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Quite a good critique of the Khan Academy model

A former Apple interface designer critiques Microsoft's 'Productivity Future Vision (2011)' video that has been spreading on the web (and a couple of you have shared here on Diigo).  The Apple guru's biggest gripe? Microsoft portrays a future dominated by single finger interaction with touch-enabled devices. But we are already seeing more elaborate Human-Computer interaction involving more of  our bodies and communication modes-- full body (Kinect, Microsoft), and voice & hearing (Siri, Apple). Mr. Victor says that Microsoft's vision wasn't as revolutionary as it seems.

I agree with the author on Microsoft's lack of vision about future technologies (which I also ranted about on facebook). At the same time, we have to note that Microsoft currently has devices that enable 'full body' communication and Apple does not. And their latest wonder 'Siri' was acquired, not developed internally. I respect Apple for their innovations but we haven't seen any 'vision' from Apple yet and I am curious to know what they might be thinking.

"Online U" has supporters and critiques. Will it take education to next level?

This is very "hot" in India at the moment. The president of India has given 200 of these to the university I work at and they are distributing it, for free, to loads if other institutes. It costs $25!! I haven't seen the quality of the device, but I have seen other low cost, about $150, tablets and I don't like them AT ALL. D you think e device quality and user experience will not be deterrent given the price point?

Mohit, I've heard a lot about the poor quality of the device and very little about HOW universities intend on using these tablets. It seems like another case of top-down intervention that's tech-driven rather than learning-driven, which is rather unfortunate. Also seems even more unfortunate that even though it's a tech-driven initiative, they haven't thought out the *quality* component of the tech. Oy... See this article for critiques of the tablet: http://www.techulator.com/resources/5523-Most-Annoying-Defects-Flows-Datawinds.aspx

Related to section on how iPads are currently being used in a California school. making short videos to taking photos of complex formulas displayed on a blackboard for later review. Language students record themselves reciting lessons, and then upload the files to their teachers' drop boxes for critique. And math teachers use iPads to videotape students working through problems, explaining how they arrived at the solution and thereby demonstrating mastery of a lesson.

Here's the blog from the school's iLab http://hillbrookilab.com/

The Foundation for Learning Equality is working to get content to the 65% of the world who live without internet. Currently their only project involves offlining Khan Academy lectures and loading them on SD cards which can be loaded onto Raspberry Pi servers and sent along with e-readers to anywhere in the world. To me, this seems like an incredible opportunity to simultaneously address quality and access issues in remote parts of the world, though I don't think Khan Academy's content is necessarily the best. As a technological innovation, however, I think there is a real possibility to scale this, insofar as there are on-the-ground resources in each location facilitating the learning on the e-readers. Does anybody have any critique or insight to curb my excitement?