*"Edtech platforms are the very definition of Web2 centralization; Edx and Coursera decide which universities or companies can publish courses within its ecosystem. Udemy decides which courses to promote on its home page and which to censor or remove. Teachers Pay Teachers, despite being an amazing platform for educators, still takes a cut from teachers’ sale of their material."*
I think edtech platforms are the best bridge to distributed learning. Online education platforms are the best thing to democratize learning, people from undeveloped nations taking Harvard courses online is great. The idea that centralized education = bad is not really valid.
Your argument lacks an understanding of how businesses are built, people build solutions to problems and have to be rewarded in some way (usually monetarily).
Hi Ryan, thanks for your comment! Agree that EdTech platforms are the best bridge we have right now, and what they have done to provide access is great! The point of this article is not to say centralized education is wrong or bad but rather to point out that even current forms of "democratized education" are highly centralized. It's not to say EdTech businesses shouldn't be rewarded monetarily; I would have no career if that were the case.
I would encourage you to consider that edtech platforms might be the best bridge we have seen for now and that Web3 might enable us to see new bridges, ones where for example top instructors of Harvard quality teach directly without the need for a platform at all further reducing the cost for students. This article is not meant to advocate for one model or the other -- the purpose of it was to propose alternative structures based on new technology.
*"Edtech platforms are the very definition of Web2 centralization; Edx and Coursera decide which universities or companies can publish courses within its ecosystem. Udemy decides which courses to promote on its home page and which to censor or remove. Teachers Pay Teachers, despite being an amazing platform for educators, still takes a cut from teachers’ sale of their material."*
I think edtech platforms are the best bridge to distributed learning. Online education platforms are the best thing to democratize learning, people from undeveloped nations taking Harvard courses online is great. The idea that centralized education = bad is not really valid.
Your argument lacks an understanding of how businesses are built, people build solutions to problems and have to be rewarded in some way (usually monetarily).
Hi Ryan, thanks for your comment! Agree that EdTech platforms are the best bridge we have right now, and what they have done to provide access is great! The point of this article is not to say centralized education is wrong or bad but rather to point out that even current forms of "democratized education" are highly centralized. It's not to say EdTech businesses shouldn't be rewarded monetarily; I would have no career if that were the case.
I would encourage you to consider that edtech platforms might be the best bridge we have seen for now and that Web3 might enable us to see new bridges, ones where for example top instructors of Harvard quality teach directly without the need for a platform at all further reducing the cost for students. This article is not meant to advocate for one model or the other -- the purpose of it was to propose alternative structures based on new technology.