Gates Foundation to Start Web Site for Teachers

In his first "annual letter" Bill Gates has stated that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is planning on creating videos of exemplary teachers and then uploading them online in the hopes of inspiring other teachers and helping students learn.

In his letter he describes his motivation for creating this site:

"Whenever I talk to teachers, it is clear that they want to be great, but they need better tools so they can measure their progress and keep improving. So our new strategy focuses on learning why some teachers are so much more effective than others and how best practices can be spread throughout the education system so that the average quality goes up. We will work with some of the best teachers to put their lectures online as a model for other teachers and as a resource for students."

I think this site can have a great impact on not just teachers but parents who help their kids with home work and those who are homeschooling their children as well. While many homeschoolers do attend conferences and actively participate in forums online I believe watching a great teacher in action can be even more illuminating. It’s the whole Albert Bandura thing, you know.

Good on you, Gates Foundation. Now when can we see this website?