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Khan Academy Delivers 100,000 Lectures Daily
eldavojohn writes "Working from the comfort of his home, Salman Khan has made available more than 1,500 mini-lectures to educate the world. Subjects range from math and physics to finance, biology, and current economics. Kahn Academy amounts to little more than a YouTube channel and one very devoted man. He is trying to provide education in the way he wished he had been taught. With more than 100,000 video views a day, the man is making a difference for many students. In his FAQ he explains how he knows he is being effective. What will probably ensure his popularity (and provide a legacy surpassing that of most highly paid educators) is that everything is licensed under Creative Commons 3.0. He only needs his time, a $200 Camtasia Recorder, an $80 Wacom Bamboo Tablet, and a free copy of SmoothDraw3. While the lecturing may not be quite up to the Feynman level, it's a great augmenter for advanced learners, and a lifeline for those without much access to learning resources."
When people stumble out of his lectures looking like they've been hit by a bus, then he'll have reached the 'Feynman' level. Right now IMHO he's already doing a better job of addressing normal students.
I think this is a very interesting way of bringing and old, maybe ancient, method of teaching back to the fore again.
If I recall correctly, Socrates taught by answering questions and encouraging new ones, not just spouting knowledge according to a set curricula, like we do today.
If used well, this strikes me as having a real impact for learning, and teaching, in a more natural way. I for one would love to see more of this kind of thing going on and being acknowledged as a legitimate and effective way to teach and learn.
I wish him and the viewers all the best.
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That the first thing I thought when I read he licenses it all under Creative Commons was "Bet ASCAP would be pissed about that".
But this is a wonderful thing he's doing, kudos to him and I wish him luck. Will have to check out some of his lectures sometime.
Is it possible to ask that just a bit nicely???
Is there a place where I can get the videos without a flash wrapper? It would be really appreciated? If not, would someone be willing to set it up so that this Kahn guy doesn't have to spend his time doing it? If not, does someone have 20TB or so of space and a really big connection so I can set up torrents for this.
I mean the guy's obviously put quite a bit of effort into this.. the effort to write a bit more tha.... oh get off my lawn :-)
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Torrents would be good if you were in a place where youtube was blocked ... like about 1/4 of the world's internet users.
I think the point he was making is that any intellectual that has considered their place in life and moral philosophy are alike where it matters, regardless of religious creed or lack thereof.
I'm a Baptist, and I share those beliefs. So do many atheists, Hindus, Muslims, and others.
Religion just isn't important when forming a viewpoint about someone, and only causes problems if one falls into the "pride and self-righteousness" category.
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