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Thankful and lucky to have helped build Khan Academy

141 points by DanielRibeiro 10y ago

kiba 10y ago
I used Khan Academy over the years...and I have some questions. 1) Why do they keep redoing the exercise system? It seemed that they are changing for the sake of changing. 2) How do I know if there are new math problems and exercises that show up? I am interested in advanced math and learning how to do math proofs, not simply compute an answer.
- wodenokoto 10y ago
  Khan Academy is focused on K-12 (I think it's called. First grade through high school) math, so I'm not sure it's the right place if you want to do advanced math. One year ago you could answer all exercises using only the keyboard and now you can't. That is a shame, but I think most young students (the main focus) weren't using this feature, so it was kept alive as more and more types of exercises were added. And these new ones are a great addition.
  - gecko 10y ago
    Just to note, our eventual goal is to have toddlers through what I think we call C-2 internally (sophomore year of college in the American system). We do actually have content at all of those levels, and expanded really nicely to the younger crowd when we "bought" Duck Duck Moose, but we're definitely not covering all of those areas consistently across subjects. Some stuff (e.g. art history) is only at high school level, other stuff (e.g. English) covers the gamut but amazingly randomly in terms of actual content, etc. So, I don't think we'll have "advanced" math (for some values of "advanced") any time soon, but we're definitely aiming to get solidly into general college-level stuff, so things like stats/linear algebra/etc. should all be covered nicely eventually.
    - rwmurrayVT 10y ago
      I hope you achieve your goal. Not long ago I saw a posting for a mechanical engineer content creator. By the time I had a moment to prepare an application, it was (presumably) filled. I hope Khan Academy continues to create content in areas for young adults and up.
- gecko 10y ago
  > Why do they keep redoing the exercise system? It seemed that they are changing for the sake of changing. Most of the recent changes have been focused on two axes, very tightly related: 1. The old exercise system did not work sanely on mobile. Supporting mobile required both front- and backend changes. 2. As part of that, we wanted to extend the kinds of things we could do in exercises so that they'd be usable for more than just the simple math problems they've been focused on until now. We all know there were some minor regressions in the process of getting there, but we're basically done with the tear-it-down-and-rebuild-it part of the process, so the churn should be a lot saner now.
nashashmi 10y ago
Where do they get their revenue from?
- Noseshine 10y ago
  I found what appears to be a good and reasonably recent answers here (I would never just give a Quora link without checking it out first, somehow I don't trust all answers on that site): https://www.quora.com/How-does-Khan-Academy-make-money https://www.quora.com/How-does-Khan-Academy-make-money
- cityzen 10y ago
  I would say the vast majority of their money comes from grants (I'm guessing here). I got an email from them at the end of 2015 asking me to donate $3 but when I saw that Sal Khan was pulling down a salary of $550k+ I was completely turned off by it. In fact, I actually emailed Sal and asked him (the email appeared to come from Sal himself) but never got a response. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what organizations like Khan Academy do, but I find emails like this a little misleading, "there are only hours left in 2015, and we need your help to raise the money that we need to keep innovating and offering new learning experiences in 2016 and beyond. If you’re able to pitch in, we’d really appreciate your support before 2015 is over." Granted I am picking on Khan Academy a bit here, this is how most nonprofits function.
  - rawnlq 10y ago
    Isn't 550k really low?
  - naveen99 10y ago
    I think sal khan is a good example to follow for non-profit startups. non profits are a sizable portion of the economy and are a nice option between government and for profit corporations for executing an idea. In some ways, nonprofits maximize surplus for workers and customers at the expense of owners and government.
    - cityzen 10y ago
qntmfred 10y ago
Just to point out, this was back in July
rjdevereux 10y ago
What's Ben doing next?
- kornish 10y ago
  His LinkedIn says "Pointing engineering and leadership skills at healthcare."
Dangeranger 10y ago
Back in 2010 when I first heard about Khan Academy and started using it the videos were incredible but the exercises were limited at best. Over the past six years I've seen the quality of the videos, the exercises, and the tracking of student progress improve at least 10x on the whole. Ben has played an massive role in the development of Khan Academy and though it, has effected the lives of millions of students myself included. If you are reading this, thank you so much for all of your hard work.
phleet 10y ago
I worked at Khan Academy for two internships and then just under 2 years fulltime, and don't know anyone that has anything less than positive to say about Kamens (nobody called him Ben because there were no less than 5 Bens at Khan Academy when I left). One of his most memorable habits to me was coming into a meeting room where his words obviously had a lot of sway, then sitting on the ground when we were short on chairs. He was an inspiration to many, first as an engineer, and later as a manager, and I'm excited to see what he takes on next.
- mooreds 10y ago
  > One of his most memorable habits to me was coming into a meeting room where his words obviously had a lot of sway, then sitting on the ground when we were short on chairs. I love hearing stories like this. "Servant leadership" means so much to me. Being humble, realizing that people closest to the problem have the most knowledge, hiring folks smarter/stronger than you are--all key aspects of a leader I want to work for. (Of course, you still have to have the "leadership" component too.)
  - keithpeter 10y ago
    Education: I have been fortunate over the years in having managers who see their role as supporting me (and my tribe of colleagues) to teach students. That includes; going over the shop to get yellow paper to make copies for the student who needs handouts on yellow and who turned up in my class without warning (not the students fault); sorting out the student who is being totally unreasonable and rude (phone call to Mum, one day suspension); staying late to sort out class groups and exam registration when they get scrambled. You get the picture. A quote from Steve Reich... http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/files/quotes.pdf http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/files/quotes.pdf and the good managers support us in that.
weego 10y ago
So HASHTAGthankful and HASHTAGblessed to have been part of such an amazing thing at an amazing time. Their HASHTAGjourney is only just starting, but my HASHTAGjourney has a different path. My HASHTAGjourney is one of HASHTAGpassion and I'm so HASHTAGblessed.
- sctb 10y ago
  Not here, please.

