Great and wide ranging piece! I couldn't agree more that social media can make quality education virtually free...I come from the English teaching industry......new research into how we acquire languages and new technology that can facilitate better learning for less have been ignored by the status quo for a long time. Language learners are moving online in droves (Italki.com, Livemocha.com) but there are few quality and specially designed materials for them to use. The publishers, like the music biz, have been sitting on their hands hoping it goes away or building vastly expensive proprietory systems that they have been trying to foist on the world. They are now recycling old materials...
My company claims to have created the world's first English course book for use with social media and VoIP: http://www.prleap.com/pr/138779/
The English language has been used as imperialist weapon of mass destruction, subjugation and profit since the dawn of the British Empire. It is still used as such by many of the organisations who profess to be culturally 'benevolent' and 'educational' in stance.
Our course book can enable non-native speaker English teachers to teach and earn money providing a quality course that involves affordable contact with native speakers for real practice of target language for just the cost of some time in an internet cafe.
We could turn every internet cafe in the world into an English school that is:
a) cheaper than any other b) enables local teachers to start their own business and be paid for their time c) provides real native speaker practice using free VoIP (Skype) and social media
Cost, 10 cents an hour approx. + local teacher or online teacher, or just 10 cents an hour for self-study materials with MP3s and answers.
