The Khan Academy: A Revolution for Learning and Teaching
The Khan Academy is a social movement that has left an impact on the way students learn and how material across a variety of subjects is presented. It is considered the largest school in the world as it is a free resource of knowledge containing an extensive library of tutorial content. The idea took off from what started out as tutoring sessions with the founder, Salman Khan, for his cousin who was struggling in math. Their other relatives quickly realized how beneficial and affective his online teaching methods were which prompted Salman to upload tutorials on YouTube for his family and eventually the general public to use. These videos attracted so much attention, traffic, and appreciation that Salman found reason to quit his job in order to start what is now known as The Khan Academy.
Clive Thompson wrote an article for WIRED Digital magazine on July 15, 2011 titled “How The Khan Academy is Changing the Rules of Education” describing how the online school came about. Salman Khan graduated from MIT with a BS in math as well as a BS and MS in computer science. After graduating from MIT, he attended Harvard Business School. When he completed his schooling, Khan went on to work for Wohl Capital: “a hedge fund where he researched companies to find solid investments” (Thompson, Wired Digital). Khan’s natural ability to teach was recognized in the professional atmosphere while he was working for Dan Wohl, who stated: “I’d come back to the office. . .and giant math equations were scrawled across the board. Khan was training the junior staff in the nuances of finance. . . he had this natural gift and a really selfless approach” (Thompson, Wired Digital). This approach is what his cousin, Nadia, recognized but she also encouraged him to create videos that can be viewed as many times as necessary for a student to grasp a concept. Khan quickly realized how the power of video tutorials. The key concepts he found most effective were privacy while learning and mastery of a concept. He knew that if a student could learn at their own pace without an authority figure watching over them, they would be more willing to go over a concept multiple times and more comfortable, Thompson writes: “he was implementing ‘mastery-based learning’— requiring students to prove they’ve conquered material before advancing”.
The Khan Academy started as a simple idea and has exploded in recent years servicing millions of users. It was officially started in 2009, when Khan quit his job at Wohl Capital in order to focus on building The Khan Academy as a non profit organization. He received a starting donation from Ann Doerr, the wife of John Doerr who is a Silicon Valley investor. From there, the organization has taken off and is used by students, teachers, classrooms, and universities. Khan’s starting goal was to simply educate and reach as many people as possible through his videos. It has grown into a greater goal of creating a community focused on learning and success. The Khan Academy has been successful by continuing to improve upon those goals of education and community by promoting their mission of a “global classroom”, encouraging use of the site for both individual group learning, and calling for the help of all users across social media to work together to spread the word about this free knowledge source.
On The Khan Academy’s website, there is a section in their mission statement titled “A global classroom”. This describes the community of learning and the ability to share success stories with other users. In this category of the mission statement, there is a link leading to where people can read and share their experiences. Most of the posts describe how individuals have utilized The Khan Academy videos to improve their skills in math concepts. The online school started with math tutorials and specializes in this area due to Khan’s education and degree in math. People of all ages and needs for tutoring write posts praising The Khan Academy and thanking Salman for his generous work. The Khan Academy builds this movement beyond posting educational videos, it inspires people to share their experiences and spread the word.
In addition to individuals who are pursuing their personal academic goals, the innovative technique of The Khan Academy has been used by teachers in classrooms and promoted by universities. In December 2011, an article titled “Grading the Digital School: Online Learning, Personalized” by Somini Sengupta was published on the New York Times website. This article describes a sort of collective action among teachers who want to test out this new way of learning in the classroom. Sengupta writes about how Jesse Roe’s ninth grade math classroom in San Jose, California incorporates the use of The Khan Academy into the curriculum. Mr. Roe is not the only teacher who has found this method effective, as Sengupta writes: “This semester, at least 36 schools nationwide are trying out Mr. Khan’s experiment: splitting up the work of teaching between man and machine, and combining teacher-led lessons with computer-based lectures and exercises”. The difference between a teacher-led environment and Khan’s tutorials is the lurking presence of an authority figure. Khan himself never appears in his tutorials.
The only visual onscreen is his handwriting as he writes out equations and other information. He considers it a less intimidating, and therefore more effective way of learning. In addition to this, he describes concepts in a non-threatening tone, as Sengupta describes: “The viewer hears Mr. Khan talking, in his typically chatty, older brother sort of way. But his face is never seen, just his scribbles on the screen”. Teachers who have used The Khan Academy as a supplement in their classrooms recognize that a combination of teaching and learning styles seems to be beneficial. Educators are aware that when they lecture in a classroom, they can only reach a certain percentage of the class, usually the top percentage which includes the students that learn most quickly. With the aid of a supplement that allows students to personalize which lessons they need the most help with and master these lessons at their own pace, there is the potential for the class as a whole to gain more from the subject matter.
Schools can use The Khan Academy both in class and outside of class. Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida posted links to the website in their “Student Services and Enrollment Management” section. They encourage students to use The Khan Academy in order to prepare for math placement testing—specifically Pre-Algebra, and Algebra. In this circumstance, the online school is being used as a supplement to the knowledge an applicant is expected to already have in order to enroll in these particular math classes. HCC highlights the fact that the learning material is free and helpful for the particular math concepts the potential students needs to grasp.
