9 ms·

Yes, The Khan Academy is the Future of Education

169 points by kkleiner 16y ago

mey 16y ago
The Khan Academy is A Future of Education. Talented educators (non-traditional and traditional) and technology are going to keep coming together in new and interesting ways. There will be lots of failures, but Khan Academy will not be the only success. The article doesn't mention things like MIT's effort in this field that predate Khan's efforts etc.
- kkleiner 16y ago
  The article doesn't mention MIT, but it does mention other efforts such as Mathletics. What makes Khan Academy and Mathletics stand out from MIT is that they are MUCH more than just a collection of videos. Khan and Mathletics increasingly represent entire ecosystems with points systems, competitions, tracking of your performance, and so on. That is why Khan exemplifies the future of education vs simple collections of videos like MIT.
  - enry_straker 16y ago
    MIT's Open CourseWare project or OCW can hardly be described as a simple collection of videos. Each and every course at MIT has put up all their educational documents including slides, exercises, tests, audio, video, schedules etc for free. Many courses also include video and other multimedia artefacts. The key differentiator is that these are aimed at under-grad and grad students and are simple conversion of what happens in a course, where the internet is only incidental. Khan Academy videos are aimed primarily at school students and are much shorter, more focused and completely based on the internet. The tests are geared for online testing, the metrics collected are then displayed online etc.
    - blakeweb 16y ago
      > Each and every course at MIT has put up all their educational documents including slides, exercises, tests, audio, video, schedules etc for free. Many courses also include video and other multimedia artefacts. Just to prevent readers from taking that statement literally, only a small minority of courses offer all these materials. (e.g., see [1]--you can see by the icons on the left which materials are available for which courses.) Most only offer lecture notes, and even those are generally very incomplete. What MIT has done with OCW is outstanding, and I personally have learned a lot from many courses already, but they still have quite a ways to go to meet such a comprehensive claim. More funding and enthusiasm for the effort is still very much needed. [1]: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/
      - buckler 16y ago
        Just as an additional note, MIT came up with a set of OCWs for introductory courses back in January that are specifically intended for independent learners (IIRC, one of the MIT's original aims for the OCW project was to provide materials for educators rather than learners). These 'OCW Scholar' courses contain complete course material, and I'm guessing we'll have more of these as time progresses. Link: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/
ilamont 16y ago
Yes, the Khan Academy IS the Future of Education." Then: There are no guarantees, of course. Maybe, then, it's time to pull back on the hype machine for Khan Academy. I've used it before, and it's wonderful as a student aid, but it basically boils down to free instructional videos. It's a great help, but it's hardly the revolution that the headline makes it out to be.
- kiba 16y ago
  What about exercises with game mechanics? I think Khan Academy is becoming a whole system of learning rather than just a very large library of free instruction videos.
  - kamens 16y ago
    Bingo. Dismissing Khan Academy because it's currently mostly known for videos is just as dangerous as dismissing any tiny HN startup that's focusing on a core idea and, once lessons are learned, iterating from there. We're not arrogant enough to think we'll start out by building a generic AI solution to education. We do know that we have a) a lot of video content that students are constantly watching, b) dynamically generated math exercises that students use to practice every day, and c) some very encouraging in-school pilot programs. We're using those experiences to learn and expand. The YouTube video linked in the article shows the edges of our progress so far.
    - aik 16y ago
      Could you expand on what the in-school pilot programs are? In what way are the encouraging? What types of schools are you piloting in? Public? I haven't yet seen much effective use of technology in the learning environment that touches anything but the periphery of the formal educational experience. I'd be excited to hear about something better going on!
      - kamens 16y ago
