Boiling the Ocean

There is little doubt that Elon Musk of Tesla Motors, SpaceX and now possibly SolarCity is a technical genius, a brilliant manager and a true visionary.  He has just released his newest Master Plan that outlines what he wants his companies to become ... the leaders in sustainable energy production and Earth/space transportation innovation. He has a very clear and, in many ways, appealing notion of what the world should be like ... see: CNBC Story. Read this hyperlink ... it is fascinating.

However there might be some downsides to this vision. Please don't call me a Luddite, but I have the following reservations regarding Musk's manifesto:

1) Musk has a very full plate now for his ideological ambitions. I worry that he is trying to boil the ocean and this will eventually overwhelm him. Building the next major car, truck and bus company, an important space exploration company, and a major sustainable energy provider ... all at the same time, although admirable objectives, seem a little overly ambitious.

2) I have, in the past, shown some skepticism about the probable pace of self-driving car technology. Tesla, Google and the other pioneers in this arena, IMHO, are ignoring a basic fact of human nature ... and that is to be in control of things. Yes, some will wish to turn their driving over to a computer, but I doubt that we will ever see the Indianapolis 500 comprised of any autonomous race cars.

3) His devotion to sustainable energy has been rewarded so far by the current administration's green agenda. Recently Spain, Great Britain and Germany all have backed away from their commitments to killing carbon. If Trump wins in November, it is likely that the U.S. government's subsidy largess may begin to dry up. This largess has been a key ingredient in Musk's marketing success.

I do hope I am wrong ... but I am not a buyer of Tesla's stock.

On-Line Education

Dartblog author Joseph Asch is a tiny bit of a Luddite in his comments about on-line education at Dartmouth. In referencing a New York Times article in his recent blog, he points out, as does the Times, the repeated current failings of this new approach to education … see: Dartblog Opinion.  I, myself, have often seen shortfalls in the massive open on-line course's (MOOC's) approach whilst tutoring at a high school west of Boston.  However, I believe that MOOC is an economic necessity and must eventually win out as the preferred mode of pedagogy.

For this to occur, I believe that the following wrinkles need to be ironed out:

-        The courses need to be better attuned to the potential of the on-line environment.  This includes instructive animations/videos, hyperlinks to vetted sources, and oral questions and feedback responses.

-        There also needs to be better paced instruction, peer-reviewed content, and testing that stays within the boundaries of the course material.

-        I also believe that Skype-like and even social-network-like interactions with the instructors and other students will greatly increase the learning potential.  These interactions can be in real-time or even on a scheduled-delay basis.

-        The use of celebrities and well-known-experts (ala Sesame Street and Jeopardy) to capture the imagination of the on-line student might bring greater focus to the subject at hand.

-        A feedback mechanism for MOOC students need to be more obvious.  Perhaps a running ranking of a given student versus his/her peers?  Or a monetary reward in the form of a scholarship for outstanding achievement?

-        MOOC courses also should be constructed with the intent to encourage students to strike out on their own to do independent research or make real-life connections with a view toward a career (even in such things as the traditional manual trades).

-        And lastly, there also needs to be a face or fingerprint type recognition system to verify exactly who is on the receiving end of this on-line instruction.  Otherwise there is too much opportunity for fraud

And there will be other improvements that evolve here.  Much of on-line instruction that I have experienced has been class-room instruction shoe-horned into a MOOC environment … and this has often been very frustrating … to both the tutor and the student.  Too much of MOOC today is just going through the motions by those after a fast buck.  But, Joe, don’t give up on the potential of this on-line educational environment.  This does seem to be clinging to the past … in my opinion.