Peer To Peer Education - The Netcohort Institute

It's time to turn the page.

The Netcohort Institute does not just require a better user interface than BFU - it requires a whole new approach to education. The time spent developing the current platform was not wasted, we successfully found many approaches that will not work.

Lets start from bare ground and put out a few ideas of what we think is needed.

A way for creative project teams to form, self-regulate, and manage reputation for future projects. To really have value we need a web 2.0 approach - let the students develop the courses they need - let all students vote their projects up or down.

What we need is

• An open system like Wikipedia or Mozilla

• A community / communications organization like an online poker room with a general lounge and breakout rooms

• A reputation measurement similar to what e-bay had

• A voting system like Digg employs

and a lot of stuff we haven't thought through yet. Maybe that is your job also.

You have the audacious dreams - you can make them come true.

What sort of resources can a P2P educational network offer? As a start look at this Squidoo lens on the Royalton Raid created by Evelyn Saenz as a course for unschoolers. While not college level, it sure is interesting, and provides a compelling picture. To adjust to a college level course you could take the frame work at the BFU lens under the heading Create Your Own College Course.

In fact Squidoo is a resource we may want to use for course creation. It is easy, enjoyable, and you can actually earn a little money with it.

Think of thousands of students creating courses, thousands of students voting on what is most valuable, you deciding on what is most valuable to you.

Then think of thousands of students joining on project teams and creating value for all of us.

The rest of the institute will not be so easy - it will take visionary volunteers that want to shape the future of education.

This is just the start, the reputation you build within your teams will qualify you for inclusion in serious start up projects - within a Netcort Institute incubator, or on your own.

Want a first assignment?

Make a lens, Put a BFU or Netcohort stub onto Wikipedia - or add to one already there. Put a comment here, or on Evelyn's lens.

This is too big and too important for just me, The Netcohort Institute needs all of us.

Allan

Educational Foundations

How far have we wandered from real education?

I have just spent a few days with a young relative. She has a lot of opinions, all of which have been given her by teachers. She said, "we should have peace!" but she had not thought about how to acquire peace in a world where people want to control or even kill others. She wanted to protect the environment, a laudable goal, but her means were all short term positive, long term destructive - "save a tree - use plastic."

No one had explained the choices; paper is a renewable resource - plastic is petroleum based. Which do you think makes the best long term sense? Did she want to read up on the subject, get several views, and develop her own opinion? No - she already has an opinion, already provided to her with a nice sound bite, it needs no thought.

The foundation of a sound education is simple.

• learn to read

• learn to research

• challenge what you are taught and develop your own viewpoint

If you can read, and read enough to discover the pleasures of reading, then you can uncover any knowledge you desire, on any subject. "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." - Mark Twain

I provided my young relative with a couple of sound bites to consider

• Don't automatically believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see.

• Give advice to fools and they will hate you, give advice to the wise and they will thank you.
  

Education is a do it yourself endeavor. You need to be self educated - especially if you go to school. Many great people of the past were self-educated, most great achievers of the future will be.

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