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."

Comments

Hey I used him to learn partial derivatives

[NotSoHeavyD3]

It was just personal curiosity since I had heard of it but boy, he was so straight forward about it I understood very quickly. The guy deserves his success.

Re:Tip for kdawson

[fishexe]

Khan = Muslim

Or a genetically-engineered Indian.

Or a Genghis.

Re:'Feynman' level?

[moteyalpha]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feynman_Lectures_on_Physics Feynman is astounding and had a natural grasp of the science. One of the strangest things I learned was that there is a 100 volt per meter field everywhere on the Earth.
I have viewed some of the videos at Kahn Academy and it is nice to see worked out examples as this is the best way to teach. Simply stating the relationships doesn't ever seem to help me.
Like programming, I have to write something before I really understand what it means. if("Khan"=="Kahn"){P=NP;kdawson=editor}

Re:Everything Old is New again

[pikine]

I tried to do what Socrates would do as a teaching fellow. A student complained in the course evaluation that I should not ask questions before they learn about the subject. I also took a top-down approach, reviewing course material in a way hoping that if a student is interested or needed to know more, he would ask questions to clarify. Several students commented that I glossed over detail and that I was too vague. A number of students thought I was boring. I tried to explore related knowledge that they wouldn't find on textbook, and a few students said that I digressed, and I went off tangent.

On the positive side, one student did comment that he found my method of teaching intellectually challenging, and that he learned a lot, which he described as a strength.

Socrates would not have wanted to teach students who only want to be spoon fed, who do not want to learn, who only want to get good grades, and eventually their diploma, so they could work for an industry that they're just in it for the money. Students nowadays feel entitled. Entitled to be knowledgeable without making the effort to learn. Entitled to get good grades without learning anything. Entitled to get diploma without passing courses. Entitled to get a job. Entitled to get high salary. Entitled to get their material satisfaction. And finally, entitled to blame everyone else including their college professor if they don't get what they want.