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When reading this article, the thing that came to mind was his TED talk (http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html http://

When reading this article, the thing that came to mind was his TED talk (http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_rein...) I think Salman Khan's biggest point in the talk seems to address this guy's complaint. He's not aiming to replace the teacher, he's aiming to replace the lecture. Students go home, watch his videos at whatever pace suits them, and then they go to school and have the really important interaction with the teacher and other students, which can also happen at the student's desired pace.

rubergly 16y ago
I agree, and I thought of that too when reading the article. In some sense, it doesn't matter if Khan is just underlining and emphasizing the same word that the student doesn't understand over and over again, because the goal is for the student to still have that really important interaction with the teacher where that stuff is clarified. But I think the implicit point in the article is that using Khan Academy in a school classroom is just one use case and that Khan Academy should still be useful for people who want to use it but don't have a teacher to talk to the next day about questions. And that's a difficult issue; while changing the education system is American public schools is amazing and all, the real humanitarian benefits to the site is that it can bring education to people who don't have access to other forms of education, and I have to agree that, as is, it doesn't handle that case spectacularly. I trust that it is on their minds and planned at some point, though (maybe though a better Q&A interface or something).
nsfmc 16y ago
yes! exactly! i first thought this internet learning thing was total bunk because my only exposure was mit's ocw and basically i hadn't considered something like KA a few years back. I think that trying to change where and how various stages of the learning process happen so that you can maximize your teacher-time is a great goal. The fact that you can assign a lecture as homework is amazing, it totally changes the dynamic of what you can do in a classroom. That being said, these tools they're developing seem useful only because they track student engagement with lectures and problem set success rates. i always thought (and dreamed) that the future would be a better textbook, something really humane and well designed, but this (for lack of a better word) paradigm shift makes a textbook more like a learning journal rather than an immobile one-size fits all beast.

rubergly 16y ago

I agree, and I thought of that too when reading the article. In some sense, it doesn't matter if Khan is just underlining and emphasizing the same word that the student doesn't understand over and over again, because the goal is for the student to still have that really important interaction with the teacher where that stuff is clarified. But I think the implicit point in the article is that using Khan Academy in a school classroom is just one use case and that Khan Academy should still be useful for people who want to use it but don't have a teacher to talk to the next day about questions. And that's a difficult issue; while changing the education system is American public schools is amazing and all, the real humanitarian benefits to the site is that it can bring education to people who don't have access to other forms of education, and I have to agree that, as is, it doesn't handle that case spectacularly. I trust that it is on their minds and planned at some point, though (maybe though a better Q&A interface or something).

nsfmc 16y ago

yes! exactly! i first thought this internet learning thing was total bunk because my only exposure was mit's ocw and basically i hadn't considered something like KA a few years back. I think that trying to change where and how various stages of the learning process happen so that you can maximize your teacher-time is a great goal. The fact that you can assign a lecture as homework is amazing, it totally changes the dynamic of what you can do in a classroom. That being said, these tools they're developing seem useful only because they track student engagement with lectures and problem set success rates. i always thought (and dreamed) that the future would be a better textbook, something really humane and well designed, but this (for lack of a better word) paradigm shift makes a textbook more like a learning journal rather than an immobile one-size fits all beast.