Photo by Flickr/ishane

Today I listened to an inspiring talk about Khanacademy.org, a site with a collection of YouTube video lessons on math, physics, chemistry, biology and economics. The programme features host John Udell interviewing Sal Khan, founder of Khanacademy.org.  Khan talks about his teaching methods, why he started this method and how he has abandoned a career in finance to become a new type of teacher. There are lots of interesting points of view on teaching, learning and the pros, as well as the cons, of using online videos.  

This podcast is part of the series 'John Udell's Interviews with Innovators', where there are lots of great substantial audio interviews at around 40 - 60 minutes each.

Link to Podcast:

YouTube Teaching - as Guerilla Public Service

Related Links:

John Udell's Interviews with Innovators

Khanacademy.org

Sal Khan

Photo by Flickr/specialkrb

Today I listened to an episode of IT Conversations... I know it sounds slightly more geeky than my usual generalist taste, but this particular episode (and a few others) will appeal to all, geeks and non-geeks alike.

So the podcast in question is called 'Spawning the Next Generation of Open Source Hackers' and in the words of the speaker, Nathan Torkington; 'This talk is not about geeks having sex'.  It is however about if, why and how children can learn programming and generally become more tech savvy.  Nathan puts forward a convincing argument, and through his own examples of teaching children delivers a talk which is both humorous yet tackles the subject seriously. 

I for one wish I had the opportunity of learning some programming when I was in school, rather than painfully spending years repeating the times table like a parrot! Have a listen to Nathan Torkington's 20 minute piece, and see if you agree.

Link to Podcast:

IT Conversations: Spawning the Next Generation...

Related Links:

IT Conversations

Programming Language for Children: Scratch

Nathan Torkington