IT systems: analyse the hardware and sof…
IT systems: analyse the hardware and software necessary to implement Khan Academy as a learning tool in an average Estonian school (approx. 300 words).
What is necessary to make Khan Academy work in an Estonian school?
This learning tool is at many aspects one of the greater achievements today, thus require much. Even though, a computer today is ultra fast and powerful, it might at some time run short of supplies that would be necessary for this kind of a project.
The first necessary part for making this work would be a server1– a more powerful computer that provides other computers connected to it with information, data or other resources. Although it is possible that a single PC can handle this task as mentioned before today’s computers are very fast and powerful, it is much up to the school and its financial state. This means that there in some cases would not be a need for a server, since there are so few students and they could not overrun the computer with requests. In larger schools, facilities a server would be necessary just to cope with the thousands upon thousands of requests by students every day.
Since records are made of students, who use the tool for learning, there is a necessity for a database2 – stores information in a computer in an organised form. What this does is that it keeps track of students’ activities, stores them in an organised form, letting authorised people access it at all times. This is necessary for helping students, parents and teachers keep track of the students’ studies by looking at tables and graphs. The database will be of good use when dealing with information that would take too much time to monitor manually, such as this project.
1,2 – “Tomorrow’s technology and you” Ben & George Beekman
Area of impact: education: Evaluate the possibilities of Khan Academy changing something permanently in education (approx. 300 words).
Khan Academy – the leading developer in changing the world of education.
Just from the first look, may it be a promotional video or a personal experience, it can be seen that the developers behind Khan Academy have created something that will change the educational system as we know it.
As the educational system is concerned, this system would make it a lot easier for teachers to assess students as they individually develop by following graphs and tables and thus not having to follow certain rules set by the educational system which leaves some students worse off. Overall it would make student development easily monitor-able, problems locate-able and easily eliminatable. It also will be financially beneficial as school houses wouldn’t have to be rented, because all of the information is available online. This would also make the information easily accessible from virtually anywhere from the planet, eliminating the fact of falling behind when illnesses or trips occur. As already mentioned, the possibilities are endless.
On the other hand, it is hard to implement this type of learning on other subjects, such as English, where the discussion part plays a large role in the students’ understanding of the subjects. Jet another problem would be essays, when and how will they be assessed? An overall issue concerning this system is privacy and academic honesty. Since privacy is a large concern in all aspects that deal with the Internet, it is reasonable to believe that this could become yet another suspect of this kind of felony. As it comes to academic honesty we, IB students, take it for granted not to cheat, but this might not be the case with some students who would desperately be trying to impress their fellow students/parents/teachers using methods that might not be ethical(in some cases even legal).
As to everything in this world, every coin has two sides. So does this one, on one hand it is a great breakthrough in education, making it easier and more accessible to everyone willing to participate. On the other hand, it’s a way that would lead to difficulties, at some cases even felony. Overall my opinion is left unchanged as I think of the system as a great way of adding variety to studies. This way of learning could become of good use when implemented partially, thus getting the best out of both systems: the strict and rule based learning from one end and the fun, achievement based learning from the other.
Social and ethical concerns: Identify and evaluate at least two social/ethical concerns related to implementing Khan Academy in Estonian schools (approx. 300 words).
What concerns might there be when implementing Khan Academy to Estonian schools?
When a new, innovative idea comes along, people tend to either only look for errors or only see what is good about it. Previously I noted some of the positive aspects, but what can be the concerns(social/ethical)?
Since schools at the moment require a student to be present and actually show up to the classes in person, people do not really pay attention to the positive effects that this creates, such as social intercourse. This project, when fully functional, would eliminate school, as a physical object from the picture. This means that it is not necessary to be physically present at lessons. One can do them at any given moment, group-work can be handed out and done separately using given possibilities. This eliminates the face-to-face communication that is so very essential to becoming a successful person, that can cope in every given situation. This means that by eliminating the factor of having to show up, one eliminates the possibility of being socially active, a part in a functioning society.
When all studies are moved to the Internet, there is a higher risk of lack of academic honesty. This means that since the students, when using a personal computer can not be monitored as a student in a classroom can, there instances might occur where the student is using materials that are not allowed. This in turn of course creates for a system of education that does not monitor the knowledge of the student but the skill that one possesses when using the Internet and looking up all the answers. Thus the students will be less ethical and when one is unethical, no one knows what might happen and this would damage the society as a whole.
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