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Khan Academy Delivers 100,000 Lectures Daily

Posted by kdawson on from the soup-to-nuts-to-linear-algebra dept.

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."

23 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. can't resist by meekg · · Score: 5, Funny

    KAHHHHHHN !!!!!1!

    1. Re:can't resist by iknowcss · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's the math of Kahn ;)

      --
      Life is rarely fair. Cherish the moments when there is a right answer.
  2. Hey I used him to learn partial derivatives by NotSoHeavyD3 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
  3. Tip for kdawson by andy1307 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Kahn = Jewish

    Khan = Muslim

    1. Re:Tip for kdawson by fishexe · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Khan = Muslim

      Or a genetically-engineered Indian.

      Or a Genghis.

      --
      "I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
    2. Re:Tip for kdawson by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
  4. 'Feynman' level? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:'Feynman' level? by moteyalpha · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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}

    2. Re:'Feynman' level? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A testimonial from the Khan academy home page. "My eldest kid is dancing around in my room here because she is so excited that she finally found someone that teaches like this."

      I've listened to both Khan and Feynman and I found Khan way better.

  5. Everything Old is New again by KarmaOverDogma · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --
    uR iGn0ranc3, Their Power
    1. Re:Everything Old is New again by pikine · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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.

      --
      I once had a signature.
  6. I wish... by spiffydudex · · Score: 5, Informative

    I had knowledge of this site sooner. My Linear Algebra professor was horrible at giving lectures.(I wasn't the only one who thought so) After reviewing some of the linear material, Khans videos are helpful even after several weeks of summer. In fact the videos on the Gram-Schmidt helped explain what I completely missed the first time.

    I congratulate you Khan for your hard work to help educate the people of the world. I know it will serve me well in the upcoming year.

  7. Re:Does he tech Klingon? by jcwayne · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, but he do tech English.

    --
    Failure to follow this advice may result in non-deterministic behavior.
  8. Spell it correctly. Its Khan. by MasterOfUniverse · · Score: 5, Informative

    not kahn.

    --
    "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."--Howard Zinn
  9. Web programmers, You can help! by KPexEA · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://code.google.com/p/khanacademy/

  10. Khaaaaaaaaaan!!!!!! by lennier · · Score: 4, Funny

    From Youtube's heart I vlog at thee.

    --
    You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
  11. Instructional Design by BlueBoxSW.com · · Score: 4, Informative

    In addition to the things listed above, he obviously has a pretty good grasp of instructional design principles.

    I watched a couple videos, and has either studied it or learned from trial and error somewhere along the line.

    Let us not forget this important glue that holds together solid instruction of any kind.

    1. Re:Instructional Design by RichMan · · Score: 4, Informative

      > and has either studied it or learned from trial and error somewhere along the line.

      It is explained in the FAQ which is linked from the slashdot summary that he uses the youtube time profile of the videos to refine the process.

      Also doing an Masters in EE/CS will usually get you a fair amount of time in front of a class doing the problem solving sessions if not actually lecturing for the undergrads. That is a lot of practical trial and error in the teaching process.

  12. It's kinda sad... by Maestro4k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  13. Re:Youtube? by rtfa-troll · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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 :-)

    --
    =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
  14. Re:Youtube? by wisty · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Torrents would be good if you were in a place where youtube was blocked ... like about 1/4 of the world's internet users.

  15. Thank you! by Some1too · · Score: 4, Informative

    I can't say that enough! As an older person who was returning to university your mathematics and physics exercises and videos were a life saver! I truly appreciate all the hard work and effort you've put into your educational materials (website, videos, lessons etc). They helped me immensely and I don't doubt for a second they will continue to do so when I finally begin my full time studies in September. It's people such as yourself that really help make a positive difference in our world. You're inspirational, thank you and keep up the excellent work. One last time: Thank you, thank you, thank you. Some1too.

  16. FAQ - How can you help? by asadsalm · · Score: 4, Informative

    From the site:

    ==============

    How can I/you help?

    The biggest thing is getting the word out. The students who use the site seem to really get excited by how quickly and deeply they can learn from it. Right now (5/2010), there are about 200,000 students using the site per month; no reason why it shouldn't be 20 million!

    If you like to code or work on user interface design, you might be able to help on the Khan Academy applications which we are doing as an open source project