.

a discrete set of standards and outcomes

we've spent billions of dollars on technology that by almost every measure has had little or no widespread effect.

Content can be revised and updated continuously. Textbooks no longer need to be text but can be any media. And a tablet can administer tests, enable students to engage in collaborative projects or support remote education for rural children. Since a tablet is a full-fledged computer, it can also support specialized applications that cater to children with learning disabilities or different learning styles. The possibilities are endless

If all this were to come true, the biggest losers will be dogs—they’ll no longer have any homework to eat.

Study in chunked sessions:

Have a dedicated study area:

Know the difference between recognition and recollection:

“Some people talk in their sleep. Lecturers talk while other people sleep.”

they create the illusion of teaching for teachers, and the illusion of learning for learners

Sitting passively and taking notes is just not a way of learning. Yet lectures are 99 percent of how we teach!