        Brief summary: Los Altos school district, 5th and 8th grade classes using KA as the primary tool for math curriculum, being compared to other 5th and 8th grade classes in the same school district (those not using KA). Lots of freedom given to teachers to experiment w/ various KA use. Sal, Shantanu, Jason, and I have been regularly visiting classes to watch students and teachers use KA. Feedback has been invaluable. Much more in various posts of mine (http://bjk5.com/post/2071068737/khan-academy-in-the-classroom-days-1-and-2 http://bjk5.com/post/2071068737/khan-academy-in-the-classroo...), and more importantly, you can read direct feedback from teachers and students on their Khan Academy blog: http://lasdandkhanacademy.edublogs.org/ http://lasdandkhanacademy.edublogs.org/ ...obviously, many more observations will be published when the pilot is done.
jamesjyu 16y ago
I really can't express how inspirational Khan is. The way he is able to break down difficult concepts into bite sized chunks is amazing. It was really inevitable that someone with his abilities would change the way education is delivered by using tools like YouTube. Of course, his teaching style may not be for everyone, but the mere fact that the Khan Academy exists, and is free, gives me great hope for humanity.
solipsist 16y ago
I haven't exactly been as amazed by the Khan Academy as everyone else has. After watching a few videos, I decided that we need to focus more on the material that we are teaching - rather than the methods we go about doing it. They will obviously go hand by hand, but in my opinion the material that we are teaching is our biggest weakness and therefore needs the most reform. A video that everyone should take the time to watch is Conrad Wolfram's TED talk on teaching students with computers (http://www.ted.com/talks/conrad_wolfram_teaching_kids_real_math_with_computers.html http://www.ted.com/talks/conrad_wolfram_teaching_kids_real_m...). While we may use computers now to enhance the learning methods, we haven't taken advantage of the content/knowledge computers have and can supply for us. The majority of what is taught in grades K-12 in science and math could be done by a computer in almost no time with increased accuracy. Why wouldn't we take advantage of that? The gist of Wolfram's talk is that we are teaching students mechanics (which computers can do more efficiently) when we should be teaching them the higher orders of thinking and problem solving. Against popular belief, concepts can be understood without learning the nitty-gritty mechanics. One could solve a quadratic word problem without solving the quadratic equation themselves, and still understand the problem just as well. Think about it: do you need to learn how the engine of a car works before you can drive it? While all of this is not entirely relevant to the article, I humbly believe that the future of education should be and will be (if everything goes right) orders of magnitudes higher in efficiency as students will spend more time learning the right material. I'm not sure how much the Khan Academy will play a role in that...
- vidar 16y ago
  Thats a tricky thing to do though, where do you draw the line?
  - solipsist 16y ago
    That's a good question. We need to keep in mind that computers are never going to go backwards in innovation. Once a computer is capable of some calculation, students will never need to have to do it by themselves again. However, they will still need to know how to interact with that calculation and understand the variables/relationships in order to set up the calculation. Where do you draw the line? Instead of just one line, you have to draw two lines. One would be on the more elementary end of the spectrum. Students have to learn the rudimentary basic calculations (or memorization) in order to function well in everyday life and higher levels of education. Simple addition, subtract, division, multiplication, estimation, understanding of relationships would be necessary. As much as I adore algebra, it could be left to the computer. Therefore the first line would be drawn at a point where the material does not show up in everyday scenarios. The next line would be drawn at the opposite end of the spectrum where humans need to come in and do the higher orders of thinking. Given the right software, students would be able to visualize and understand the basics of the calculations and their relationships without actually calculating them. They would therefore be able to use computers in more applied problems - ones that they would be confronted in their careers later on in life. A few experiments could be conducted to find exactly where this line would be drawn. It would be at the point where humans do the smallest amount of calculation work while still having a solid understanding. Computers may be able to work past this line, but they would end up assisting the students to the point where the students lose the understanding of the concepts. If the US and other countries truly put the time, money, and effort into this reform, I'm sure they could be quite successful. However, another tricky thing to think about would be transitioning into this new and reformed type of education...
dwc 16y ago
