One of the things I’ve been using YouTube for is to learn things.  For example, this video about breathing techniques for freestyle swimming is comprehensive and full of good information.

I even downloaded an iPhone ap devoted to instructional videos called Videojug.  In addition to taking in the freestyle swimming tips, I’ve also recently watched a quick primer on the country two step and read a tips list on how best to ski moguls–head up, shoulders back, knees bent, hips forward, look 3-5 bumps ahead.

What got me thinking about the proliferation of instructional internet videos was a piece on NBC Nightly News on Khan Academy, an organization that got its start when MIT and Harvard grad Sal Khan began tutoring his cousin remotely in math and posting the lessons online for anyone to watch.  His lessons became wildly popular.  The site now has over 2,100 hundred videos in subjects ranging from calculus, chemistry and physics to finance and history.  The site is being used in classrooms across the country and Khan Academy is now backed by Google and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

What I wonder is whether these types of instructional videos will lessen the need for personal coaches, teachers and introductory classes.  To me, I’m reminded of what has happened to the number of Olympia correspondents covering Washington state politics.  It used to be that every local paper and TV station across the state had someone in the Capitol.  I think at one point, there were close to 20 correspondents there.  But now, because all media is available online and because of shrinking budgets at local news outlets, the number of Olympia correspondents is down to about six.  Why read the local stringer’s stories every other day when I can read Austin Jenkins’ blog?

Will this happen in education?  Recent research has shown that the student-teacher ratio in a classroom is less of a factor than once thought on the ability of kids to learn.  What’s most important is quality of instruction.  Well what if the instructor happens to be on a video?  What then?  What if I’m able to learn for free from Sal Khan what would have cost me thousands of dollars at a university?  What if I’m able to increase the speed of my crawl stroke by checking out a few YouTube videos and then practicing what I learned at the pool on my own or with a buddy rather than signing up for private swimming lessons?

To me, the answer’s easy, and I think it might just have big ramifications.

Nathan

p.s. Stay tuned for a series of instructional cooking videos on Thierry Rautureau’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.