Grant To Allow Khan Academy To Expand, Build a Physical School

mayberry42 writes with this news snipped from Hack Education: "Khan Academy announced this morning that it has raised $5 million from the O'Sullivan Foundation (a foundation created by Irish engineer and investor Sean O'Sullivan). The money is earmarked for several initiatives: expanding the Khan Academy faculty, creating a content management system so that others can use the program's learning analytics system, and building an actual brick-and-mortar school, beginning with a summer camp program."

Comments

And all...

[DWMorse]

And all the for-profit schools raise their fists in the air and scream: "KKHAAANNNN!!!"

Re:And all...

[hedwards]

That implies that we don't know how to teach most students, which really does requires some evidence to support. I've yet to see a set of tests that are used for that purpose that have any real world validity. Shanghai just beat out every other set of students in the world, they did it by doing homework 7 days a week and being in school 12 hours on weekdays. Yes, they outscored everybody else, but it isn't just a matter of the raw scores, there's opportunity costs that come from spending that much time in class and there's no compelling reason to believe that the success on that test will carry over into other areas of life. Students spend significantly less time learning than they did when I was a kid, and we spent significantly less time than my parents did. It's not that we did any less work, it's that we're more focused on learning how to take tests than they used to be.

As for the students, the schools have always been way too easy for the brightest students and that problem goes back at least 400 years and probably even further. If that weren't the case you wouldn't see folks like Hobbes going to college so early, even now it's not unusual for students to start college at 15 around here. When the normal age of entrance is 18 minimum.

More than that, there are better solutions, the boredom could be alleviated by spending more money on visual aids and developing engaging curriculum. I was bored out of my skull in classes as well, but it wasn't just a matter of the lack of difficulty, it was the lack of diversity in lesson planning. Going to class day in and day out and listening to lectures just isn't something that's particularly effective.

Re:Khan Academy = math/science for dummies

[Filip22012005]

I agree. I played all Khan lessons in my bedroom hoping that, as I slept, I'd have a grasp of all topics. I was not impressed at all. You have to pay attention, and even try to apply it if you really want to learn anything.

F. Would not try again.

brick-and-mortar seems counterproductive

[bloody_liberal]

Can someone figure out why they need to actually build their own place? I just don't see how it fits with their strengths...

Re:brick-and-mortar seems counterproductive

[gstrickler]

Perhaps to continue to develop and test subject matter and methodologies?

Re:brick-and-mortar seems counterproductive

[denpun]

I think money for buildings should be spent on creating more content.

KA's biggest strength is that it is online, ie, easily accessible, content easily creatable, no barriers to entry accept internet. Videos should be downloadable....and this will solve that issue.

I don't mind his teaching methods but some of his language may be too advanced for for younger kids....so money should be spent on creating more suitable content for a wider range of topics. Not just for the reason I mentioned but there is only so much he can do....and he has surely done a lot......

Open it up for anyone to be able to create...pay people not to create but to moderate other creations....this way...you allow anyone to use the skills to create and moderators can make sure it is appropriate and passes QA.

Schools should use KA and integrate it into their curriculum instead of KA starting their own school
Summers camps can he held anywhere using KA.

I agree with the other expenses, ie CMS, etc since making content creation and management easy is a big deal and will allow for other content creators to upload and mange content properly. I would go with integrating an elearning system with it for all the courses. They already have something for some but not all courses.
Teachers form anywhere should be able to integrate with the elearning system and keep track of students activities, thsi way you are empowering many teachers as opposed to only KA teachers/students.

Re:brick-and-mortar seems counterproductive

[Belial6]

I would disagree. His language is great for younger kids. One of the reasons KA is so successful and kids like him is that he doesn't talk down to them.

I would also hate to see KA opened up to the general public for content. Our education system is a self feeding monster that would likely get it's fingers involved and break KA. Better would be for Kahn to hand pick some individuals to help create new content.

I do agree that one of KA's big strengths is that it is online and is largely barrier free. A brick an mortar school is more likely to drag KA down to the level of other schools than it is to raise up KA to a new level.

