The Future of Learning w Michael Ioffe: Why Coursera Sucks, The Modern Enlightenment Era, Darkside of Non-Profits, ...
Feb 1, 2021
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Michael Ioffe, founder of a leading education non-profit, discusses the flaws of Coursera, the future of micro-learning, challenges in non-profit organizations, and the importance of a learner-centric approach in education.
Eris is a text message learning platform that offers bite-sized and engaging courses, making learning accessible and easy for all learners.
The podcast emphasizes the importance of fostering a culture of innovation in education, which requires deliberate allocation of resources, comfort with failure, and a focus on incentives.
Deep dives
Eris: A Text Message Learning Platform
Eris is a text message learning platform that offers bite-sized and engaging courses. Unlike traditional online learning platforms, Eris focuses on delivering knowledge directly to learners' phones via text message or WhatsApp. The platform aims to make learning accessible and easy by providing short and practical courses that fit seamlessly into learners' daily lives. With a belief in the power of micro-learning, Eris aims to deliver practical skills that learners can immediately implement. The platform also highlights the importance of making learning delivery as frictionless and learner-centric as possible.
The Need for Efficient and Accessible Learning
The podcast episode discusses the limitations of traditional online learning platforms, such as their long and cumbersome video courses. These courses may not fit into learners' busy schedules and often require high internet bandwidth, which can be a challenge globally. The conversation highlights the importance of delivering learning in a way that is easy and accessible for all learners. Eris addresses this need by offering text message-based courses that are bite-sized, engaging, and don't require high-speed internet. The aim is to provide practical skills that learners can easily implement in their daily lives.
Incentives and Challenges in Education Innovation
The podcast delves into the challenges faced by the education sector in terms of innovation. It emphasizes that education has an inherent incentive problem, as it primarily caters to students, parents, educational institutions, companies, and K-12 schools. These stakeholders are often strapped for cash, making it difficult for innovation to thrive. Additionally, the podcast highlights the lack of incentive for bold ideas in government and the challenge of implementing innovations in a complex and bureaucratic system. Overcoming these challenges and fostering a culture of innovation requires deliberate allocation of resources, comfort with failure, and a focus on incentives.
The Future of Education and Learning Paradigms
The podcast explores the future of education and learning paradigms. It emphasizes the importance of micro-learning and mentions that education is becoming more polarized. On one end of the spectrum, there are light, bite-sized concepts or case city explanations that can be easily consumed through platforms like YouTube, Twitter, or TikTok. On the other end of the spectrum, there are in-depth and immersive learning experiences that delve deeper into complex topics. The discussion highlights the need for a balance between the two and the importance of teaching practical skills alongside foundational concepts. Additionally, the podcast touches upon the need to make learning delivery easier and more efficient, focusing on motivation, efficiency, and direction.
New Episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/michaelye
Michael Ioffe is named 30 under 30 in EdTech. He started one of the world's largest education non-profits which was supported by Google, We Are Family Foundation, & more (TILE.org) in high school. & He's now building the future of micro-learning via text with his startup Arist (YC S20) which recently raised $2.1M from Craft Ventures, Global Founders Capital & Y Combinator.
We talk about problems with Coursera, the enlightenment era, heuristics vs metaheuristics, darkside of non-profits & more.
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