Khan Academy: The future of education?

 

(CBS News) Sal Khan is a math, science, and history teacher to millions of students, yet none have ever seen his face. Khan is the voice and brains behind Khan Academy, a free online tutoring site that may have gotten your kid out of an algebra bind with its educational how-to videos. Now Khan Academy is going global. Backed by Google, Gates, and other Internet powerhouses, Sal Khan wants to change education worldwide, and his approach is already being tested in some American schools. Sanjay Gupta reports.

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The following script is from "Teacher to the World" which aired on March 11, 2012. Sanjay Gupta is the correspondent. Denise Schrier Cetta, producer. Matthew Danowski, editor.

Take a moment and remember your favorite teacher - now imagine that teacher could reach, not 30 kids in a classroom, but millions of students all over the world. That's exactly what Sal Khan is doing on his website Khan Academy. With its digital lessons and simple exercises, he's determined to transform how we learn at every level. One of his most famous pupils, Bill Gates, says Khan -- this "teacher to the world," is giving us all a glimpse of the future of education.

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35-year-old Sal Khan may look like a bicycle messenger, but with three degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard, his errand is intensely intellectual. In his tiny office above a tea shop in Silicon Valley, he settles in to do what he's done thousands of times before.

[Sal Khan: We've talked a lot now about the demand curve and consumer surplus. Now let's think about the supply curve.]

He's recording a 10-minute economics lesson. It's so simple - all you hear is his voice and all you see is his colorful sketches on a digital blackboard.

Watch Internet phenomenon Sal Khan's video lessons

[Khan: In this video we are going to talk about the law of demand.]

When Khan finishes the lecture, he uploads it to his website - where it joins the more than 3,000 other lessons he's done. In just a couple of years he's gone from having a few hundred pupils to more than four million every month.

Sanjay Gupta: Has it sunk in to you that you are probably the most watched teacher in the world now?

Khan: I, you know, I try not to say things like that to myself. You don't want to think about it too much because it can I think paralyze you a little bit.

[Khan: So if we get rid of the percent sign, we move the decimal over...]

He's amassed a library of math lectures...

[Khan: 12 plus four is sixteen...]

Starting with basic addition and building all the way through advanced calculus.

[Khan: We are taking limited delta x approach to zero. It's the exact same thing.]

But he's not just a math wiz, he has this uncanny ability to break down even the most complicated subjects, including physics, biology, astronomy, history, medicine.

Gupta: How much reading do you do ahead of time?

Khan: It depends what I'm doing. If I'm doing something that I haven't visited for a long time, you know, since high school I'll go buy five textbooks in it. And I'll try to read every textbook. I'll read whatever I can find on the Internet.

[Khan: Let's talk about one of the most important biological processes...]

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[backpacktv]

Khan Academy is a great resource but not just for the videos. The practice exercises are excellent, and the only way to get good at anything is through practice.

-Joe Wagner
Founder, Backpack TV
www.backpack.tv

[lvenable07]

I have been encouraged by my administration to "embed videos into my curriculum". I already do what Khan does. "I'll go buy five textbooks in it. And I'll try to read every textbook. I'll read whatever I can find on the Internet." Then I write clear guided notes and related practice and application problems for each lesson. 8 homework problems a night - 4 that review that day's lesson, and 4 that review past lessons. I can barely get kids to do the 8 problems. How am I going to get the 25% who refuse to do homework to watch the video (and I see that for many 1-day lessons, there might be more than one video required) at home? At least in class I know they are actively, listening, taking notes and participating EVERY DAY. Why would I replace the instruction with a video that does not have relationship, interaction (smiles and compliments), and feedback (correction, warnings, and adjustment)?

I conducted a test trial with a 14-point survey when I was out of school one day. Students had to watch the equivalent of 12 minutes of video lessons from Khan academy. Then they anonymously completed the survey. Across the board for every point in question, and on a 1-4 scale, Khan rated 1.3 and I rated 3.7. Frequent comments were: Please don't use video instruction. I will not watch videos for homework. They are boring. You're doing a great job, keep up the good work! I might also mention that behavior for my substitute is usually very good. That day it was not! Quite a few kiddos were writing letters of apology the next day.

I failed to mention that I have all the freshman and year-2 sophomores for algebra, including special ed, but NO accelerated students. Last year I had a 98% pass rate on the state Regents.

[jumarqui]

Khan Academy is revolutionary, but Sal's thinking is probably even more than his site. KA as currently constituted has a serious shortcoming in that it can only teach basic / repetitive /standardized skills and thus cannot educate the types of innovative and creative learners that are needed to support an information based society. That said, what the Academy does is free teachers from some of the burden of helping students develop those basic skills so they have more time for individualized attention with students and can use that time to help them become innovators. Not to mention that this provides a vehicle for bridging educational divides by helping ALL students reach mastery of core skills and concepts. And it can and does function on a global level to create world-wide educational opportunities. It's a great concept and should continue to develop and reach more people. For more of my take on the Khan Academy: http://******/A0qNr2
@drjwmarquis

[fscbs2012]

report from the trenches: my daughter was having trouble balancing equations for her chemistry class. Khan explained the process and gave examples. she achieved one the highest scores on the followup quiz. would have been a long, tearful weekend otherwise.