Re:Khan Academy = math/science for dummies

[Ethanol-fueled]

It doesn't replace a good textbook

I've never read a decent textbook that didn't require a teacher to actually teach the material. I think they're all written that way on purpose.

Re:Khan Academy = math/science for dummies

[scottbomb]

And the more a person (any person) actually uses what they learn, the greater their likelihood of retention. I took trigonometry last spring and now I'm taking pre-calc. I had to go back and review everything I had learned in trig (including re-memorizing those damned identities) because I had forgotten about half of it. Why? Because not once during the summer did I actually use anything I learned in the class. Algebra, on the other hand, is a different story. The concepts that are used repeatedly, ever semester, are the ones I remember without having to look up my notes

In my opinion, when it comes to math, it's not so important that I retain every single concept I learn, but rather, when such a problem arises later on, I recognize the problem and I have a general idea of how to solve it. If I have to look up a few formulas along the way, so be it.

As for the Khan Academy, the website has saved my ass a few times. It's one of the first places I turn when I'm struggling with something in my homework. It never has been a replacement for classroom attendance, but rather a really good supplement.

It's better to know some than none.

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish that average Americans would consider this sort of learning more seriously. While it isn't a full university degree by any means, at least it should help bring them up to the level that the rest of the world is at, in terms of education and knowledge.

Although I'm European, I do have to deal with typical Americans far more often than I'd like through my work. Virtually all of the Americans I deal with are working for large businesses, so perhaps they're even above average to some extent. However, in terms of knowledge, education and basic reasoning abilities, they are far below the comparable people I deal with in Europe and Asia.

Let me give you some examples. On at least eight occasions now I've had to deal with Americans who couldn't perform basic arithmetic. In these cases, they contacted us, complaining that we overbilled them. We take these complaints seriously, so we double-checked the accounting and everything added up according to our numbers. We asked the Americans for theirs, and they provided us with the same numbers we had. We double-checked their arithmetic, and they had made some errors with basic addition! Although we do far more business with European and Asian customers, we have never once had to field a similar complain from them.

I occasionally have to deal with these Americans by email. You wouldn't believe how atrocious their grasp of English is, including many who are native English speakers! Some of them, including high-level managers and executives, do not know about capitalization or punctuation. If it weren't for most email clients today having built-in spellchecking, I suspect that these emails would be rife with typos, too. I have never seen this when emailing European or Asian customers in English, however. Even the lowest-level employees there often have impeccable written English skills. It has gotten to the point that I can reliably tell where a customer is located based on the body of the email alone, considering only whether or not capitalization and punctuation are used.

I don't dislike these Americans, but it's clear that they are below the rest of the world when it comes to education. I wish that they would better consider opportunities like this. Even if they don't attain the level of education and knowledge that the rest of the world has, any elevation whatsoever would be beneficial for all of us.

Re:It's better to know some than none.

[rrkelleycsprof]

I am American; I agree that the writing skills of many Americans are sub-par. At the same time I have noticed many Americans with whom I have frequent e-mail contact don't consider e-mail as formal writing. Instead many seem to view it as an extension of a conversation in which grammar and punctuation are less important. I am not defending that idea, simply bringing it up. Also, I am surprised you have not witnessed a similar issue with Asians or others whose primary language is not English. I work with people from many different countries whose primary language is not English; in almost all e-mail communication I receive there are numerous grammar, capitalization, and punctuation errors. However, it doesn't bother me because I am quite certain in all cases the writer's English is much better than my Mandarin, Hindi, German, Dutch, well, you get the idea! :-) Generally if I can make sense of what the person is trying to communicate I am happy.

Re:It's better to know some than none.

[codeAlDente]

Not that I've ever seen. When I was in school, it was common knowledge that you wouldn't be held back, no matter how little you did, because it really wouldn't do any good for the school. Especially if you were a troublemaker, they didn't want to see you again. In addition, the students in a class would often band together and refuse to do any work, especially for a weak or lazy teacher, because they knew the teacher could/would not fail the majority of the class. Depending on the school, there is some combination of learning and babysitting. Mine was largely babysitting, and I wouldn't be surprised if the people who couldn't read in high school now work for large corporations and send lousy emails.