The Khan Academy differs from other online learning tools in that it is free for all users, more personal to each individuals needs, and built on the concept of mastery. In order for the non profit organization to stay free for its users, it relies on donations from the users, but mainly from influential organizations and individuals as Sengupta writes: “Mr. Khan’s small team is subsidized by more than $16.5 million from technology donors, including Bill Gates, Google, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the O’Sullivan Foundation”.
Currently, when a user visits the site, they are greeted with a request for a donation that will be matched dollar for dollar by one of their supporters. The Khan Academy is fortunate to have multiple, powerful philanthropists that not only donate money to keep the school running, but also speak publicly about its influence.
The success of The Khan Academy has caused users to refer to Salman Khan as “the world’s teacher” and the “Messiah of Math”. It has become a global resource used by about six million users per month. The Forbes article, “One Man, One Computer, 10 Million Students: How Khan Academy Is Reinventing Education” by Michael Noer includes details about how the school has reached users around the globe:
“Over the past two years (as of November 19, 2012) Khan Academy videos have been viewed more than 200 million times. The site is used by 6 million unique students each month (about 45 million total over the last 12 months), who have collectively solved more than 750 million problems (about 2 million a day), and the material, which is provided at no cost, is (formally or informally) part of the curriculum in 20,000 classrooms around the world. Volunteers have translated Khan’s videos into 24 different languages, including Urdu, Swahili and Chinese.”
Each user, located in different countries around the world, is a part of The Khan Academy global community. Whether it is formed by using the site, sharing experiences, or even helping Khan spread the word about the school, the main purpose of the organization is to serve this community and its needs for free:
“The Khan Academy, which features 3,400 short instructional videos along with interactive quizzes and tools for teachers to chart student progress, is a nonprofit, boasting a mission of ‘a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.’ There is no employee equity; there will be no IPO; funding comes from philanthropists, not venture capitalists” (Noer, Forbes)
Khan believes that anyone who is seeking knowledge should be able to have access to it. He has made this possible with the online school by not only providing lessons, but also motivation to learn new skills, or better skills you already possess.
Salman Khan wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal titled “Turning the Classroom Upside Down: Why not have lectures at home and ‘homework’ at school — and let students learn at their own pace?” published on April 9, 2011. In this article he describes how The Khan Academy started from family tutoring and is now a globally recognized non profit organization with multiple supporters and a “die-hard user base”. He specifically writes about the teachers included in this user base and the program he initially started in Los Altos, California public schools: “to help teachers customize their instruction. . .we created a dashboard of robust data for them to follow, linked to their students’ online exercises. . .The overall effect has been to create a more collaborative classroom culture”. This program helped Khan and his six-person team make conclusions and discoveries based on how beneficial the video tutorials actually are in a classroom setting. They were able to to collect data concerning learning pace, learning efficiency, and how a step-by-step mastery program is advantageous to the learning process:
“our data shows. . .given the time and personal instruction needed to master core topics, supposedly ‘slower’ students are often able to speed ahead. . . To us, the conclusion is obvious: Students simply do better when schools show respect for their natural curiosity and intelligence and give them a chance to achieve an intuitive understanding of fundamental concepts”.
The main goal of The Khan Academy incorporated into classroom learning is to close the learning gap and what Khan refers to as “Swiss cheese education — full of holes”. Khan gives students an opportunity to catch up if they are behind, and to enhance their knowledge in preparation for the next level of classes.
In the earlier stages of The Khan Academy, Sal would reach out to users on The Khan Academy on Facebook page asking them to speak on behalf of the school.
Users comment with positive feedback about how they are happy and “proud” to help Sal bring more attention to his non profit organization because of how much his videos have helped them personally. The Khan Academy became a social movement because of the millions of supportive users that envision the site as education of the future, and believe that the rest of the world should support this idea too. It is a tool that enhances traditional education, not replaces it.
Now on Twitter, Khan Academy users tweet using the hashtag #YouCanLearnAnything, which has become a slogan for the online school. This hashtag evolved from a video The Khan Academy posted on YouTube in August 2014 called “You Can Learn Anything” centered around the idea of “whoever you are, wherever you are, you only have to know one thing: you can learn anything”. The @khanacademy Twitter account has been rewteeting users and organizations who use this hashtag to spread awareness of the power of knowledge, and encourage everyone to use every resource they have to build any skill they desire. Whether you have an academic, artistic, athletic, or professional goal, The Khan Academy promotes interest in self education. While the online school only offers help in academic areas, they believe that all education and hard work is important. Its users and followers share this belief and see the results of their determination when they use the videos. A Khan Academy student is not only taught math, science, or arts and humanities skills, they are taught the power of knowledge itself.
The Khan Academy is truly a revolution for learning and teaching. It is a way to combine the strengths of traditional education and the new digital age so that students can have the option to supplement their learning. It seems to be most beneficial for students who are studying for exams and want to fill the gap of concepts they may have missed during class time, or people who want to gain more knowledge of a particular subject for their own benefit. Khan’s strong and supportive user base has turned into community revolved around sharing knowledge and using The Khan Academy to its full potential. This social movement indicates a view of education of the future that continues to evolve and meet specific academic needs that cannot be achieved in a classroom alone.
