Educational Technology Theory
We have previously discussed the three keys to scaling an education business: effectiveness, replicability, and low cost.
Realizing all three ultimately comes down to technology. Not because educational philosophy and management practices are unimportant, but because technology is the rice, philosophy is the oil, and management is the cooking technique. Since the latter two are often already solid, the real room for growth naturally lies in the former.
At present, effectiveness in the education industry may appear to have little to do with technology — but this is only because intelligent learning platforms are still in their earliest stages. This is temporary. To be misled by this temporary state of affairs, and to hastily conclude that the success of new education companies will depend primarily on superior teaching methods and business models rather than technology, would at best be a limiting mistake (one that caps potential) and at worst a fatal one.
Without technology, learning efficiency cannot improve dramatically. Without technology, the best teaching methods cannot be replicated. Without technology, the most sensible business model will be hollow and powerless. Without technology, whatever results are achieved through diligence and care will have no economic value, because the cost of producing them will be too high.
On the topic of technology being the only path to dramatically improving learning efficiency, let me offer a simple example. My job requires me to often study the background of a new invention. It's not an easy task. Wikipedia at least doubled the efficiency of this task, mostly thanks to its extensively cross linked content. This has nothing to do with my own efforts, nor any "wise teacher's" advice. My own efforts and methods could bring a 10-20% improvement, but not double or even more. It's the shear force of the technology. Wikipedia is not even an intelligent learning platform. Such a platform could do much more.
I often think back to a remark PY made in Shanghai last April: with the right learning platform, eight years of medical school could be compressed into two or three. I genuinely believe that is possible. I also believe that, with the intelligent learning platforms that will eventually be built, the efficiency of how mathematics is taught to primary school children today could at least be doubled.
The most exciting thing is a vision of providing a more natural, more intuitive and more individualized learning tool. It's about 生产力创新. Without this vision, anyone who enters into Street of education would become just another bunch of guys wanting to make some money off the needy parents.
As for the other elements — teaching methodology, educational philosophy, teacher development, operations, and marketing — all of them matter. But I firmly believe that even a company that does all of these well will still lack sufficient competitiveness without advanced technology.
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At present, effectiveness in the education industry may appear to have little to do with technology, but this is only because intelligent learning platforms are still in their most rudimentary stage. This is temporary. To be misled by this temporary state of affairs and hastily conclude that the success of new education companies will depend primarily on better teaching methods and business models rather than on technology would be, at best, a limiting mistake — one that caps success — and at worst, a fatal one.
Without technology, learning efficiency cannot improve dramatically; without technology, the best teaching methods cannot be replicated; without technology, the most sound business model will be hollow and powerless; without technology, results achieved through diligence and dedication will have no economic value because the cost will be too high.
On the subject of technology being the only path to dramatically improving learning efficiency, let me offer a simple example. My job requires me to often study the background of a new invention. It's not an easy task. Wikipedia at least doubled the efficiency of this task, mostly thanks to its extensively cross linked content. This has nothing to do with my own efforts, nor any "wise teacher's" advice. My own efforts and methods could bring a 10-20% improvement, but not double or even more. It's the shear force of the technology. Wikipedia is not even an intelligent learning platform. Such a platform could do much more.
I often think back to a remark PY made in Shanghai last April: if there were a well-designed learning platform, eight years of medical school could be reduced to two or three. I genuinely believe this is possible. I also believe that, with the intelligent learning platforms yet to come, the efficiency of how mathematics is taught to today's elementary school students could at least double.
The most exciting thing is a vision of providing a more natural, more intuitive and more individualized learning tool. It's about 生产力创新. Without this vision, anyone who enters into Street of education would become just another bunch of guys wanting to make some money off the needy parents.
All other elements — teaching methodology, educational philosophy, teacher development, management, and marketing — are important. But I firmly believe that even a company that does all of these things reasonably well will still lack sufficient competitiveness without advanced technology.
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