Salman Khan & The Khan Academy

[Snipe]

Salman Khan (http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education. html) just might change the world. Watch that TED video.

Have any parents here ever checked out the Khan Academy? I just started doing it with my kids in the last month. They have their own accounts and most of what they do and choose to tackle next is self directed. They watch videos, take lessons, do exercises, get hints and learn math.

I was trying to find a way to brush up on math with the summer coming to a close to get my kids back on track for their upcoming classes. My oldest son has already gone through 50 modules, and he has earned badges and over 250,000 points. My young son had never done division and struggles with math anxiety. He used to fight me when I gave him worksheets and start crying, kicking and screaming. The first day on Khan Academy he did division and he actually started yelling and dancing. Yelling and dancing over math! I could not believe it. I wanted to cry myself.

I wish I would have started it at the beginning of summer. Salman Khan's goal is to give a world class education to everyone on earth, and he wants to do it free of charge. My kids like him. Even though they are back in school they are still doing 30=40 minutes a day. I can't believe it.

And it records everything that they ever do so I can leave them alone and check their progress. I can see what modules they are attempting, what videos they are watching, what problems they get right and every one that they get wrong. The tools are amazing. I can have both of my kids at their computers working on math, and if they need help I can go see I can help them. They prefer to watch the video though, and my oldest likes to just start doing problems and ask for hints. I don't care how they go about it, I just love that they are excited about math.

Salman Khan is my new hero. I can be as cynical a bastard as can be, but that mofo just might actually change the world. He could completely change the way we do education. He teaches a million lessons a month right now. If this continues to grow he may become the most recognizable man on the planet.

Check it out. Check out the TED talk above, and check out his website: http://www.khanacademy.org

[KCX]

I just saw him on Charlie Rose last night, not sure if it was a rerun or not. Bill Gates said that he actually does it with his kids. I absolutely plan to utilize this great tool.

[Snipe]

I heard Bill say that in a video. He says that he checks some of that out himself just to refresh. I don't think he was kidding either.

So far, I have to say it has been nothing short of incredible for my kids. They may tire or burn out, but I can't keep one of my kids off of it, and the other kid is just 8, but he is making significant progress. I couldn't believe he was dancing that he learned division. I had fought him tooth and nail and he didn't want to listen to me.

Another great thing is that I plan on using it myself to keep up on my kids and help explain things to them. I don't remember all of that crap either, that is why nobody is smarter than a fifth grader. My fifth grader has been doing logarithms he told me yesterday. I wasn't even sure what logarithms were anymore. Today he was doing Algebra and linear equations. Why? Because he wanted to see if he could do it. He is really into it and he wants to do it every day. Blows my mind.

I would recommend it to everyone.

[Snipe]

Charlie Rose was a recent rerun: Salman Khan of Khanacademy.org (http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11658)

[Nigel Tufnel]

Thanks for sharing, Snipe. Beginning of the summer would have been ideal, but I can't wait to let my kids give this a go. My wife is a teacher, so I'm sure she will love it. This will be perfect for my 7 year old.

[SixFig]

Salman Khan sounds like an immigrant name, and Snipe likes him?

Wonders never cease

[Snipe]

Start now. They first module is basic addition. Perfect for a 7 year old. They will love having their "own account", and they can choose what they want to watch and work on. He starts with 1+1, and he builds it up from there. Start now and see what happens. They get points too, and badges, and if you can get some of their friends online, they we get competitive over those points and want to compete for even more.

I don't think seven is too young to start. I wish I had this years ago. My kids actually like it. They don't like it sometimes when I force them to do it for a half an hour every day, but at the end of the day they have spent an hour on it even though they only had to spend 30 minutes. Once they get into it, they seem to just go with the flow.Nobody wants to do math off the bat, but they get engrossed and forget about the time. One of my sons spent 3 hours on it one day, and I wasn't going to stop him. Are you kidding me? It is a Godsend. Get your seven year old her own account. The time to start is right now. What amazes me is the subjects that they go to on their own accord, what lessons they chose to try and learn just because they are curious as to what comes next.

My 10 year old has gone through 50 modules. Most are low hanging fruit. Math gets harder. He is struggling to get Geometry and Algebra right now, and not having a lot of success early on. But he wasn't even looking at this stuff in the classroom. He chose this stuff because he knew it was a challenge. Do I mind that he is attempting stuff and I can see that he is getting some wrong and asking for hints or watching instructional videos? NO! I can't believe that is the way he wants to spend his time. And he is going to get it too, and when he does he is going to know stuff that nobody in his class does, and he will strut writ large. He has a high math apptitude, and I can't see him ever stopping.

