Imagine for a moment that you happen to be the world’s greatest sixth-grade math (or history, science, language arts, art teacher, etc.) and every day at school, your young students are learning and motivated by your ability to teach them sixth-grade math. Would you as the world’s greatest sixth-grade math teacher ever ask yourself why you are not sharing your knowledge with every sixth-grade math student in the world? In fact, would you feel guilty for not sharing yourself?
When I was a student at UMASS Amherst, I had a professor that taught a class called Money and Banking; his name was Prof. Banks. He was a great teacher. The subject matter could be a little bit dry and complex at times and when Prof. Banks saw that glazed look in his student eyes, he would take a step back and break into Shakespeare. He was a great performer that had a great sense of timing and delivery. At the end of the semester, he received a standing ovation from his auditorium full of students. I never forgot him or his class and I wish I could share that class with others, but I cannot.
One of the things I find so fascinating about the Internet today is that this generation and future generations could potentially have access to the world’s greatest teachers forever and ever.
If you were the world’s greatest sixth-grade math teacher, would you want to share that gift with the world? Imagine the ramifications. Imagine the gift you could share with children all around the world. Imagine a day when students all around the world wake up and have access to the teachers that suit their style of learning. Today, the world’s greatest sixth-grade math teacher could become available to our children via the Internet by utilizing an inexpensive video camera and a website such as YouTube. It is not that difficult to do anymore; in fact, it is rather easy.
So my question is this: what are we waiting for?