141 points by DanielRibeiro 10y ago

kiba 10y ago

I used Khan Academy over the years...and I have some questions. 1) Why do they keep redoing the exercise system? It seemed that they are changing for the sake of changing. 2) How do I know if there are new math problems and exercises that show up? I am interested in advanced math and learning how to do math proofs, not simply compute an answer.

wodenokoto 10y ago
Khan Academy is focused on K-12 (I think it's called. First grade through high school) math, so I'm not sure it's the right place if you want to do advanced math. One year ago you could answer all exercises using only the keyboard and now you can't. That is a shame, but I think most young students (the main focus) weren't using this feature, so it was kept alive as more and more types of exercises were added. And these new ones are a great addition.
- gecko 10y ago
  Just to note, our eventual goal is to have toddlers through what I think we call C-2 internally (sophomore year of college in the American system). We do actually have content at all of those levels, and expanded really nicely to the younger crowd when we "bought" Duck Duck Moose, but we're definitely not covering all of those areas consistently across subjects. Some stuff (e.g. art history) is only at high school level, other stuff (e.g. English) covers the gamut but amazingly randomly in terms of actual content, etc. So, I don't think we'll have "advanced" math (for some values of "advanced") any time soon, but we're definitely aiming to get solidly into general college-level stuff, so things like stats/linear algebra/etc. should all be covered nicely eventually.
  - rwmurrayVT 10y ago
    I hope you achieve your goal. Not long ago I saw a posting for a mechanical engineer content creator. By the time I had a moment to prepare an application, it was (presumably) filled. I hope Khan Academy continues to create content in areas for young adults and up.
gecko 10y ago
> Why do they keep redoing the exercise system? It seemed that they are changing for the sake of changing. Most of the recent changes have been focused on two axes, very tightly related: 1. The old exercise system did not work sanely on mobile. Supporting mobile required both front- and backend changes. 2. As part of that, we wanted to extend the kinds of things we could do in exercises so that they'd be usable for more than just the simple math problems they've been focused on until now. We all know there were some minor regressions in the process of getting there, but we're basically done with the tear-it-down-and-rebuild-it part of the process, so the churn should be a lot saner now.

nashashmi 10y ago

Where do they get their revenue from?