My youngest doesn't have the same intrinsic math skills, and he fears math. He has more confidence now than ever. Imagine not being in the high group in math, or feeling that you are "stupid" because you didn't get it. That is why I felt like crying as he danced when he learned basic division. It was basic stuff. Basic division is just the opposite of your multiplication tables, but he had this huge thing about it. I tried to explain it, but I must have been a prick because he wasn't getting it. Imagine that, me being a prick. I can't see that either. But the young man has some confidence and some swagger now, and Salman Khan is my hero.

Start your kid today and see what happens. They start out easy, and they get to do whatever they want. Just start it, you might just be amazed. I think that everyone should give this a go. Like I said, I am cynical and don't buy in to every new fad. I like teaching the traditional way in general. But this could blow open everything. Go go go!!!!

[Snipe]

Salman Khan sounds like an immigrant name, and Snipe likes him?

Wonders never cease

He has degrees from MIT and Harvard. He worked at a Hedge Fund in Boston and made a ton of money. He was a computer programer and math guy at MIT and had a Harvard MBA to boot. The guy is brilliant. Hedge fund computer programers like Salman Khan develop complex mathematical algorithms that analyze everything from the price of soy to the futures in Oil, and they make instant determinations upon that, thinking that if they can get to market seconds faster than anyone else they can profit on the arbitrage and the difference of prices. He is highly skilled and at a high level.

Maybe you don't comprehend my argument about immigration, or that you don't understand the heritability of IQ or the Bell Curve. I don't mind highly skilled people coming here. It isn't about race or creed. I care about getting the best of the best and not taking wave after wave of low skilled, uneducated, ignorant third world poverty. So I thought I would spell it out for you then so you don't miss again next time. My arguments actually are quite consistent. Your cheap shots are the ones that have logical flaws.

I haven't changed. We don't need any more Mexicans. They don't seem to have very good outcomes over time statistically. I don't want to make this about immigration, but the guys jumping the border are not Salman Khan in any way. You need to read The Bell Curve and study up my friend.

[Fred Garvin 2.0]

With all the hours Snips spends online it's odd he just discovered Khan. I saw him through Rose but thought he was a bit of a YouTube sensation. Khan said the genesis was him tutoring a niece via video or something like that.

I got the sense in the interview that he was already being attacked by education monopolists(you know who you are, sorry, yer not indispensable).

[Snipe]

Saw him last year the first time actually, but this year his website has much more interactivity. (problems, hints, workable solutions) The monitoring features I believe were a function of the teachers in the initial school district that signed him on. The teachers wanted to show progress or highlight where kids were struggling, and he gave them that and then gave it to everyone else. I can see every second my kids spend online at the Khan Academy. I don't think I could do that last year. The tools are impressive.

It really may be the best thing ever. I am talking about revolution. My kids eat this stuff up. That is enough for me. I think everyone needs to give it a go.

Last time I checked him out he was a youtube sensation but I don't think he had anywhere near what he has now. In one year that organization has leapfrogged. It really is much different now, and I plan to take advantage of it.

[Fred Garvin 2.0]

Snipe is the new Piaget of child development.

[Snipe]

I don't come on here all the time and tell people how to rear their children. I think this works though, and it has been incredible for my children. I think this guy is the secret keeper! He is amazing.

I have two kids. One is a natural math man. One is not. This stuff helps both of them and they seem to like it.

I could be wrong. I think everyone needs to check this out and see if it works for them. I have never seen my kids take such an interest. This guy is my hero. I love this man.

The proof is in the pudding. I think it is the best thing out there. I think you would do you own child a disservice if you don't give this a try. I tried it and I think everyone should. Probably won't work for everyone, but it will work well for many people.

My experience has been off the charts. I just want to tell people about this stuff. My kids love math now!

This guy might end up as being on of the greatest men of the century. LONG LIVE SALMAN KHAN!

[stophorseabuse]

Very good stuff. I use it daily as an activator.

[Porkopolis]

Definitely great material.

[xnatic03]

Snipe, I appreciate you posting this information out. My 7 year old is extremely intelligent, and anything that can offer her a challenge is worth it to me. At a time when our education system needs a push, anything like this should be welcomed by all (not railed against). My daughter loves being on the computer, and most of the time she's playing educational games anyways. Anything that can be fun AND educational is okay in my book. I tried to rep you for this, but due to your insistence that I rep you for liking the "Sounds of Silence" lyrical posting, I cannot rep you for this.

[GoMuskies]

Hedge fund computer programers like Salman Khan develop complex mathematical algorithms that analyze everything from the price of soy to the futures in Oil, and they make instant determinations upon that, thinking that if they can get to market seconds faster than anyone else they can profit on the arbitrage and the difference of prices.

They also cause flash crashes....which is nice.

[LutherRackleyRulez]

Snipe digs an American Muslim of Bengali decent....wonders never cease!