As an autodidact interested in exploring more mathematics, of course I learned about Khan Academy. One look and I was impressed, but that didn't last long. Though the videos are well done all around, there's no clear curriculum to follow. Or if there is a curriculum, it's not obvious. Instead, I have a bazillion videos to choose from. Which videos depend on knowledge in other videos, and which ones can be done in parallel? No idea. Education's past is a series of textbooks (plus supplemental info and exercises), providing a clear path to learning. Khan Academy, such as it now stands, is a video analog of textbook chapters as discrete units all in an unorganized pile. Until more is done in the neglected areas, Khan Academy will remain an extremely valuable resource, but not a curriculum. Even if/when these missing bits are done this will only be the future of delivery of fairly traditional materials. The real future of education is a computerized personal tutor that provides individual assessment, guidance, alternate explanations where comprehension lacks, encouragement to pursue natural ability and enthusiasm, etc. That's pretty ambitious, but not at all inconceivable. We're close enough to being able to achieve it that we should hold up this ideal goal so we know the right direction as we build the pieces.
- declancostello 16y ago
  the video linked above does show the view from the web app part of Khan academy which has a map showing the progression from one topic to the next. As far as I could see each set of questions allows you to watch associated videos and also links to the prerequisites. I'll go and investigate :) brb
- wallflower 16y ago
  > The real future of education is a computerized personal tutor In Neal Stephenson's "The Diamond Age", a plot device (not central), is The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. It is an adaptive AI tutor. To realize TYLIP, hard AI problems will need to be solved. Yet, it is possible the iPad is a big step towards a simpler Primer. "TYLIP is...a book that is powered by a computer so advanced it’s almost magical, and it teaches children everything. It does this through a fully interactive story. It teaches you how to read, how to do maths, it teaches you morals, ethics, even self-defence. ‘Diamond Age’ is a very entertaining read, mainly because of the TYLIP." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age http://mssv.net/2006/05/01/the-young-ladys-illustrated-primer/ http://mssv.net/2006/05/01/the-young-ladys-illustrated-prime...
patrickod 16y ago
The one thing the Khan academy and other such resources is the inspiration, personal engagement, guidance and other things that teachers and tutors do. Granted for some people these things have little bearing on their learning I think that for the majority of students they can make all the difference. No doubt people here have found their interest in a subject at school or college diminished due to a bad teacher or vice-versa
- jasonrr 16y ago
  The Khan Academy is not seeking to replace teachers/coaches/tutors. The good ones will take advantage of what resources like the KA have to offer. On the other hand, a bad teacher has the ability to damage a student's ability and desire to learn for years. There is a chance that the Khan Academy could make the world bad-teacher proof by giving students a resource with high quality guided instruction that includes mechanisms to keep them motivated, and I think that is nearly equally important. (disclosure: KA Designer)
rick_2047 16y ago
I wonder if Khan Academy takes in external videos (other wise making something functional with google sites is fine with me but wouldn't get nearly as much traction). I have 10min long videos explaining Digital electronics basics. My tech went one step backwards from khan, I just used pen-paper and one webcame. :) Looking into getting my videos reviewed by them, otherwise my deadline would be.... April 1st. (just thought that up now, but people say its good to have a deadline).
mkramlich 16y ago
Always bet on talent. Talent is rare and the main bottleneck in most human enterprises. Salman Khan is a great talent with a very rare combo of qualities.
theklub 16y ago
The Future of Education is going to be game oriented, getting kids to watch boring videos will be very hard.
- paulitex 16y ago
  I strongly suspect you didn't watch the youtube video in the article... Game mechanics are one of the KA's system's biggest features.
asdkl234890 16y ago
Lets hope so. While higher education in itself is valuable, the prices most often being asked for it are not exactly worth paying.
pixcavator 16y ago
I am afraid they lack the background to pull off "the future of education", certainly not on the college level. Sorry for being harsh.
badwetter 16y ago
Education should be a basic human right!
nerfhammer 16y ago
Khan Academy has poked a hole in my heart that needs to be filled: A computer science curriculum
andresmh 16y ago
I have not RTFA but equating content delivery with education seems risky. Yes, Khan Academy videos are engaging and often better than getting content from books, but education is much more than content. Education is also about building, creating, interacting, sharing.

