Why I Love Khan

Khan Academy is one of the best known free educational sites on the internet. Here you can view hundreds of short videos on a wide range of topics, work on sample problems and chart your own progress all for free.

I know that the lecture format isn't the most ideal way to learn, but there are some excellent reasons why this format is popular. Here are the reasons I love Khan:

1. The videos are short, well sorted and well explained. This allows anyone to quickly look up a topic and clarify points easily.

2. Khan has a friendly, relaxed manner that puts you at ease. He doesn't re-film his errors, just corrects himself as he goes, showing students that it's OK to make mistakes and that you just need to double-check and keep going.

3. You can access these anywhere, replay them as often as you want and can learn at your own pace in privacy. Chances are good that if you still don't understand a topic, someone will have posted the question you have in the comments. The community here is strong, and the questions tend to be answered thoroughly. The explanations are clear and broken down into logical steps. He makes no assumptions about the connections the viewer will make automatically--everything is explained. When you understand a part, it is very easy to skip ahead as needed.

4. It is available free of cost to anyone who has an online connection. The videos do not require high speed connections to run.

5. Sal Khan is an excellent role model. He took a huge risk in order to develop this site, and has put much of his own time and money into it without resorting to charging fees or hosting ads to pay for it. As an owner of a website, I can tell you it is not easy to avoid the need to allow advertising since site hosting does not come free. When you consider the hundreds of hours spent making and organizing the videos and website, the immense size of this task is truly overwhelming.

6. You can progress from basic operations right through to graduate level math through this site. Although it is always best to use a variety of resources for your studies, the list of topics covered within the math section at least is quite extensive and thorough.

7. You can access all parts of the site without having to provide any personal information. The only thing you miss out on if you don't provide info is a record of your progress through the videos and lessons.

8. The colour coding helps keep things visually organized.

9. Unlike textbooks, it provides both visual and auditory explanations.

10. The short length of the videos makes them more manageable and allows for natural breaks between sections and concepts.

11. They are accessible to people who struggle with the concepts. They are non-threatening and can be watched and completed in privacy, which makes them more attractive to students who need a little more or a little less time to master a concept and would prefer to move at their own pace without being put on the spot to answer questions in public.

12. Vi Hart has partnered with Sal Khan for some videos and if you are familiar with her work, you will immediately understand that this is a very good thing!

There are other free educational courses available online, including many open courseware options, but the short video format fills a need not found in many other places. Both are excellent opportunities to extend your learning of specific topics without having to travel or commit large amounts of time or money.

Thank you Sal, and all the others who provide us with valuable and accessible educational resources.

The Value in a Piece of Paper

Steve Jobs, his passing and legacy
Khan Academy
Ted Talks
Wimp & Dump
Online AQ Courses
Online high school credits
CEMC
Open Courseware

What do all of these have in common? They are all sources of educational inspiration for me over the past two months.
I've been wondering about the future, both for my children and for myself. What sort of education do we need? What will we be doing with our lives next year? 5, 10, 20 years from now?

The discussion nearly always turns to university education--which school, which program is the best choice to match interests and aptitudes?

As you may have discerned from previous posts, we are a homeschooling family--actually, we are unschoolers (perhaps not radical unschoolers, but unschoolers nonetheless). Much of the material we access comes from online sources. We are very fortunate to have a wealth of free, accessible resources at our fingertips. This was not possible 20 years ago.

Steve Jobs was brave enough to realize that much of his prescribed (and exceedingly expensive) education was irrelevant to him. So he cherry picked his way through, saving time, money and frustration to invent his own learning path.

Doing so is much easier now than ever, yet many of us balk at the thought of taking such responsibility for our learning. I will admit that I also find the thought a little dizzying. I loved my university years and would trade them for nothing. Well, my undergrad years anyhow.

And yet...

One of the things I'm considering doing as a second career requires university level math courses. To take these costs a total of about $3200, and that comes before the actual course itself. For a homeschooling mom, that is a lot of money.
And then I read the fine print: I could opt to sit a mathematical aptitude test for a cost of just $50 and have those requirements waived. Well, math has never been my strong point, but I do have a casual interest in it, so I occasionally pick up a book, or visit a website, or view a video on a topic within math. Still, I struggled with grade 12 math, so how could I possibly cope with more advanced material?

I took the practice test just for fun.

I received an 80%. Not wonderful, but enough to meet their requirements with some room to spare. And, thanks to YouTube and Khan Academy, I have since brushed up on the weaker areas now too. I guess since I was doing it out of interest and at my own pace, I really took in more than I'd realized.

It goes that way for most subjects in my experience. Developmental psychology was relevant when I could watch young relatives reaching developmental milestones, acquiring language, and growing in body, mind and spirit. Statistics and research design only became relevant when I began doing my own research. Physics became interesting when it began to describe things beyond the everyday. And so on. The motivation follows the need.

So I'm wondering now, what is the relevance of that heralded degree, SAT scores or other similar external validation in regard to education? Is the fact that our education systems are loaded with standardized curriculum & tests in actuality a reaction to the coming of the information age? Will the validating papers (certificates, diplomas, degrees) be replaced with something better, more customized and relevant? Will post-secondary level education become universally available?

Will we find our post-secondary institutions becoming places where only the hands-on, experiential "lab-based" courses (labs, medical courses, musical performance, teaching, fine art, etc.) need be taught, with the remaining resources dedicated to research?

Or, will we continue to follow the status quo and only value education that is expensive and exclusive? There is a great deal of potential here to educate most people to a higher level than previously imagined, for a small fraction of the cost.

How will we measure this? How will we value all relevant learning? How do we learn to value & encourage creativity and original thinking? These are the challenges we face.

Edit: I found this article today which tackles the possibilities of online education as a tool for educators: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/11/13/clayton-christensen-why-online-education-is-ready-for-disruption-now/