"Similar to the 'remix generation' shift in media where new technologies (e.g. Tivo, RSS, podcasting, etc.) have increasingly put more power in the hands of media consumers, the same technologies will shift training from a traditional classroom-centric model to a more flexible, learner-centric, continuous learning model. ChinesePod is designed to support this shift by making professional Chinese training more convenient and effective through the use of free daily podcasts as an 'on-ramp' to a supplementary, subscription-based Personal Learning Center."

With increased market power for training consumers, the average student will increasingly demand to learn WHAT, HOW, WHEN & WHERE they want. ChinesePod is very much a work in progress, but this is the challenge I have posed to the academic gurus at Kaien. How could the training of secondary languages be re-conceptualized to fit this new paradigm? While they naturally have expressed healthy reservation over such a shift, I commend them for being willing to experiment.

Thinking about the experience of a typical language student here in Shanghai (i.e. a Chinese learning English), it is quite possible that their total travel and waiting time for a class could exceed their total instruction time. This is a massive inefficiency that I believe can be dramatically improved. Just as I use podcasting and BitTorrent to enjoy audio & video on-demand, I increasingly expect my training to be on-demand. I believe in the future, a 'classroom' will not be the center of one's learning experience as it is so often now, but simply a supplement to a process of continual learning.

We have no real training models on which to base our product design so we are very much innovating as we go along. We have already gotten a lot of good feedback from users and are eager for more. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please email us at chinesepod@gmail.com.