UnitEd

Problem Statement

People who aren't familiar with a subject, and even some that are, don't know how best to present the material within the subject. There is a complicated web of dependencies. IE, you can't learn physics without first learning calculus.

Things like Wikipedia provide broad and deep knowledge. However, the knowledge is not presented in a systematic way that would encourage learning.

Solution

The UnitEd website will provide education in the form of a web of small units linked to one another. Educators and experts and work together to build new units, link units together, and otherwise build a web of guided knowledge.

Unit Size

Units should be kept small. It should take no more than an hour to master a unit.

Unit Composition

Units should start with a very brief statement about what it will teach the student.

Units should be connected with other units, particularly dependencies. This way, the student can see what may need to be reviewed.

Units contain materials in a variety of forms. IE,

• A video lecture
• A few pages of text and diagrams.

Units contain exercises the students can do to help master the topic.

• Problems to solve
• Things to think about
• Questions to test understanding.

Units can also contain a few test questions that would help the student know whether they understand the material or not.

How Units Are Made

Units are regular HTML pages. Teachers, professionals, and experts can contribute both the unit layout and the unit contents.

People can also contribute alternate or additional methods of learning the material. Information about what the student has used in the past, as well as which material is most effective for teaching the unit in general, may help to determine which material may be most appropriate for that particular student in that unit.

How Units Are Used

Students lay out a roadmap--a path through the web of units. They schedule when they would like to master each unit, setting goals for pace and allowing time for review.

Students are presented each day or each study period with units that they scheduled to cover. They choose which units they would like to cover.

The student chooses whether they would like to read or watch a video or other learning material. There will likely be more material than they can consume. One or two materials is probably all that is needed to master the unit anyway.

The student does a few practice problems, the first few with guidance and hints to help them navigate later ones. When they are confident, they take the test. If they pass, the unit is marked as being done. If they fail, they will be told why they failed and given a chance to try the unit out again.

The student also spends time reviewing past units from time to time, like flashcards. They could be given simple test questions to see if they remember the material.

Systems can monitor what units students study, how well they do, and help teachers understand where units need to be improved or streamlined.

Copyright

This idea has been floating around. I believe the Khan Academy is doing something similar, except it is not collaborative. I wrote this on 2012-11-10.