An idea for Planet Math (and team): create logic/math courseware, and sponsor classes using that courseware.
The work to develop the courseware would be done by “students” and volunteers who want to obtain work experience in video production, technology, teaching, project management, marketing, writing, tutoring, administration, clerical, record-keeping, personnel management, etc.
A requirement for the plan to work is that there is/will be free software available that is good enough for doing homework exercises. This means that students can independently do their work and check their results.
The courses would be multi-media, consisting of DVD, html and software, so this means plenty of opportunities for people wishing to learn about making videos and building webpages!
The key to the whole thing would be Planet Math and its renowned President, Aaron Krowne, lending their reputations to the enterprise. The workers would apply/register with Planet Math – real identities – and would be able to obtain, upon successful completion of work assignments, valuable resume line items and references! And that means employability for people wanting to join the workforce!
There are spin-off possibilities that might benefit Planet Math, by the way. Has anyone noticed that cable TV has non-commerical channels available in each locality? It is possible that the DVD’s could be presented on cable TV, with tie-ins to the Planet Math website. And the videos could be distributed over the internet, assuming someone wants to pay for the bandwidth…
The actual class “delivery” side of this would include internet, via Planet Math, with a forum for each on-going class where students could ask questions and receive quizzes. At the end of each class there could also be a final exam, which would be mailed to the student’s designated “proctor” (priest, teacher, counselor, etc. ) for administration to the student and grading by staff at Planet Math – for a nominal fee, of course.
I’m sure others can develop this idea more concretely, but what I think would make it work would be the commitment to do each part of the work at a professional level, regardless of how long it takes to develop the courses. Thus, each area of specialization will require a cadre of budding experts who are developing the skills to do professional work in support of the projects.
(By the way, in case there is a shortage of volunteers to appear on video presenting the course material, it may be that costumes could be used to hide the instructor’s identity – like an Einstein costume, or a bunny suit, or something designed by the video producers for the purpose.)
The first course should be, I believe, elementary symbolic logic, a subject sorely needed in American culture.
—-
My reputation?! I wouldn’t want to curse the project so.
Probably better to get known names in their respective fields to participate in something like this.
MIT Open Courseware serves as inspiration (do they have math?), but we could somehow provide “bundling” of courses that would include a community and instructional element.
We needn’t go to the extravagance of TV and Videos… we could start with lectures and Q&A via internet chat and message boards. Math IRC channels have been doing this for years (one thing we could do NOW is to start archiving these lectures).
–akrowne Thu Feb 23 15:21:31 UTC 2006
[http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html MIT OpenCourseWare] [http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/all-courses.htm 1250 Courses!] —-
This is the video age. People don’t read much anymore, and anyway…to make converts to strange philosophies like math and logic you need tasty Kool-Aid! Seriously.
I see this as making Stone Soup.
Yesterday I reviewed a software package with some very admirable qualities. But the help/documentation and GUI were flawed. I know the author really had a heart for doing the coding, but the other parts were not of the same quality.
Remember, Stone Soup requires only a stone and a big cooking pot. Everything else is brought by the people who want to eat. So making videos would require at least one aspiring video producer, and you can bet that someone like that can get h/er hands on equipment, at least as a loaner. (Visit the local JC and see…)
That’s my story, anyway – in 10 or 15 years a fine crop of researchers will be ready :)
–ocat
—-
Maybe a partnership/(sell it to them) with someone like The Teaching Company, http://www.teach12.com/teach12.asp?ai=16281 I really enjoyed a couple of their lectures, but all they have are tapes, DVD, VHS, mp3, etc. and not a interactive environment. Chips for thought.
I certainly like this idea of looking for partnerships, however when I looked at this particular firm, I find it hard to see what we could offer that they might want. The way their business is very much founded upon tradidtional academia — the lecturers for their tapes are all university professors who have been chosen according to the usual criteria of prestige. From reading their description, I get the feeling that we would have about as much chance of patnering with them as Wikipedia would have of partnering with Brittanica.
However, this idea of a partnership with a company which makes educational recordings, videos and the like is a good one, it is just a matter of finding a suitable firm. The deal would be that we provide them with mathematical knowledge and they make video and audio lectures out of it — it is worth noting that our stuff has the advantage of not having to pay royalties to a textbook company — and in return we get some procees from their sales in order to keep up the good work. We could also accommodate specific needs — for instance, if our collection is lacking in some subject area which they plan to making a film on, we could put up some requests and issue a bounty to encourage people to write those entries. -rspuzio
I saw an engrossing program on actuarial science on some educational TV network/syndicate a while ago. I don’t remember what the name of the station was, but I think they circulate content all over the country. Even places like WBGH or PBS might be interested in becoming part of the modular system folks are discussing here. I think Ben has a good point, to capitalize on existing producers & distributors of content. –jcorneli