Jeff Burton — EA Co-Founder & Danielius Stasiulis Discuss BitDegree.org
Exclusive interview with our new advisor Jeff Burton.
Transcription
Danielius: I have a privilege today, to have my dear friend, Jeff Burton, with me in Lithuania. Jeff, what do you think are the biggest flaws in the current education system?
Jef: Current education system is caught in the past and does not have the resources allocated by societies to it, to allow it to catch up with technology. The internet, one of its special characteristics is that it can reach millions of people in ways that speak directly to them and give them an education that they really need and can use, that’s what BitDegree is pursuing, that’s what they’re gonna pursue is a way of reaching millions of people with material they need in order to succeed and it’s a way of doing it is sooo elegant and hasn’t been possible, it’s a new world and I think it needs to be embraced.
Danielius: Why exactly did you decide to join BitDegree?
Jeff: I have some basic rules about joining emerging companies. It has to be populated by people who are brilliant, who are talented, who are terrifically honest and those characteristics you embody they’re very talented, they’re dedicated, they know what they’re doing, they have all the right tools to make a success of the company so it’s a consistency throughout the organization that I think is going to make lead to its ultimate success and I’d love to be a part of it, that’s the reason that I’m here.
Danielius: Jeff, you’re also a co-founder of Electronic Arts, the world’s one of the leading game industry companies and how do you think we can leverage your experience in gaming industry and in general the industry’s intellectual output so far to manage it with education?
Jeff: You know when we started Electronic Arts, 35 years ago, we thought at that time that one of the major aspects of what we will be doing would be producing what we called ‘edutainment’- educational entertainment, we never were able to fully do that in a way we thought we could. Partly because of the technology that was still evolving and is still evolving but also because of the rigidity of the educational system is that exist.
Danielius: Jeff, you have seen the team behind BitDegree, my colleagues at BitDegree, and you’ve gotten to know our vision. What do you think about our vision and whether we can achieve it. Can we go big?
Jeff: My experience of the people involved has been that they’re young, ambitious, they have a lot of independence in achieving what they want to and they have a great vision which they are going to pursue. So I think that all the elements are there to allow them to really make a difference in the world. The potential is right, the team is right, I think that it has every bit of the possibility that it should.
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