169 points by kkleiner 16y ago

mey 16y ago

The Khan Academy is A Future of Education. Talented educators (non-traditional and traditional) and technology are going to keep coming together in new and interesting ways. There will be lots of failures, but Khan Academy will not be the only success. The article doesn't mention things like MIT's effort in this field that predate Khan's efforts etc.

kkleiner 16y ago
The article doesn't mention MIT, but it does mention other efforts such as Mathletics. What makes Khan Academy and Mathletics stand out from MIT is that they are MUCH more than just a collection of videos. Khan and Mathletics increasingly represent entire ecosystems with points systems, competitions, tracking of your performance, and so on. That is why Khan exemplifies the future of education vs simple collections of videos like MIT.
- enry_straker 16y ago
  MIT's Open CourseWare project or OCW can hardly be described as a simple collection of videos. Each and every course at MIT has put up all their educational documents including slides, exercises, tests, audio, video, schedules etc for free. Many courses also include video and other multimedia artefacts. The key differentiator is that these are aimed at under-grad and grad students and are simple conversion of what happens in a course, where the internet is only incidental. Khan Academy videos are aimed primarily at school students and are much shorter, more focused and completely based on the internet. The tests are geared for online testing, the metrics collected are then displayed online etc.
  - blakeweb 16y ago
    > Each and every course at MIT has put up all their educational documents including slides, exercises, tests, audio, video, schedules etc for free. Many courses also include video and other multimedia artefacts. Just to prevent readers from taking that statement literally, only a small minority of courses offer all these materials. (e.g., see [1]--you can see by the icons on the left which materials are available for which courses.) Most only offer lecture notes, and even those are generally very incomplete. What MIT has done with OCW is outstanding, and I personally have learned a lot from many courses already, but they still have quite a ways to go to meet such a comprehensive claim. More funding and enthusiasm for the effort is still very much needed. [1]: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/
    - buckler 16y ago
      Just as an additional note, MIT came up with a set of OCWs for introductory courses back in January that are specifically intended for independent learners (IIRC, one of the MIT's original aims for the OCW project was to provide materials for educators rather than learners). These 'OCW Scholar' courses contain complete course material, and I'm guessing we'll have more of these as time progresses. Link: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/

ilamont 16y ago

Yes, the Khan Academy IS the Future of Education." Then: There are no guarantees, of course. Maybe, then, it's time to pull back on the hype machine for Khan Academy. I've used it before, and it's wonderful as a student aid, but it basically boils down to free instructional videos. It's a great help, but it's hardly the revolution that the headline makes it out to be.

kiba 16y ago
What about exercises with game mechanics? I think Khan Academy is becoming a whole system of learning rather than just a very large library of free instruction videos.
- kamens 16y ago
  Bingo. Dismissing Khan Academy because it's currently mostly known for videos is just as dangerous as dismissing any tiny HN startup that's focusing on a core idea and, once lessons are learned, iterating from there. We're not arrogant enough to think we'll start out by building a generic AI solution to education. We do know that we have a) a lot of video content that students are constantly watching, b) dynamically generated math exercises that students use to practice every day, and c) some very encouraging in-school pilot programs. We're using those experiences to learn and expand. The YouTube video linked in the article shows the edges of our progress so far.
  - aik 16y ago
    Could you expand on what the in-school pilot programs are? In what way are the encouraging? What types of schools are you piloting in? Public? I haven't yet seen much effective use of technology in the learning environment that touches anything but the periphery of the formal educational experience. I'd be excited to hear about something better going on!
    - kamens 16y ago
      Brief summary: Los Altos school district, 5th and 8th grade classes using KA as the primary tool for math curriculum, being compared to other 5th and 8th grade classes in the same school district (those not using KA). Lots of freedom given to teachers to experiment w/ various KA use. Sal, Shantanu, Jason, and I have been regularly visiting classes to watch students and teachers use KA. Feedback has been invaluable. Much more in various posts of mine (http://bjk5.com/post/2071068737/khan-academy-in-the-classroom-days-1-and-2 http://bjk5.com/post/2071068737/khan-academy-in-the-classroo...), and more importantly, you can read direct feedback from teachers and students on their Khan Academy blog: http://lasdandkhanacademy.edublogs.org/ http://lasdandkhanacademy.edublogs.org/ ...obviously, many more observations will be published when the pilot is done.