First: Fund Methods That Have Evidence They Work

[bgoffe]

At least in physics there is a HUGE body of evidence that telling is basically not teaching, be it lectures or videos. That is, one must confront student misconceptions and more generally understand how people learn. We don't learn deeply by watching. Seriously, what elite athlete learned by watching and listening?

Try out these links:

"Khan Academy and the Effectiveness of Science Videos" https://fnoschese.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/khan-academy-and-the-effectiveness-of-science-videos/

"Improved Learning in a Large Enrollment Physics Class" http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/index.html

"Why Not Try a Scientific Approach to Science Education?" http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/files/Wieman-Change_Sept-Oct_2007.pdf (the author is both a Nobel Laureate and a U.S. University Professor of the Year; he's currently Deputy Science Adviser to the President for science education)

It is a sad commentary that methods that have rigorously been shown to work, like http://modeling.asu.edu/ , could really use more funding when Khan gets such funding on just the publicity.

Re:First: Fund Methods That Have Evidence They Wor

[Wovel]

The ASU page you linked lists 10s of millions of dollars of NSF grants. I think it is ago if a private individual wants to grant money to a school to do the same thing.

Your post indicates you did not even bother to read the slash dot summary. If you had, you would realize this grant is about doing, not telling. It has nothing at all to do with lecture videos.

Re:Khan Academy = math/science for dummies

[TheLink]

I think you're supposed to create an account then watch the videos and do the exercises, "level up" etc.

The problem with Mathematics...

[FlyingGuy]

Is not that kids are stupid, it is in the presentation.

Math as it is presented in most all schools is one of the driest subjects on the planet.

Yes there are kids who just get it but they are not the majority in point of fact they are a tiny minority.

I remember sitting through basic algebra and it was mind numbing ( this was in the early 70's ) and nothing was related to the real world, just the rules of algebra for weeks on end.

Even today with a 10 year old I am having to go back and re-learn math skills that have long since faded to someplace in the back of my brain so I can help my own kid with his homework. The Kahn Academy has been the best refresher course I have ever found.

Bricks and mortar school

[Barryke]

I've always preffered bricks and mortar (and concrete) over wooden buildings.

Re:Khan Academy = math/science for dummies

[justforgetme]

Absolutely correct.

I used khan academy some time ago to freshen up my calculus and it worked pretty well. I don't think though that the result would be the same hadn't I taken the amount of notes I did, hadn't done the work after the videos or were walking into calculus withou having a clue about it.

Still it is a good step in the right direction. To make it really work they still need to keep a tight leash on observers and kind of force users to do exercises/homework otherwise the knowledge will dribble out of their ears! (that's a fact)

Re:First: Fund Methods That Have Evidence They Wor

[bgoffe]

Projects like Modeling, http://modeling.asu.edu/ , are designed to ferret out misconceptions. They're typically deeply entrenched and you really have to address them head-on in really thoughtful ways. When you do, deep learning may then occur. Watching videos, not designed to ferret our misconceptions, isn't nearly as likely to do this.

This is totally anecdotal, but I've heard of reports of modeling instructors getting pressured to use Khan's videos. The former has sound pedagogy and tons of research behind it demonstrating improved student understanding and the latter has neither. Sigh.

To really assess you learning (if you're doing Newtonian Mechanics), see if your instructors will give you the "Force Concept Inventory." It's a standard in physics education research. For more on it, see http://modeling.asu.edu/r%26e/fci.pdf . As they put it, "(1) commonsense beliefs about motion and force are incompatible with Newtonian concepts in most respects, (2) conventional physics instruction produces little change in these beliefs, and (3) this result is independent of the instructor and the mode of instruction." At last count, Google Scholar reports 1,400 citations to this paper. It's that important. With Khan's videos as taped lectures, this research implies that they don't produce much deep learning.