http://www.khanacademy.org Sal Khan, the…
Sal Khan, the founder and current Executive Director of The Khan Academy, holds two different bachelor degrees and two different masters degrees (which include an MBA from Harvard), which not only demonstrate his passion for learning, but also shows he is capable of innovation as well as leading a successful educational technology venture. As Sal’s vision of free quality education grew, so did The Khan Academy team, which now boasts 36 members, with skill sets ranging from software engineer to curriculum designer to language translation, all of whom are focussed on providing the best possible educational learning product free of charge. Furthermore, a quick overview of each member of the Khan Academy team, shows that Sal Khan has consistently surrounded himself with quality and inspired individuals who are clearly as passionate about the The Khan Academy, as Sal is himself.
The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit venture with the goal of providing free first class education for anyone, anywhere, at anytime, regardless of age, profession and eventually language. To facilitate this goal, the Khan Academy has designed, recorded, and deployed over 3400 videos, on topics ranging from biology to finance for K-12 students. Furthermore, this organization extends the learning experience for students by providing interactive challenges, self paced randomly generated adaptive assessment challenges, personal statistics, a knowledge map to guide the overall learning experience, as well as a badge system to further motivate student completion and achievement. The Khan Academy also allows parents, teachers, and coaches the ability to track the strengths or weaknesses of either individual pupils or entire classes, allowing modifications in lessons and assessments to occur as needed. Overall, The Khan Academy represents a significant step in enhancing education around the world, as either an addition to instructional strategies, or as a resource to allow a true flipped learning environment to emerge.
After reviewing the history and vision the Khan Academy represents, I myself feel (at this time) inferior to the potential task of my own entrepreneurial potential. Might this be inexperience or simply lack of the necessary skills to be successful in this area? Either way, the education I receive, and the skills I develop throughout this course, will help me at least answer my personal concerns.
Doug Connery 9:43 pm on September 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I saw Sal Khan as a Keynote speaker at a conference this last summer and he truly engaged me and the entire audience because of the passion that came through for his organization and his cause. It certainly made me rethink the concept of free educational materials.
Doug.
tomwhyte1 10:08 am on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I agree, he is a very passionate and persuading speaker. However, I wonder is many people have been swayed by passion in the past? I am not saying that passion should be ignored, but we are beings that are very emotive… therefore, what might we do to recognize the passion of the presentation, but then move to a place more cognitive to assess the information.
Thoughts?
manny 7:30 pm on September 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Tom,
Upon reading our course materials this week I was going to do a biography on Sal Khan myself but noted you post yesterday. Nevertheless I thought I would go ahead and comment on your post as I think the Khan academy is probably one of the front runners in the flipped learning concept. I have seen some of their videos and they range in quality from great illustrative examples to just a recording of a teacher on a blackboard. Some educators fear that this method of instruction is a threat to teacher employability and that eventually schools will begin to shut down. Of course this is a far fetched thought as students still need to learn how to search and decipher the vast amounts of information that are out there. Doug was lucky to have seen Sal at a conference. There is no doubt that he is passionate about his product, a key entrepreneurial skill one must possess to ensure success. I have left a link to a TED talk below in which Sals enthusiasm and passion is evident.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html
Manny
tomwhyte1 8:02 pm on September 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I find it amusing, that with many new technologies, educators fear we will be replaced. Such stories can be found with the overhead projector, that min wage staffers would simply place overheads upon the surface, students would mindlessly copy down material and…poof…learning would happen. If it was that easy, there would be no schools, and education would be that simple.
The Khan Academy allows myself as an educator to help the student when it is important, trying out the new skills they have learned, not the “download of information” otherwise known as the class lecture.
Thoughts?
teacherben 9:13 pm on September 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I don’t know if you have seen his TEDtalk, but you should. It might provide you with some inspiration. His project has very humble beginnings. He was just making videos to supplement his weekly tutoring sessions with his niece. When she told him he didn’t need to come over anymore and that the videos were good enough on their own, he knew he was on to something. Personally, I’m not a big fan of all of his work. I think the idea is sound and the quality of the videos is certainly improving, but most of the videos are still excruciatingly boring. he has yet to really leverage the power of a truly interactive experience. (The new programming section is definitely a step in the right direction.) A lot of educators have (I think correctly) expressed concern that people are trying to use these videos in place of some other curriculum. They are a great supplement, but, as he points out in his TEDtalk, the whole point is that these free up the teacher to work with kids individually and in small groups to differentiate instruction based on student needs, and to give contextual tasks a more central role. The kids learn it at home and they apply it in the classroom. To what extent this is actually happening is an important question.
tomwhyte1 10:07 am on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
What I appreciate, is the Khan Academy coaching information. The overall level of detail, down to individual student responses on specific questions, provides myself as an educator a tonne of information to help make decisions on areas of growth, areas of focus, who can help and who needs help.
And yes, the videos are not a replacement. Just another way to deliver basic information.
Thoughts?
pcollins 8:10 am on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I have used Sal’s videos when my science classes have been flipped. Although the videos can be a tad dry – they are succinct enough to engage the student at home. The Gates foundation and Google both gave significant donations to get the Khan academy off the ground. Great to see other tech companies supporting e-learning
PC
tomwhyte1 10:10 am on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Interesting point about the “dryness” of the videos. I wonder if this is intentional… to avoid the novelty effect, or to reduce cultural items that only specific groups associate with…
Thoughts?
adi 6:24 pm on September 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
What I find fascinating is how many of these ventures are born, i.e. from a need. In this case it was from the need to help out a niece online; ‘Slideshare’ from one of the co-founders wanting to share his conference slides and not being able to; ‘Dropbox’, from its founder constantly forgetting his USB. How many more things could we make ventures out of if we only stopped to think ‘Hey, there´s a need here, and a possible venture!’
ETEC522grp8 8:37 pm on October 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great discussion so far guys! I think that the point of the vanishing educator is a persistent concern. I heard in one of my Literature classes at UVic that people expressed the same level of fear when the printing press was invented and information could be widely disseminated by text. is this the same situation, or completely different? I like the idea, too, that the “dryness” of the videos could be intentional. Good food for thought.