Quality Education for Free ?
Site: http://www.khanacademy.org
The Khan Academy is a non-profit organization. Its goal is to provide world-class education to anyone anywhere for free.
There are 2,680 micro lectures (as of September 2011) via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics and computer science.
How did it all begin?
He learned about his cousin’s math trouble and decided to tutor her remotely. It was a success. Eventually, he was approached by several family members and friends.
What is the long-term goal for the Khan Academy?
“I see Khan Academy becoming the world’s first free, world-class virtual school where anyone can learn anything–for free. The videos are just part of the vision. We are building out the adaptive software to cover all the topics that the videos cover. We also intend to develop simulation games to give more nuanced and applied understanding of concepts.” (Sal Khan)
What makes Sal Khan different?
- He is passionate about teaching.
- He sees the importance of education.
- He is a well-rounded person.
- He is compassionate.
What makes the Academy interesting besides the courses?
THE TEAM!
To see the complete list of the team, visit Khan Academy’s Team members.
Another person to note is the President and COO of the academy, Shantanu. He is in-charge of the overall organizational strategy, partnerships, and operations. Before joining Khan Academy, he was an Associate Principal in McKinsey & Company’s Silicon Valley office, and received four degrees from MIT.
After reading through the profile of the other members, I was impressed, not only with their skills, but also with their dedication/commitment to offer free education to anyone anywhere in the world.
The following are the things I would like to learn from the Academy:
- how to develop adaptive software
- how to do strategic positioning
- what are the pitfalls encountered in the academy and how to deal with them
- how to manage a non-profit organization with highly skilled team members
Resources
- About the team: http://www.khanacademy.org/about/the-team
- About the company: http://www.khanacademy.org/about/faq
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Academy
Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
jenaca 11:20 pm on September 26, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey, I really like the way you have outlined your post and the way you included to much detailed information. This does sound like a great organization! Giving students the opportunity to get quality education for free via the internet is amazing!
I agree with your closing thoughts on what you would like to learn from the academy. I too am interested in learning more about how to develop the proper software for the organization, other competitors in this field and their pitfalls they encounter.
Great post!
Jenaca
verenanz 7:54 am on September 27, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I love Khan academy…..If a student had a question though…..I wonder who they would ask for clarification? I have never used the videos – they are great. but seemed to be very US focused, math/business/science focused….I was looking for language support…Maybe someone who has used these resources could tell me what happens “after the video” if there is confusion? I love that they are free…..
Verena:)
David William Price 5:24 pm on September 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
One idea behind Khan Academy is students watch the videos at home and then come to school to do their homework with teacher supervision. The teachers focus their energies on helping students apply their new information vs standing at the front and speaking.
andrea 11:47 am on September 27, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
What a cool venture! The team is amazing, as you said. (I’m adding Khan Academy to my “I want to work there someday” list.) The videos are educational and entertaining, and I learned something from the few I watched. It’s also easy to see how this venture could expand. The concept itself is inspiring.
bcourey 3:55 pm on September 27, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I am a big fan of the Khan Academy too and I know teachers in our schools that view the math videos in their classrooms to reinforce some of the concepts. It is amazing to see how much content they have amassed over time. Impressive. I don’t see follow-up that goes with the videos, but I would expect that a teacher would want to personalize that part of a lesson so that it fits better into whatever state/province the audience is based.
Everton Walker 8:38 pm on September 27, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
This is very interesting. With the state of the global economy, it is good that persons are willing to sacrifice their time for the better good. However, I am wondering if there is an hidden agenda or shortly they will begin to ask for donations. As it relates to teachers, is there evidence of certification? And are these courses accredited by the local bodies? Despite the uncertainties, as long as persons are learning skills and concepts free of cost from all over the world, it is a great venture in my estimation.
jarvise 10:14 am on September 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great post – another math teacher I work with uses this all the time. We teach a lot of combined classes at our school, and we are always looking for free, blended learning options to help manage more than one class at a time.
The real question is, however, why did he do 3 Bachelors degrees? Unusual, but he obviously has an extremely strong background for teaching purposes (imagine his number of ‘teachables’ for all those teachers out there…)
Emily
David William Price 5:26 pm on September 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think Khan Academy is a great example of reasonable effective low-fideliity learning. It’s not fancy but it’s cheap, widely-available, and it works. He makes mistakes in lessons, addresses them in following lessons, and comes across as a pretty humble guy. Personally I’d do a lot more scripting but his style is his style and it has a charm.
Doug Smith 3:31 am on October 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
One thing that jumps out at me from Khan’s biography is his lack of education in teaching. This is a significant shortcoming, as I believe that the bulk of Khan Academy’s videos came directly from Khan himself.
In terms of motivation, Khan started the project as a result of tutoring he was given his extended family. He was producing videos for nephews and nieces and decided to distribute his videos after seeing how many requests he was getting for them. The motivation behind Khan Academy is very noble and altruistic.
Slightly off-topic, I should note that I am not nearly as big of fan as Khan Academy as others. I note that there are several problems with it, some of which relate to the program itself and some that relate to its portrayal. As mentioned above, Khan has no background in education and this shows in the style of learning in Khan Academy. It is transmission teaching, “sage on the stage”. Frankly, for all I know Khan could be copying notes directly from a textbook when he does his videos. This leads to my second criticism, which is that in terms of content and pedagogy, Khan Academy is no different from simply reading a textbook, other than apparently people prefer to watch a video as opposed to read. Thirdly, topics are covered quickly and superficially. For example, math topics are done in a 10 minute lesson and reduced to a procedural solution rather than a conceptual understanding. As far as I can tell, in terms of Blooms Taxonomy, Khan Academy is operating at the Knowledge level. I certainly hope for more in education.
The criticisms above would not be too bad if Khan Academy was accepted for what it is. The big problem comes in when media and famous personalities such as Bill Gates speak out and claim that Khan Academy is revolutionizing education and is some type of savior. I believe this to be very dangerous because the public is buying it.
mcquaid 6:15 am on October 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I agree with your “sage on the stage” comments, Doug, and that it should be just taken for what it is. Taken as it is, I think it’s a helpful resources that allows teachers and students to decide how they want to use the content. I’m curious, though… will they give out any kind of certificates / achievement recognition? How will someone prove they’ve learned anything?
I’m a little concerned about Khan wanting to be the world’s FIRST free, world-class, online university. There are other reuptable online schools out there, too, which one may argue is better or more “trustworthy” – the UN’s “University of the People”, for example.
http://www.uopeople.org/