College 2.0: Can Universities Be Google-ized?
February 4th, 2011 | 
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Complete video at: fora.tv Can online lectures replace a college diploma? Cultural historian and media scholar Siva Vaidhyanathan outlines two arguments for the movement towards a democratized, Web-based form of higher education. —– Professor Vaidhyanathan’s keynote address, entitled “‘The Classroom is Sacred’: Digitization Without Commercialization,” addresses the myriad challenges facing university faculty, administrators and students in finding the best ways to embrace emerging digital technologies to improve teaching, research and learning without giving in to commercial pressures or arguments about efficiency or cost savings. Prof. Vaidhyanathan suggests that we approach the implementation of academic technologies in the classroom with a sense of experimentation and modesty. – CUNY Siva Vaidhyanathan is a cultural historian and media scholar, and is currently an associate professor of media studies and law at the University of Virginia. From 1999 through the summer of 2007 he worked in the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University. Vaidhyanathan is a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues in various periodicals including The Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times Magazine, The Nation, and Salon.com, and he maintains a blog, www.googlizationofeverything.com. He is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio and to MSNBC.COM and has appeared in a segment of “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart. Vaidhyanathan is a fellow of the …
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The pros for the “googlization” of higher education far outweigh the cons. Do it now. We could solve major problems in society just by reducing the cost of education.
@Medifro I love wikipedia. I use it all the time at work. But a lot of people don’t use it because anyone can edit it. But that should be a good thing. If I come across an article and a very important fact is missing a citation, I open up another tab and Google the subject and double check the uncited fact and change it. 5 minutes.
I learn so much from Wikipedia on a daily basis. People don’t learn more because they don’t want to. I work with a lot kids in their 20’s and most of them…
@Medifro …have internet enabled phones. During conversation they ask questions that do not need to be asked, just Googled. And it’s not like if their asking what are the elements of gold or shit like that. No their asking how did they do that action scene in that movie or how why does our employer pay us bi weekly instead of weekly.
My point is that these are simple things that have FREE simple answers right in their pocket and they don’t even take advantage of it.
@ocerg1111, that’s not “Google-ized” which is what this video is about.
@ndyt fair enough, however live streaming camera feed of an instructor with online, interactive Q/A, and assignments, coupled with electronic transmission of assignments and papers can do the job. Being in the room in-person does not increase or decrease one’s quality of education.
googleing and youtubeing for “knowlege” is good. But it only works, when you have a suky professor and you need a good explanation.
in a way it decreases knowledge and in a way it increases knowledge.
It is best that real and virtual universities go together hand in hand.
Education online would provide students w/ a safer environment from idiots that want to shoot the schools up.
Think of the barrels of oil that would be saved.
Think of the savings in hours not sitting in congested traffic.
In the military they taught us via videos. They didn’t waste man power providing teachers in the classrooms. After the video an assistant would pass out a test to see what you learned. Hooah!
we can get top quality lectures from universities such as harvard. so, what are we paying for? laboratory usages? well, i think those are a lot cheaper; therefore, what’s next in this chapter of education
Interact? Do you mean nodding while the lecture goes on and on? The professor getting away from the students who want to learn further than s/he had taught? Hang out with a bunch of classmates who think like you and ignore the others?
Unless you need a laboratory, presential classes are generally a waste of time and resources.
If you are getting a degree online you are being robbed. You can go to a brick and mortar university and then also take classes online… but having professors and a research institution are fundamentally important to learning. You can’t just do it on your own.
@prabhatpalpal the argument is actually about a more radical form of competition and accountability than most hack professors would willingly submit to. The majority of them will be weeded out by this revolution- only the most competitive will survive as lecturers. This may sound like a revolution too destructive to endorse, but consider the effect on students: entire nations will be trained by interactive video conference and youtubes of the TOP minds and speakers on the planet. worth the cost?
@Medifro i’m getting on this train of agreement. human brain is our most underused resource when seeing it’s actual capacity. to think we need upper middle class family nagging to produce the dedication required to be a doctor is unthinkable, but what about the early life environment of a well-educated family? it’s sort of a potential that nobody in the west will invest in until it’s already happened. cant sell them degrees and laptops before they’ve got the money and education,, chicken or egg?
The internet is a learning/ information/ social revolution, growing exponentially with technology.. Way beyond schools or universities.
@GodefdMarynmadeJesus
well of course i was joking about saying it over and over… honestly, human action – ludwig von mises, 1949. you will understand what im talking about if you read it. the book is actually about the entirety of human action.
@oiuoiu988 Thanks for the recommendation. I will, and hopefully I am wrong, as improvements in education benefit all. Wait, nevermind, saying it over and over in my head sounds like a faster way.
@shelaughs I agree. Education for everyone at a minimum cost will solve 99% of this world’s problems.
Good news its that the concept is menifisting in the real world. Wikipedia?
@ndyt No you don’t… and yes you can.
Absolutely about time! Overdue even. This scandalous situation of “higher” education’s present state (overpriced, archaic “knowledge”, elitist, out-of-reach for the average bear) is untenable. It is time for education to be free and accessible to EVERYONE.
@peppeddu
actually if we spend less time at school we have more time for voluntary human interaction…
Online learning will never match the educational experience one gets from being on campus and in a physical classroom setting. Humans need to be around one another.
@oiuoiu988, conferencing would be fine.
the argument is like saying stop using paper because you got iPhone….looks good in theory, doesn’t works!!
OMG another guy that has has figure it out that with the ‘Net we can stay home attached to the PC and avoiding any human interaction.
@greenhell666
actually you can.