Werd Up, SK!
http://www.hg2s.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Salman-Khan-198x300.jpg




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Khan_(educator)

[Kahns Krazy]

I had an algebra tutorial game/program on my Apple ][+ probably around 1983. I played it so much, I eventually knew all of the questions, but it was done in a way that taught instead of just quizzed. By the time I got to algebra in school, I already knew it all. It was a huge advantage. I am amazed that the education programming hasn't really progressed as much as the rest of the entertainment world.

Interactive learning at the student's pace is probably the best format for true comprehension.

[bobbiemcgee]

[QUOTE=Snipe;284815 I couldn't believe he was dancing that he learned division. I had fought him tooth and nail and he didn't want to listen to me.

.[/QUOTE]

Welcome to Kid 101. It has to be THEIR idea, or perceived to be their idea, not yours. I remember trying to get two kids interested in learning to ride bikes. They learned in one day after seeing the kid next door do it. Same with everything sportswise and schoolwise.

[Benxman]

Thanks Snipe!
Do they allow adults on this site? I took the path of least resistance at X when it came to math. ...Math of Finance and Math of Economics. Don't even know if they still offer those, but even taking the easy way, I had to get one of my engineer friends at GE to tutor me through the courses. I'm retired now, and didn't do to bad in the business world (I was even manager of master scheduling at one time in my career. At least I could add and subtract. :D ). I would just like to bone up a bit and see if an old dog can still learn a few tricks. This sounds like the perfect way.

Go Snipe
&
GO MUSKIES!

:sword:

[Snipe]

I had an algebra tutorial game/program on my Apple ][+ probably around 1983. I played it so much, I eventually knew all of the questions, but it was done in a way that taught instead of just quizzed. By the time I got to algebra in school, I already knew it all. It was a huge advantage. I am amazed that the education programming hasn't really progressed as much as the rest of the entertainment world.

Interactive learning at the student's pace is probably the best format for true comprehension.

I know this will get a lot of flak, but reverting to true form I will attack teacher's unions.

Get this. "The education programming hasn't really progressed as much of the rest of the entertainment world." I got that. That was your point.

But why is that? Is the entertainment world heavily regulated? Nope. They tend to progress on their own merits. Who is the new star because they had "entertainment union" backing.

Is the educational world a government controlled monopoly that covers 90% of our student population and even a higher percentage of the universities that give out credentials for teaching in education? Yep! You want to be a teacher and get credentials, than you better play by the rules.

You see progress in one, and are baffled that progress hasn't happened in the Union dominated Government controlled monopoly. Sometimes I just want to slap you senseless, and I respect your opinions as much as any man alive. Hop on board my friend.

Why hasn't education progressed?

Let’s take one look at it from my eyes. I give you Salman Khan, with three degrees from MIT and an advanced degree from Harvard. I bet he is an intelligent man with a high IQ. He runs the Khan Academy and he teaches 1 million lessons a month.

Do you know what he doesn't have? Can you guess?

This is what he doesn't have. He doesn't have an education degree, nor does he have legal certification to teach in any one of our 50 states. He teaches 1 million lessons a month, and he teaches my children, but he is not legally allowed to show up in the state of Ohio and teach public school children tomorrow. It would be against the law. He could be arrested for teaching math. And he does it as well as anyone else. And he does it for free. He would be arrested tomorrow in Cincinnati Public Schools. Or he could be, because laws are always enforced by men with guns. Every law, men with guns. That is a fact.

Why has teaching lagged behind other innovations of technology? The answer to me is that it is controlled by government and unions and heavily regulated.

I would like you to refute this argument, just as a Devil’s Advocate. I don’t care if you honestly believe what you say, just that someone would give their best go at defending these unions. I bet it would be tough.

[stophorseabuse]

Snipe, the man is teaching to willing learners without having to manage. His content is great, but his pass rate as a classroom teacher would unlikely be higher than that of his peers.

[GuyFawkes38]

Snipe, IMHO, I don't think it's a union issue.

I attended non-unionized private schools my entire life.

I had some great elementary and high school teachers. They are definitely out there. I'm sure many such teachers visit this board.

But on the whole, I was blown away by how much more motivated, passionate, and engaging my professors were at Xavier.

I don't think that type of experience is unique. IMHO, we just have a much stronger university education system than K-12.

It seems like K-12 teachers are constantly being blamed. I don't want to do that. Maybe at the University level, the instructors are less constrained by bureaucratic forces. Maybe they are able to engage students better.

As stophorseabuse noted, maybe they can focus more because they don't have to manage as much and deal with problem students.

Maybe it has absolutely nothing to do with the inscruction and everything to do with the students. College feels like a much less distracting environment than high school. Maybe students can focus more.

Who knows. something is up.

