Open Source Education - Teach the World for Free
Open Source Education - Teach the World for Free
Idea Description
Enhance the open source education movement by MIT (http://ocw.mit.edu) and other universities. Currently those programs are very much text and reference based. I would like to create a quasi social network for each class and allow members to upload tutoring videos and simple explanations for concepts within each chapter of the book, each sub topic, etc.
By allowing the crowd to source the material, viewers will get a wide range of topical explanations and will hopefully learn. I would allow members from all countries, speaking all languages to create study groups, upload explanation videos, links, etc. so that viewers from any walk of life will have the chance to learn the topic.
What will you do if you win $10,000 for this idea?
Build a prototype of a few classes and present the idea to Angel investors.
I would stress that the goal of this endeavor is the dissemination of knowledge to the world. Not everyone has a chance to go to college, but this might be their chance. With 3rd world countries gaining access to the internet, we could deliver the knowledge they need to improve their lives right to their screen, wherever the live, whatever language they speak.
Vote for it now.
Adding to my idea: I would convince university professors to assign students labs or homework that would require them to contribute to this movement by teaching someone via the web - this website. The content created could be graded online by the professor and then released for the public. This would be a great way to create content and keep the content fresh.
All profits and proceeds from this endeavor would go to improving education. The organizational structure would be setup as a non-profit. I would envision scholarships and funding for educational materials as the main directive for any revenues after expenses.