Anyone here that has attended higher education KNOWS that it is inefficient, wasteful, boring, slow, and in the end, just about counterproductive. Yes, you come out, lazy, and programmed…and in this blistering age of information, the educational establishment is selling gold plated buggy whips and steam engines.

So, where is old Tan going today, since we all know that he is a tad on the nutsy side, and has to wear a tinfoil hat to keep the “Space Aliens” from invading his brain?

And WHY on earth, is Tan thinking this belongs on an Apple FINANCE site at all?

I’m glad you asked.

AND the BEST PART…ALL the elements are now in place, it just needs the PACKAGING and PUSH!

Shall we now examine the elements that I envision need to be connected, polished, and packaged? Sure, why not!

ELEMENT ONE: -> Smart Universities

ELEMENT TWO: -> Smart Distribution Packaging and Promotion Partner

ELEMENT THREE: -> Smart Textbooks

ELEMENT FOUR: -> THE ENTIRE WORLD!

Now we “Glue” them together!

IMAGINE lifetime learning, freed from travel, lecture halls, excessive costs! IMAGINE attending “school” in any country, any language, at ANY TIME, night, day, weekends?

And the final element, AUTOMATING THE ENTIRE SHEBANG!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *************** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You have a professor that walks into a room, small with a few students. He approaches the podium, on the podium is a button, pressing that the PODCAST of this lesson begins recording, his audio, visual,notes, blackboard are all recorded and digitized. At the end, he hits END,and the podcast is AUTOMATICALLY produced, the required headers, intro, school information, rights, leagalities, are appended, and this is uploaded.

YOU….

Sitting anywhere in the world, log in, use your ID number, giving you access to the course, view it once, twice, however many times, and the NOTES and OUTSIDE reading are there on your tablet, KINDLE or new iTablet, and you finish the course at your own leisure, do the required outside reading on your Kindle.

Come “test time” it is on your Kindle or tablet, you answer and it is uploaded, upon successful completion, your “grade is generated” and your account is credited with completion of the course.

Thinking bigger, different “Universities” could agree to accept each others credits, allowing you to “take classes” from around the world, and your “degree” is granted from a central degree dispensing entity.

Full continuing learning, is PART OF THIS, you now are a world citizen, can work anywhere, while still studying at whatever school or schools suit your fancy.

And ELIMINATED totally are:

Commuting, campuses, textbooks, frat parties, and travel.

And you can go as FAST as your time, skills and talents can take you there.

All that is missing right now, is the MARKETING AND PROWESS to accumulate the schools, and sell the concept to the new digital babies that are flooding out into the world today.

THAT is the vision thing, and who BETTER to knit this all together and market it, for a small fee, than our company, APPLE?

I cannot think of a better use for the 30 BILLION that is sitting there, rotting away in low interest bonds and accounts.

Comments?

I thought Podcast Producer was a fictional product you dreamed up.  I had to go to the Apple site and confirmed it’s real!

What you suggest sounds great for places and countries who’s people can’t afford college. But what about the benefits that come with interacting with real people
that a college environment provides? College isn’t just about book-knowledge, it’s about leaning how to make your way in the world of people. It’s about making
life-long friendships. It’s about leaning how to socialize and get along with people from different socio-economic environments. Many of today’s young people
spend too much time in front of their computers, ending up without the necessary people skills to survive in their world.

Just some thoughts… I think a virtual learning environment is and could be a wonderful thing for many, many people, but I worry about too many alienated youths who wouldn’t have everything they need to succeed.

As Steve Jobs has said, education is in the company’s DNA.

What is absolutely astounding is how much of Apple’s focus in SJ’s first go-round at Apple has reemerged through his return in spectacular and revolutionary ways.

The iPod/iPhone as an educational tool further entrenches the company in the education market.

As a former educator, I remember attending a technology conference back in 2002 in which Apple reps were hawking the iPod as a means to make portable presentations and other classroom content. Now the iPod is used to distribute curriculum content directly to students.

