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The Kahn Academy is boring online trash dressed up with famous media hype, and this sounds like more of the same. They seem to have anti-learned the lesson from

The Kahn Academy is boring online trash dressed up with famous media hype, and this sounds like more of the same. They seem to have anti-learned the lesson from the year* of pandemic online school: So, that was terrible, let’s do more if it and make it sound like a 6 hour straight zoom meeting isn’t everyone’s worst nightmare.

Marcan 4y ago
Why would you say that? Can you elaborate? As far as I'm concerned, it is a great free online resource which makes learning accessible to everyone. Sal Khan is also an excellent teacher.
- abrax3141 4y ago
  There’s like 500 way better online resources for any given KA topic. Take any KA video and compare it with the same topic from Numberphile, VSauce, or even just a random person who knows how to teach.
  - hhmc 4y ago
    > Numberphile, VSauce I just looked at the video listing for these creators and there's nothing but pop-science. I don't understand how it's at all comperable to KA?
    - abrax3141 4y ago
      A. You didn’t look very hard. B. Okay, try PBS space time, Dr PhysicsA, 3Blue1Brown, Strand’s MIT series, Red&Blue. There are so many wonderful resources online to learn from that just need to be meta-organized, KA is the bottom of every heap except for the meta-organization. (And, BTW, many of the others have internal meta-organization.)
  - grapeskin 4y ago
    You’re comparing short entertainment videos vs something meant to break down subjects and teach them bit by bit. Nobody is using Vsauce to help them study a college course. The videos simply don’t exist, and I say this as someone who’s watched the channels you mentioned.
    - abrax3141 4y ago
      Apparently you haven’t. DrPhysicsA is literally ALL of physics. Strang is ALL of linear algebra. For any topic there’s someone who’s done it better then KA. I agree that it requires meta-organization, and that’s a valuable contribution, but KA should stick to that par, bcs their teachers are uniformly soporific.
      - MrBlueIncognito 4y ago
        > DrPhysicsA is literally ALL of physics. There’s more to physics than what one person or organization can teach.
    - abrax3141 4y ago
      And Ps. I say this as a teacher, a cognitive scientist, a computer scientist, an education researcher, and most importantly a parent whose kid’s teachers have (thankfully rarely) forced his kids through the KA video tunnel of drone, which I’ve had to subsequently un/re-teach nearly every single time. (BTW, KA “lectures” are quite often, IMHO as a teacher, simply wrong in approach. It’s like they took a standard textbook and made a video out of every paragraph. What a nightmare. Even a book would be better - at least you could flip back and forth.)
  - the__alchemist 4y ago
    Have you watched all of the above? Kahn is learning-grade, while the others are high-quality pop-sci/math.
  - tombert 4y ago
    I feel like you're comparing apples and oranges. I love Numberphile, but they work best as an exposure to new concepts. I'm not watching Numberphile to help me with my statistics homework, I'm watching to be introduced to the concept itself in a relatively entertaining way. It's closer to recreational math than a learning aid. On the other end, I find KA videos to be a bit dry, but are useful when I need help with a specific concept in statistics or calculus or something.
JackMorgan 4y ago
Except those videos don't have the adaptive learning, practice exercises, and tests that KA has. Maybe the videos are higher quality, but introducing the material is only part of education, you also need, planning, assessment, and practice, which is where KA is unparalleled.
- abrax3141 4y ago
  The KA assessment platform (at lest in Algebra and Geometry) is pretty a boring mainstream online problem delivery engine. What’s unparalleled about that?
Bedon292 4y ago
I am not sure about main Khan Academy, but Khan Academy Kids has been a great resource. Completely free educational app with no advertisement in it. It has been hard to find anything else that can compare. Does it go down hill from there?

Marcan 4y ago

Why would you say that? Can you elaborate? As far as I'm concerned, it is a great free online resource which makes learning accessible to everyone. Sal Khan is also an excellent teacher.

abrax3141 4y ago
There’s like 500 way better online resources for any given KA topic. Take any KA video and compare it with the same topic from Numberphile, VSauce, or even just a random person who knows how to teach.
- hhmc 4y ago
  > Numberphile, VSauce I just looked at the video listing for these creators and there's nothing but pop-science. I don't understand how it's at all comperable to KA?
  - abrax3141 4y ago
    A. You didn’t look very hard. B. Okay, try PBS space time, Dr PhysicsA, 3Blue1Brown, Strand’s MIT series, Red&Blue. There are so many wonderful resources online to learn from that just need to be meta-organized, KA is the bottom of every heap except for the meta-organization. (And, BTW, many of the others have internal meta-organization.)
- grapeskin 4y ago
  You’re comparing short entertainment videos vs something meant to break down subjects and teach them bit by bit. Nobody is using Vsauce to help them study a college course. The videos simply don’t exist, and I say this as someone who’s watched the channels you mentioned.
  - abrax3141 4y ago
    Apparently you haven’t. DrPhysicsA is literally ALL of physics. Strang is ALL of linear algebra. For any topic there’s someone who’s done it better then KA. I agree that it requires meta-organization, and that’s a valuable contribution, but KA should stick to that par, bcs their teachers are uniformly soporific.
    - MrBlueIncognito 4y ago
      > DrPhysicsA is literally ALL of physics. There’s more to physics than what one person or organization can teach.
  - abrax3141 4y ago
    And Ps. I say this as a teacher, a cognitive scientist, a computer scientist, an education researcher, and most importantly a parent whose kid’s teachers have (thankfully rarely) forced his kids through the KA video tunnel of drone, which I’ve had to subsequently un/re-teach nearly every single time. (BTW, KA “lectures” are quite often, IMHO as a teacher, simply wrong in approach. It’s like they took a standard textbook and made a video out of every paragraph. What a nightmare. Even a book would be better - at least you could flip back and forth.)
- the__alchemist 4y ago
  Have you watched all of the above? Kahn is learning-grade, while the others are high-quality pop-sci/math.
- tombert 4y ago
  I feel like you're comparing apples and oranges. I love Numberphile, but they work best as an exposure to new concepts. I'm not watching Numberphile to help me with my statistics homework, I'm watching to be introduced to the concept itself in a relatively entertaining way. It's closer to recreational math than a learning aid. On the other end, I find KA videos to be a bit dry, but are useful when I need help with a specific concept in statistics or calculus or something.

JackMorgan 4y ago

Except those videos don't have the adaptive learning, practice exercises, and tests that KA has. Maybe the videos are higher quality, but introducing the material is only part of education, you also need, planning, assessment, and practice, which is where KA is unparalleled.

abrax3141 4y ago
The KA assessment platform (at lest in Algebra and Geometry) is pretty a boring mainstream online problem delivery engine. What’s unparalleled about that?

Bedon292 4y ago

I am not sure about main Khan Academy, but Khan Academy Kids has been a great resource. Completely free educational app with no advertisement in it. It has been hard to find anything else that can compare. Does it go down hill from there?