[xnatic03]

I think the truth is somewhere between Snipe and Guy's ideas. There are plenty of good union teachers out there (and I'm not a union fan), but there is also a lot of crappy union teachers as well. The K-12 teachers do have a lot more crap to deal with in the classroom than college professors, as Guy noted.
All that being said, having the availability of this Khan site is a great thing. I have seen advertisements for Cincinnati Public Schools online schooling, which also is not a bad thing. Some people just learn differently. My daughter went to kindergarten at a public school in Boone County, and she despised it because it was too loud (and they honestly did not know how to challenge her properly either, as she was already reading on a 4th grade level). We enrolled her at a Catholic montessori school for 1st grade, where she still is now, and she has thrived.
I do agree, things are cracked/fragmented, and they need fixing.

[Snipe]

Snipe, the man is teaching to willing learners without having to manage. His content is great, but his pass rate as a classroom teacher would unlikely be higher than that of his peers.


I both agree and disagree.

I tend to agree about willing learners. Some kids don't want to learn. So should we keep them apart from "willing learners"? I would say yes, segregate them and keep them away from promising students. Academic triage is fine by me. Save the ones that can be saved and invest in the others. We spend far too much on damaged goods and far to less on gifted students.

I also disagree in a sense. This technology is open to all and a lot of people written off in bad school districts could actually benefit from learning on their own. I am actually going to make an effort to get a couple of kids from the hood into this and be their "coach", just to see if I can make a difference. And anyone could be a coach. You might not promise them everything or take them to Kings Island like a Big Brother, but you could try to help them learn math. Kings Island is nice, but getting them confident in Math would probably have more of an impact in their lives.

Who knows. I will see what happens. I just want to make one little black girl or boy the best student in their class. I bet I can do it too. We will see. I won't change the world, but I could change theirs. Power to the people.

So I agree and disagree in a sense, but you act like his pass rate wouldn't be better than his peers. To that I would ask, who exactly are his peers? He teaches a million classes a month, even without a teaching license. Point me too his peers. Please.

[Snipe]

Snipe, IMHO, I don't think it's a union issue.

I attended non-unionized private schools my entire life.

I had some great elementary and high school teachers. They are definitely out there. I'm sure many such teachers visit this board.

But on the whole, I was blown away by how much more motivated, passionate, and engaging my professors were at Xavier.

I don't think that type of experience is unique. IMHO, we just have a much stronger university education system than K-12.

It seems like K-12 teachers are constantly being blamed. I don't want to do that. Maybe at the University level, the instructors are less constrained by bureaucratic forces. Maybe they are able to engage students better.

As stophorseabuse noted, maybe they can focus more because they don't have to manage as much and deal with problem students.

Maybe it has absolutely nothing to do with the inscruction and everything to do with the students. College feels like a much less distracting environment than high school. Maybe students can focus more.

Who knows. something is up.

I talked about Doctors and licensing in another thread. The AMA determines what schools are qualified and accredited to teach Medical Students. Theu suggest quotas which are largely followed to determine the flow of new doctors. It is a tremendous influence.

It is no different in education. The teachers unions determine not only what schools are accredited, they have significant influence in the curriculum. Public Schools teach roughly 90% of our population. They have a virtual monopoly.

The teachers that teach in private schools don't go to different schools of education, they go to the same schools that are dominated by the PC public school teacher's unions curriculum. The sit right next to future public school teachers in every class. They are all drinking from the same well, and it is a government monopoly well. They are all taught the PC, Multicultural, Government mandated curriculum.

That doesn't mean that private schools don't have more choices. They do. They can hire people that don't legally qualify for public schools for sure. If Salman Khan wanted to teach at my kids school, he could do so without violation of law (at least I think he could). If former P&G CEO John Pepper wanted to meet with kids and talk about international relations or trade no laws would be broken. Plenty of retired folk could contribute their life experience and make this world a better place, but our strict enforcement of laws and regulations wouldn't allow it in public schools.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am not saying that you didn't have great teachers. Great teachers are out there, and we should all bless them and thank them. My kids have great teachers. Attacking government monopolies in education is not the same thing as attacking teachers.



But on the whole, I was blown away by how much more motivated, passionate, and engaging my professors were at Xavier.

And what does that mean?

[Snipe]

I do agree, things are cracked/fragmented, and they need fixing.


Why do you think that things are "cracked/fragmented" and why do they need fixing?

My answer is that we have a government monopoly in education, and I think it is in all of our best interests to break that monopoly.

Time to end it all. Start with the Federal Department of Education.

[xnatic03]

There are far too many reasons why things are cracked/fragmented to really go too far into it. There are teachers union issues. There are unwilling learners. There is the fact that every kid now seems to be more interested in pop culture than in history. Everything is available at your fingertips, which is great, but it also takes away from peoples' abilities to think for themselves. Traditional education is still trying to catch up with technology.
There are so many other reasons on top on the ones I listed.