What the analysts who are obsessed with the netbook phenomenon fail to see is the power of the iPod and the iPhone as a netbook alternative in the enterprise and education markets. The netbook does a bunch of things but none of them well versus the iPhone/iPod which provides specific and satisfactory functionality.

Further, Apple is hastening the day in which printed texbooks are obsolete and the day in which classroom attendance would be necessary only a few times each semester, reducing costs for both students and schools.

DawnTreader - 10 May 2009 12:35 PM

Further, Apple is hastening the day in which printed texbooks are obsolete and the day in which classroom attendance would be necessary only a few times each semester, reducing costs for both students and schools.

For those not aware, there is currently the video taped lectures of the Stanford iPhone Programming Class on iTunes. These lectures also include the Keynote Slides. Even though, viewers cannot get a grade or meet directly with the instructors. almost everything else is provided. Considering there is no textbook, other than Apple Developer tools, this is a preview of the future.  BTW, the lectures are subscribe-able via iTunes and can be viewed on your iPhone/Touch.

DawnTreader - 10 May 2009 12:35 PM

Further, Apple is hastening the day in which printed texbooks are obsolete and the day in which classroom attendance would be necessary only a few times each semester, reducing costs for both students and schools.

DT I have to take issue with you moving this.

The point of Tan’s article was to say that Apple have actually got this sewn up currently and as such the impact to the bottom line will be forthcoming. It shouldn’t really be “moved” to the education thread JUST because it talks about education.

rattyuk - 10 May 2009 06:05 PM

DawnTreader - 10 May 2009 12:35 PM

Further, Apple is hastening the day in which printed texbooks are obsolete and the day in which classroom attendance would be necessary only a few times each semester, reducing costs for both students and schools.

DT I have to take issue with you moving this.

The point of Tan’s article was to say that Apple have actually got this sewn up currently and as such the impact to the bottom line will be forthcoming. It shouldn’t really be “moved” to the education thread JUST because it talks about education.

Ditto.

rattyuk - 10 May 2009 06:05 PM

DawnTreader - 10 May 2009 12:35 PM

Further, Apple is hastening the day in which printed texbooks are obsolete and the day in which classroom attendance would be necessary only a few times each semester, reducing costs for both students and schools.

DT I have to take issue with you moving this.

The point of Tan’s article was to say that Apple have actually got this sewn up currently and as such the impact to the bottom line will be forthcoming. It shouldn’t really be “moved” to the education thread JUST because it talks about education.

As you can see the topic is still present in the AFB. The reason for “moving” the topic is to provide it with an extended shelf life in the TMO forums. I could understand the objections if the topic was removed from the AFB. It’s still here and all topic posts are available for member view and continuing discussion. Because this topic straddles more than one area of member interest, it’s best to provide as many avenues for participation as are relevant to the topic.

mjpww - 10 May 2009 12:13 PM

I thought Podcast Producer was a fictional product you dreamed up.  I had to go to the Apple site and confirmed it’s real!

What you suggest sounds great for places and countries who’s people can’t afford college. But what about the benefits that come with interacting with real people
that a college environment provides? College isn’t just about book-knowledge, it’s about leaning how to make your way in the world of people. It’s about making
life-long friendships. It’s about leaning how to socialize and get along with people from different socio-economic environments. Many of today’s young people
spend too much time in front of their computers, ending up without the necessary people skills to survive in their world.

Just some thoughts… I think a virtual learning environment is and could be a wonderful thing for many, many people, but I worry about too many alienated youths who wouldn’t have everything they need to succeed.

+1!  I’ve always said that College is fun except for the school part.  Their are elements of truth within that but the part I never discussed much was that in most ways the College part was also the most difficult but posed the most opportunities for learning.  It’s where I was first introduced to the obstacles presented by a group (frat) living in some form of self limiting never land.  Where the popular or least divisive individual gets elected to office.  If that’s not training for the real world I don’t know what is.

