World Journal (New York) - World Journal (New York) - Weekly Supplement
K書要靠線上軟體
比爾蓋茲塑造未來
微軟創辦人蓋茲(Bill Gates)是全球第二大富豪,估計身家超過900億元;蓋茲與妻子梅琳達成立蓋茲夫婦基金會(Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation),積極投入國內外慈善工作。蓋茲不僅捐錢,夫妻兩人也在每年2月發表年度公開信,總結過去一年對世界與社會大趨勢的觀察,並展望來年。他們在2019年公開信中的主題,從非洲人口紅利、基因檢測應用、氣候變遷、統計偏差,以及改造廁所與教科書都有。以下摘錄蓋茲在今年公開信中,對於教科書跟不上時代,以及美國不少中小學開始採用學習軟體,增進學習效果的看法。Now, thanks to software, the standalone textbook is becoming a thing of the past.現在有了軟體,只能獨立使用的教科書逐漸成為過去式。Suppose you re taking high school algebra. Instead of just reading a chapter on solving equations, you can look at the text online, watch a superengaging video that shows you how it’s done, and play a game that reinforces the concepts.如果你要學習高中代數,與其K書了解如何解出方程式,現在你可以在線上閱讀、觀看超有感覺的影片,告訴你如何解題,還能玩遊戲、加強對相關概念的理解。Then you solve a few problems online, and the software creates new quiz questions to zero in on the ideas you’re not quite getting.接著可以在線上試做幾個題目,軟體會依情況提出新問題,鎖定你還不懂的觀念。When I told you about this type of software in previous letters,我在之前幾次公開信告訴大家這類軟體時,當時只能用推估的,但現在可以告訴大家,這些工具已經被數千家國內學校採用,從幼稚園到高中都有。
Zearn, i-Ready, and LearnZillion are examples of digital curricula used by students and teachers throughout the U.S. More than 3,000 schools are teaching a free digital course that I fund called Big History, which uses software to give students immediate feedback on their writing assignments.
Zearn、i-Ready、LearnZillion,都是全美老師及學生在使用數位課程的例子。3000多家學校正使用一套我出資的免費數位課程「Big History」,這套課程使用軟體,可以馬上批改學生作業,並且給評語。
What’s next? The same basic cycle you go through for all software: Get lots of feedback on the existing products, collect data on what works, and make them better.接下來會怎麼變化?就是所有軟體都出現同樣的基本循環:在現有產品上獲得許多回饋、蒐集資料了解可行方式,再進一步改善產品。
I hope this growing momentum will inspire more of the big textbook publishers, which have been slow to offer these kinds of tools.希望這個逐漸成長的動能,可以激勵更多大型教科書出版商創新,因為它們推出這類工具的腳步很慢。