Friday, March 03, 2006

Can Webcasting Elevate Good Teachers' Careers?

Steven Burton at Enchridion Militis proposes a solution to bad teachers like the local failure, Overland geography teacher Jay Bennish:
every public school classroom in America should be fitted out with a video camera, and the full proceedings of every minute of every class day should be webcast for whoever wants to tune in. This would have the added benefit of allowing parents to check up not only on the teachers, but also on their kids, whenever they felt like it. What interesting things they might learn!


If incorporated well into a merit pay system, classroom webcams could be more than simply a moonbat-prevention system. Ideally, good teachers would attract more internet attention from motivated-but-deprived students and curious onlookers from other schools, and even other regions of the country. Implement a workable way to generate income from such webcasts and we're looking at lower taxes, better funding for schools, and bonuses for deserving educators.

The Ideal has an unfortunate habit of colliding with the Real, but that's what experimentation is for. Surely this is deserving research project for D.Eds willing to improve their field's notoriously poor reputation, or a gimmick for an enterprising charter school.

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