I don’t think everyone has quite grasped what I was TRYING to communicate.

The EDU markets are MASSIVELY inefficient.

Just think about the $$$$ that can be made, by opening up THE ENTIRE WORLD to US Universities, with AAPL as the iEduStore raking off a percentage as the integrator and packager.

Think the APP STORE and the iTUNES STORE.

This will integrate the ENTIRE shebang, AND hook EVERY new graduating student FROM ANY SUCH programs, and mainline them right into the arteries of the worlds corporations.

THAT was the emphasis, NOT what it would do for teaching “heads full of mush.”

DawnTreader - 10 May 2009 10:44 PM

As you can see the topic is still present in the AFB. The reason for “moving” the topic is to provide it with an extended shelf life in the TMO forums. I could understand the objections if the topic was removed from the AFB. It’s still here and all topic posts are available for member view and continuing discussion. Because this topic straddles more than one area of member interest, it’s best to provide as many avenues for participation as are relevant to the topic.

Problem is that when viewing the site on the iPhone you are taken to an entirely different part of the board making reading the thread and then getting back to AFB a lot more difficult than the usual single click as you are now somewhere else. Do the reverse so people who are reading in Education can be bought here BUT this seems a little heavy handed.

TMO is not just about the AFB. I’d venture to guess that we have many members that don’t go anywhere near the AFB. The subject matter is very appropriate for the education forum.

Intruder - 11 May 2009 08:52 AM

TMO is not just about the AFB. I’d venture to guess that we have many members that don’t go anywhere near the AFB. The subject matter is very appropriate for the education forum.

I agree. What I was saying that some AFB members don’t go to the other areas.

If the BEST OF THE BEST professors have their lectures on itunes, the ENTIRE college experience will change.

BUT if the colleges and universities fight this, it will never happen. I am SURE they will fight it. The colleges and universities continue to build new buildings.

It may take a REVOLT by parents. It MAY TAKE a generation.

artman1033 - 11 May 2009 11:14 AM

If the BEST OF THE BEST professors have their lectures on itunes, the ENTIRE college experience will change.

BUT if the colleges and universities fight this, it will never happen. I am SURE they will fight it. The colleges and universities continue to build new buildings.

It may take a REVOLT by parents. It MAY TAKE a generation.

Not so sure.  Employers still use college degrees as a screening process for potential employees. By having the lectures on-line, it may help students that may have missed a day or who needs to review material.  In the case of the iPhone Class at Stanford, the lectures are posted 2-3 days after the lecture. Which is nice, but does not give the enrolled student the option to cut class and watch later. Further, the student will still need to attend classes and turn in assignments in order to get a grade and eventually graduate.  So I’m not sure the university will suffer by these offerings.  (BTW, when I was in college, years ago, many of the lectures were tape recorded. The difference is that I had to make the effort to go to the library to listen to them)

One potential benefit may be to open up more Extension classes for off-campus students. But this may be nothing tmore than what some extension universities offer currently.  With iTunesU though, there is an easy way for marketing, distribution and possibly sales.

Good idea and concept. Only problem is that there is one non-Apple piece of hardware in this senario—the Kindle DX! Therfore, to control everything, Apple NEEDS to come up with an alternative with a color display. Kiss Kindle goodbye.

My wife’s university “gives” each student a laptop upon enrollment (for $30K per year you should get SOMETHING).  For years the students had a choice of Mac or PC.  In 2005 the Mac population was about 7%.  In 2006 it was about 30%.  In 2007 it was about 60%.  In 2008 they stopped offering a choice.  Now it’s Macs only.  Lectures are available for video review on laptop or iPod.  Campus news is on an RSS feed.  Registration for classes is on line on the internet and wireless all over campus.  Academic advisors work via email.  This is inexorable.  It’s not about to be reversed any time soon.