Princeton economist William J. Baumol famously questioned the concept of improving productivity for a Beethoven string quartet.
Drop the second violin?
Ask the musicians to play twice as fast?
Let's explore what happens when we turn this analysis to education.
🪡
Drop the second violin?
Ask the musicians to play twice as fast?
Let's explore what happens when we turn this analysis to education.
🪡
1/ The number of musicians needed to play a Beethoven string quartet hasn’t changed in centuries, yet today’s musicians make more than Beethoven-era wages.
Baumol argued that the quartet needed to raise wages to keep its cellist from going into a better-paying job instead.
Baumol argued that the quartet needed to raise wages to keep its cellist from going into a better-paying job instead.
2/ Stated in terms of the musicians - their number and their work as performers - Baumol is right that increasing productivity is impossible.
What if we thought instead about the listeners and their experience?
What if we thought instead about the listeners and their experience?
3/ Contrast the cost and quality of a trip to the concert hall with the cost and quality of putting on a CD.
Consider what it would cost to have had top-class musicians perform Mozart's piano concerto No. 21 for as many people as now listen to it in a year, recorded?
Consider what it would cost to have had top-class musicians perform Mozart's piano concerto No. 21 for as many people as now listen to it in a year, recorded?
4/ It is impossible not to regard the shift from live to recorded music as a productivity improvement for the listener.
Simultaneously improving quality (someone talking in the next seat) and reducing cost (paying for parking at the concert venue).
Simultaneously improving quality (someone talking in the next seat) and reducing cost (paying for parking at the concert venue).
5/ The Baumol effect in education focuses on the teacher as 'performer'.
What would you have the teacher do?
Skip every other chapter?
Talk twice as fast?
What would you have the teacher do?
Skip every other chapter?
Talk twice as fast?
6/ What if we focused on the 'listener’ instead?
What if we thought about connecting the student directly with information through technology?
Would disintermediating the teacher and shifting work to the student actually enhance the learning experience?
What if we thought about connecting the student directly with information through technology?
Would disintermediating the teacher and shifting work to the student actually enhance the learning experience?
This thread is based on an article by Ted Kolderie published on @EdEvolving
educationevolving.org/files/Sustaina…
educationevolving.org/files/Sustaina…
@EdEvolving I am not suggesting human teachers are entirely replaceable my machines.
I am suggesting we explore student-centric online learning, as presented in Clayton Christensen's book 'Disrupting Class'.
Leveraging technology to give teachers more one on one time with students.
I am suggesting we explore student-centric online learning, as presented in Clayton Christensen's book 'Disrupting Class'.
Leveraging technology to give teachers more one on one time with students.
For more threads like this, follow me @therealjohntan. I explore ideas that reimagine the future of learning.
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