[pgleroy]

The Khan Academy is fine, but please, don't act as if it is revolutionary in its approach to education.

The real revolution is that someone has gotten these children to do their homework every night.

I've taken classes where you were expected to study a section in the book for homework and come in the next day prepared to discuss or apply what you learned from your reading. The Khan Academy differs only from this approach in its use of technology. Old school, if you didn't understand the section, you would go back and reread it and study the examples again. New school, you replay the video. In either case, if you have further questions, you are out of luck until you get to school the next day.

What the Khan Academy does in math that the old school approach didn't do is that Khan is explaining the examples as they are being illustrated, so the connection between the words and examples is probably made clearer. Self-pacing for students is also not unique to the Khan academy. Teachers have been doing this for decades using text books and ancillary materials.

So it all gets back to the revolution: getting students to do their homework. If you could ensure that students always did their homework, I doubt that you would find the results much different in a textbook driven class from what the Khan Academy achieves. See how successful the Khan approach would be if the students did not go home each night and study the material that they get through their computers.

[Scimajor]

Sal's work is to be applauded but it's far from a adequate replacement for a classroom. You might as well just had a kid a textbook and say "Have fun with that.".

I view Sal's work more as another tool that a teacher might use to help instruct students as well as something students can view at home to help refresh their memory on what they already learned in class.

[Mike_in_USA]

So long as the teacher teaches. Also you forget, he is not hampered and constrained by the government, unions and the lawyers as to how to teach. He is allowed to teach the subject without the 'benefit' of being Politically Correct. Makes a difference doesn't it?

[Scimajor]

Point taken but we're really talking about apples and oranges here. Sal's videos are not the same thing as being in a classroom. Sal's videos are tools that could be used to supplement teaching.

They can be used in addtion to teaching but not as a replacement for teaching.

[Oak32Min14]

Great. Now we can do away with good ole American teachers in the classroom - just have para-educators that walk around with an iPad - no, sorry, cheaply made alternative manufactured in Mexico. Kids can just log into Tehran or Mumbai and get all the education they need. No more Pledge of Allegiance, no more prayer. Endorse your paycheck over to MIT, and send your kids out the door to watch YouTube and eat cardboard. Well, I guess that about does it for America. We are doomed. And Bill Gates likes it!

[maryteachesmath]

Sal Khan said he doesn't want to do away with teachers. The Khan Academy is a resource - like a paid Math tutor that you don't have to pay for. I wish I had Sal Khan in college.

[dore83]

As a teacher of AP and Gifted Economics students, I was really excited at first when I heard about The Kahn Academy's video lessons on all things economics. Then I viewed them - and was sorely disappointed. They were dead boring, somewhat disorganized, and sometimes even misleading. My students would be asleep in 30 seconds. If this is what passes for good teaching, no wonder our schools are in trouble. I'm not sure why Mr. Kahn fancies himself such a great instructor - must be some of that Wall Street hubris he still carries with him. Perhaps he would do better to hire the best teachers in each subject to staff his "Academy." Even then, I am not sure how useful these video lessons would be for complex subjects. My students seem to benefit from the give and take of a live classroom setting. These videos harken back to the idea that teaching is simply telling. If it were that easy, anyone, including Mr. Kahn, could do it.

[rubber_biscuit]

There are many Sal Kahns on the internet making instructional videos, and the quality ranges from dull to inspired. Bravo to Sal for making 3000 of them, but in the age of search engines and Youtube, one stop shopping for education is needlessly limiting.

[maryteachesmath]

I have been using Khan Academy as supplemental for three years. I teach middle school in a fairly affluent district. Our district uses a course management system called "MOODLE" that is free and open sourced. My classes each have a MOODLE where I post assignments and extra help links. My students love the Khan Academy because of many things mentioned in the story. Pausing, rewinding and replaying the videos is prevelant. A soothing voice - no fancy bells and whistles. I do not use the online practice - mainly because I can't put a laptop in front of every student every day. Also to follow Common Core I have to cover things not in his sequence. When parents ask if I can recommend a tutor I have them check out Khan Academy first and if they feel it won't help call back and I will direct them to a tutor. They don't call back!

[JBergland]

Some aspects of the Khan Academy are very similar to Sophia... http://www.sophia.org/. Education is changing every day and the use of tech. is becoming more and more important.

[maryteachesmath]

thank you very much I didn't know about Sophia.