Noseshine 10y ago
I found what appears to be a good and reasonably recent answers here (I would never just give a Quora link without checking it out first, somehow I don't trust all answers on that site): https://www.quora.com/How-does-Khan-Academy-make-money https://www.quora.com/How-does-Khan-Academy-make-money
cityzen 10y ago
I would say the vast majority of their money comes from grants (I'm guessing here). I got an email from them at the end of 2015 asking me to donate $3 but when I saw that Sal Khan was pulling down a salary of $550k+ I was completely turned off by it. In fact, I actually emailed Sal and asked him (the email appeared to come from Sal himself) but never got a response. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what organizations like Khan Academy do, but I find emails like this a little misleading, "there are only hours left in 2015, and we need your help to raise the money that we need to keep innovating and offering new learning experiences in 2016 and beyond. If you’re able to pitch in, we’d really appreciate your support before 2015 is over." Granted I am picking on Khan Academy a bit here, this is how most nonprofits function.
- rawnlq 10y ago
  Isn't 550k really low?
- naveen99 10y ago
  I think sal khan is a good example to follow for non-profit startups. non profits are a sizable portion of the economy and are a nice option between government and for profit corporations for executing an idea. In some ways, nonprofits maximize surplus for workers and customers at the expense of owners and government.
  - cityzen 10y ago

qntmfred 10y ago

Just to point out, this was back in July

rjdevereux 10y ago

What's Ben doing next?

kornish 10y ago
His LinkedIn says "Pointing engineering and leadership skills at healthcare."

Dangeranger 10y ago

Back in 2010 when I first heard about Khan Academy and started using it the videos were incredible but the exercises were limited at best. Over the past six years I've seen the quality of the videos, the exercises, and the tracking of student progress improve at least 10x on the whole. Ben has played an massive role in the development of Khan Academy and though it, has effected the lives of millions of students myself included. If you are reading this, thank you so much for all of your hard work.

phleet 10y ago

I worked at Khan Academy for two internships and then just under 2 years fulltime, and don't know anyone that has anything less than positive to say about Kamens (nobody called him Ben because there were no less than 5 Bens at Khan Academy when I left). One of his most memorable habits to me was coming into a meeting room where his words obviously had a lot of sway, then sitting on the ground when we were short on chairs. He was an inspiration to many, first as an engineer, and later as a manager, and I'm excited to see what he takes on next.

mooreds 10y ago
> One of his most memorable habits to me was coming into a meeting room where his words obviously had a lot of sway, then sitting on the ground when we were short on chairs. I love hearing stories like this. "Servant leadership" means so much to me. Being humble, realizing that people closest to the problem have the most knowledge, hiring folks smarter/stronger than you are--all key aspects of a leader I want to work for. (Of course, you still have to have the "leadership" component too.)
- keithpeter 10y ago
  Education: I have been fortunate over the years in having managers who see their role as supporting me (and my tribe of colleagues) to teach students. That includes; going over the shop to get yellow paper to make copies for the student who needs handouts on yellow and who turned up in my class without warning (not the students fault); sorting out the student who is being totally unreasonable and rude (phone call to Mum, one day suspension); staying late to sort out class groups and exam registration when they get scrambled. You get the picture. A quote from Steve Reich... http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/files/quotes.pdf http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/files/quotes.pdf and the good managers support us in that.

weego 10y ago

So HASHTAGthankful and HASHTAGblessed to have been part of such an amazing thing at an amazing time. Their HASHTAGjourney is only just starting, but my HASHTAGjourney has a different path. My HASHTAGjourney is one of HASHTAGpassion and I'm so HASHTAGblessed.

sctb 10y ago
Not here, please.