Structure of the Earth - crust, mantle, core
The KhanAcademy. Two words, possibly three, depending on how you look at it, that would redefine the future of education. The KhanAcademy is a free (yes, free) website dedicated to helping students and adults alike with the dreaded subject of math. It’s quite expansive now, covering just about any form of math you can think of, and filled with exercises and tools to help students learn. Though perhaps the most brilliant aspect of the way the KhanAcademy really works is rooted in its humble beginnings.
We all know exactly how influential YouTube has become in recent years. It can make no-names into household-names in a matter of days. It’s a venue in which millions can share their videos with the world. One of those millions was Sal Khan, who used it to help his young cousins with math. He used to give them the lectures in person, but then started making videos of his lessons to them so they had easy access. The light bulb for Khan turned on when he discovered his cousins preferred the YouTube video to learning from him in person. And now his videos have become a great asset to his website, The KhanAcademy.
It’s simple. Suddenly math lessons can be paused… rewound, reviewed, repeated and otherwise rediscovered. It makes it far more accessible to the students who can view it, and in turn allows them to learn at their own pace. No more cookie-cutter lessons from teachers in a classroom where it is easy for some students to fall into the open holes never to be seen or heard from again (or simply left behind). It’s a revolution in education.
Teachers can now assign the learning of the lesson as homework and what once was homework is now done in class. This allows the teacher to interact more with the students, and the students to interact and help each other in this new and improved learning environment.
The KhanAcademy took it even a step further. Their site features Khan’s original videos, which teaches the individual lessons and problem solving techniques and aids them in solving the exercises that are also available however, rather than hearing the lesson once and being unable to review it, children can go back to watch the videos time and time again, not to mention be given hints by the genius programs designed to create an infinite amount of problems for them to solve. The system also encourages proficiency in a way that is sometimes forgotten in a classroom. The student can only move on to further lessons once they answer at least ten questions correctly in a row. Thus, they build solid foundations for their next lessons to be built upon.
Perhaps the most brilliant aspect of the entire site are the inclusion of game-like reward mechanics. Where videogames often reward players with achievements and badges for completing certain tasks in a game, the KhanAcademy does much the same, but for solving math problems! This simple reward system encourages children to continue to work and to achieve even more! They can challenge themselves to reach certain goals through this mechanic.
And we didn’t even touch on what is available to a teacher on this site yet! Any educator can track his or her students through the site. While each student can clearly see their progress, so can their teacher. Easily allowing a teacher to compare each individual student to the rest of the class as well. It’s easy to tell how much time is spent on the videos compared to the exercises, or how long it took to solve certain problems, or if the student is stuck. Teachers can clearly see when it is necessary to intervene to help a student, helping them grow in their education.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Khan has also covered Science, History and Finance in some of his videos, and certainly much more in the future. It brings a twist to education that has never been seen before on this scale of interactivity. The lessons are more accessible and easy to understand when allowing a student to view and review at their own pace. Teachers can use the classroom for precious one-on-one time with the students rather than being forced to remain aloof with lectures that many students have difficulty grasping.
There has been a great leap forward in the future of Education, and it has been through the ingenious efforts of the KhanAcademy in reinventing the rewind button.