jamesjyu 16y ago

I really can't express how inspirational Khan is. The way he is able to break down difficult concepts into bite sized chunks is amazing. It was really inevitable that someone with his abilities would change the way education is delivered by using tools like YouTube. Of course, his teaching style may not be for everyone, but the mere fact that the Khan Academy exists, and is free, gives me great hope for humanity.

solipsist 16y ago

I haven't exactly been as amazed by the Khan Academy as everyone else has. After watching a few videos, I decided that we need to focus more on the material that we are teaching - rather than the methods we go about doing it. They will obviously go hand by hand, but in my opinion the material that we are teaching is our biggest weakness and therefore needs the most reform. A video that everyone should take the time to watch is Conrad Wolfram's TED talk on teaching students with computers (http://www.ted.com/talks/conrad_wolfram_teaching_kids_real_math_with_computers.html http://www.ted.com/talks/conrad_wolfram_teaching_kids_real_m...). While we may use computers now to enhance the learning methods, we haven't taken advantage of the content/knowledge computers have and can supply for us. The majority of what is taught in grades K-12 in science and math could be done by a computer in almost no time with increased accuracy. Why wouldn't we take advantage of that? The gist of Wolfram's talk is that we are teaching students mechanics (which computers can do more efficiently) when we should be teaching them the higher orders of thinking and problem solving. Against popular belief, concepts can be understood without learning the nitty-gritty mechanics. One could solve a quadratic word problem without solving the quadratic equation themselves, and still understand the problem just as well. Think about it: do you need to learn how the engine of a car works before you can drive it? While all of this is not entirely relevant to the article, I humbly believe that the future of education should be and will be (if everything goes right) orders of magnitudes higher in efficiency as students will spend more time learning the right material. I'm not sure how much the Khan Academy will play a role in that...

vidar 16y ago
Thats a tricky thing to do though, where do you draw the line?
- solipsist 16y ago
  That's a good question. We need to keep in mind that computers are never going to go backwards in innovation. Once a computer is capable of some calculation, students will never need to have to do it by themselves again. However, they will still need to know how to interact with that calculation and understand the variables/relationships in order to set up the calculation. Where do you draw the line? Instead of just one line, you have to draw two lines. One would be on the more elementary end of the spectrum. Students have to learn the rudimentary basic calculations (or memorization) in order to function well in everyday life and higher levels of education. Simple addition, subtract, division, multiplication, estimation, understanding of relationships would be necessary. As much as I adore algebra, it could be left to the computer. Therefore the first line would be drawn at a point where the material does not show up in everyday scenarios. The next line would be drawn at the opposite end of the spectrum where humans need to come in and do the higher orders of thinking. Given the right software, students would be able to visualize and understand the basics of the calculations and their relationships without actually calculating them. They would therefore be able to use computers in more applied problems - ones that they would be confronted in their careers later on in life. A few experiments could be conducted to find exactly where this line would be drawn. It would be at the point where humans do the smallest amount of calculation work while still having a solid understanding. Computers may be able to work past this line, but they would end up assisting the students to the point where the students lose the understanding of the concepts. If the US and other countries truly put the time, money, and effort into this reform, I'm sure they could be quite successful. However, another tricky thing to think about would be transitioning into this new and reformed type of education...

