How Long do we Need More Teachers?

Erich Andreas leaves his basement for his work in Nashville (Tennessee) only rarely. And yet, he taught daily guitar students around the world. Within an hour he helps yourguitarsage.com free up to 1500 people.

Teachers and textbook publishers are increasingly concerned with the proliferation of Internet connections and tablet computers for their place in the world, with new technologies affordable educational opportunities available in the world do.

Such changes tend to develop slowly. But alone on guitar lesson shows that this trend is gaining momentum for some time. Musicians exchange for 15 years of notes on the internet. Online video and new apps are making it easier to share musical know-how cheap or free.

Cheap Competition for Schools

But even if this momentum is also spreading to other areas of education, the world still needs teachers who are faced with the students and talk. You need only a few of them. “I do not know if it is necessary to personally sit in a classroom,” says Thomas Sundboom, a 62-year-old guitar student in Balsam Lake (Wisconsin), who is just learning some songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

He pays $ 40 a month for access to Andreas’ website -. Less than half as much as he paid for the classical teaching “That should drive down prices,” he says.

With the modern media, there will be a small selection of outstanding teachers and companies lucrative opportunities to spread knowledge.However, schools and teachers have to adapt to cheap competition from around the world.

Technology Better than a Nervous Teacher?

And they have to admit that technology sometimes works better than a nervous teacher with a metronome.“Classical guitar teachers will find that the Internet method has a great impact on it,” said Gary Ingle, head of the 22,000 members great Music Teachers National Association.

The 43-year-old Andreas uses a series of free YouTube videos and gives lessons via webcam in real time to students to sell his Unterrichtsabo of $ 40 a month. He now has 170 paying students.

YouTube is the greatest teacher-Star Justin Sandercoe .The London-based guitar teacher started in 2003 a website with plain text instructions for guitar students. In July 2006, he released his first YouTube video, and spent nearly twelve hours a day in order to shoot video lessons.He now has 170,000 subscribers and his videos have been teaching already downloaded nearly 130 million times.

New Computer Programs give Students Feedback

This huge fan group has changed Sandercoes life completely. He flies around the world to give his fans in person lessons. Occasionally, he also granted private lessons via webcam – for $ 100 per hour. He says that he earned “very good money”.

“I can work now, when I want,” he says in a Skype call. “I myself had experience with terrible teachers. I hope my lessons will disappear such teachers.”

The problem with this business model is that it depends on how much time an individual. Therefore, some companies are developing programs that can give a student in real time via the internet feedback.The program listens to what a student does and will change the starting with the notes.

Teach More Students through Technology

Such a system, which is being developed by a small California company called chromaticism, it will allow students to play from a digital music sheet and send a recording of their music to a teacher.This can comment on the piece and then digitally send the student back. All performances will be stored online.

Robert Hutter, partner the 65 million dollar venture capital fund Learn Capital, does not believe that such programs displaced teachers.Rather, could a teacher in this way at the same time teach far more students.

PC programs do not Maintain Discipline

Motivation and discipline are still the two keys to such a good musician.And exactly those points, traditional teachers are still working better than computer programs. The technology exacerbates this problem even more. She contributes to the fact that “children are not able to concentrate so well,” Jason Ladanye, guitar teacher says in Albany (New York). “You do not know why they should learn something.”

Hutter holds this problem can be solved. He draws attention to new studies, according to which communication between students on social networks makes it easier to keep what you have learned. “If you learn and use social networks suggests that the brain,” he says.

Over time, teachers may no longer be primarily custodians of knowledge, but to be motivators distracted students.

The article titled, “How long do we need teachers?” is previously in“Wall Street Journal” appeared.

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Posted by Paracha on October 30, 2012. Filed under Articles, Technology, Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.