Friday, October 29, 2010

How is Khan Academy Different from Existing Learning & Teaching Models?

Khan Academy is run by Salman Khan, an MIT student with hedge funds and maths background. Khan's 1500 + videos on the internet (Youtube) have got maximum views -- more views than MIT videos. And the reviews and feedback from highly satisfied students are great. Bill Gates has donated a huge sum for the Khan academy.

How is Khan academy different from existing learning or teaching methods? First, you can start thinking about the many traditional constituents of a classroom( ILT) that Khan academy does not have. There is no physical presence of teacher or student. There is no fixed or standard syllabus. Khan uses a black board instead of a white board. There is no instant two-way communication between learner and teacher. So, Khan's tutorials are asynchronous and also free.

Second, you can compare Khan's video's with the standard e-learning courses. There is no interactivity such as click, select, or drag-and-drop. But still the student is engaged with the content flow and really learns. The learner can jump from one video to another to brush up his/her basics. An educational video or course does not contain assessments or quick checks. So, there is no online practice. But a learner clears any challenging exam after viewing Khan's video. Now, isn't that really interesting and intriguing.

I think it's time to rewrite and formulate new concepts and principles for learning based on Khan's academy.


Sal Khan at Gel 2010 (founder, the Khan Academy) from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

4 comments:

  1. nice work khan. i found good site that help kids education http://eduarrow.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank u Anoop.
    Anon: Visited eduarrow.Thanks.

    ReplyDelete