dwc 16y ago

As an autodidact interested in exploring more mathematics, of course I learned about Khan Academy. One look and I was impressed, but that didn't last long. Though the videos are well done all around, there's no clear curriculum to follow. Or if there is a curriculum, it's not obvious. Instead, I have a bazillion videos to choose from. Which videos depend on knowledge in other videos, and which ones can be done in parallel? No idea. Education's past is a series of textbooks (plus supplemental info and exercises), providing a clear path to learning. Khan Academy, such as it now stands, is a video analog of textbook chapters as discrete units all in an unorganized pile. Until more is done in the neglected areas, Khan Academy will remain an extremely valuable resource, but not a curriculum. Even if/when these missing bits are done this will only be the future of delivery of fairly traditional materials. The real future of education is a computerized personal tutor that provides individual assessment, guidance, alternate explanations where comprehension lacks, encouragement to pursue natural ability and enthusiasm, etc. That's pretty ambitious, but not at all inconceivable. We're close enough to being able to achieve it that we should hold up this ideal goal so we know the right direction as we build the pieces.

declancostello 16y ago
the video linked above does show the view from the web app part of Khan academy which has a map showing the progression from one topic to the next. As far as I could see each set of questions allows you to watch associated videos and also links to the prerequisites. I'll go and investigate :) brb
wallflower 16y ago
> The real future of education is a computerized personal tutor In Neal Stephenson's "The Diamond Age", a plot device (not central), is The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. It is an adaptive AI tutor. To realize TYLIP, hard AI problems will need to be solved. Yet, it is possible the iPad is a big step towards a simpler Primer. "TYLIP is...a book that is powered by a computer so advanced it’s almost magical, and it teaches children everything. It does this through a fully interactive story. It teaches you how to read, how to do maths, it teaches you morals, ethics, even self-defence. ‘Diamond Age’ is a very entertaining read, mainly because of the TYLIP." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age http://mssv.net/2006/05/01/the-young-ladys-illustrated-primer/ http://mssv.net/2006/05/01/the-young-ladys-illustrated-prime...

patrickod 16y ago

The one thing the Khan academy and other such resources is the inspiration, personal engagement, guidance and other things that teachers and tutors do. Granted for some people these things have little bearing on their learning I think that for the majority of students they can make all the difference. No doubt people here have found their interest in a subject at school or college diminished due to a bad teacher or vice-versa

jasonrr 16y ago
The Khan Academy is not seeking to replace teachers/coaches/tutors. The good ones will take advantage of what resources like the KA have to offer. On the other hand, a bad teacher has the ability to damage a student's ability and desire to learn for years. There is a chance that the Khan Academy could make the world bad-teacher proof by giving students a resource with high quality guided instruction that includes mechanisms to keep them motivated, and I think that is nearly equally important. (disclosure: KA Designer)

rick_2047 16y ago

I wonder if Khan Academy takes in external videos (other wise making something functional with google sites is fine with me but wouldn't get nearly as much traction). I have 10min long videos explaining Digital electronics basics. My tech went one step backwards from khan, I just used pen-paper and one webcame. :) Looking into getting my videos reviewed by them, otherwise my deadline would be.... April 1st. (just thought that up now, but people say its good to have a deadline).

mkramlich 16y ago

Always bet on talent. Talent is rare and the main bottleneck in most human enterprises. Salman Khan is a great talent with a very rare combo of qualities.

theklub 16y ago

The Future of Education is going to be game oriented, getting kids to watch boring videos will be very hard.

paulitex 16y ago
I strongly suspect you didn't watch the youtube video in the article... Game mechanics are one of the KA's system's biggest features.

asdkl234890 16y ago

Lets hope so. While higher education in itself is valuable, the prices most often being asked for it are not exactly worth paying.

pixcavator 16y ago

I am afraid they lack the background to pull off "the future of education", certainly not on the college level. Sorry for being harsh.

badwetter 16y ago

Education should be a basic human right!

nerfhammer 16y ago

Khan Academy has poked a hole in my heart that needs to be filled: A computer science curriculum

andresmh 16y ago

I have not RTFA but equating content delivery with education seems risky. Yes, Khan Academy videos are engaging and often better than getting content from books, but education is much more than content. Education is also about building, creating, interacting, sharing.