
The Wrath Against Khan: Why Some Educators Are Questioning Khan Academy - ssclafani
http://www.hackeducation.com/2011/07/19/the-wrath-against-khan-why-some-educators-are-questioning-khan-academy/
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aik
Interesting article. I have some qualms with a few points, however:

>There’s actually very little in one of the videos that distinguishes Khan
from “traditional” teaching. A teacher talks. Students listen. And that’s
“learning.” Repeat over and over again (Pause, rewind, replay in this case).
And that’s “drilling.”

I don't fully understand what the purpose the author had with this, and I find
it somewhat misleading. A student doesn't repeat it over and over again for
the sake of "drilling"[1] themselves, but rather because the "pause, rewind,
replay" action enhances understanding and therefore learning. There's no
question that listening to something multiple times at your own pace assists
in learning. Actually, I see this as one of the clearest primary advantages of
an online video lecture over a live one. Concerning the quality of the
lectures and whether they encourage deep understanding and serious
inquiry/curiosity is a separate issue.

Personal thoughts on Khan Academy:

I definitely have my own concerns with the Khan website, and am slightly
irritated and worried with the holistic light that some people view it in.
Seriously, it's not intended, nor can it effectively, replace teachers and
entire curricula! People with power, including the media, please realize this!
The last thing I want (and I'm sure Khan as well) is for good teachers to be
fired as a result of this view point.

Concerning the badges and the "gamification of learning" -- I believe they can
be a force of good, however it is important that teachers and Khan Academy use
other methods as well to encourage an intrinsic motivation (learning for the
sake of learning and growth) simultaneously, to prevent the artificial targets
(the badges) from becoming the sole motivator. Studies have shown that a focus
on extrinsic motivators, such as badges, can lead to shallow and short-term
learning/understanding (Dweck).

[1] Concerning "drilling" -- I sense an unfair negative connotation with that
word in the article as well. Drilling in and of itself isn't bad or
ineffective as long as it's done properly and for material where it makes
sense.

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saundby
One thing I've seen in the Khan Academy videos is that they focus on one small
slice of information at a time. This is often hard to do in the classroom.
While I tend to lean toward the "cover less in class, but get better
understanding of what is covered" side of the spectrum in my teaching, I'm
still often giving the equivalent of 2-3 Khan video descriptions in each
class.

Personally, I refer my students to the Khan Academy videos in class as well as
other online resources. They don't much for many students, but for others they
make the subject matter click.

IMO they're a boon, as are the other online resources as well as abebooks and
Powells where great textbooks from the past are available for less than lunch
money as alternate resources.

~~~
garyrichardson
Yes! Teachers need to start trusting modern tools to help them teach.

I'm married to a teacher and have 8-10 teachers that I socialize with on a
regular basis. Whenever I start talking about charter schools, Khan,
statistical analysis of grades, etc, they always roll their eyes "oh, that's
just too much work for me to do" or "it's a bad idea to slot someone as a
'visual' learning" or "not everyone can handle being self guided" etc, but
they always miss the point.

The majority of teachers are stuck in their ways. For 100 years (longer?), the
education system hasn't really changed at all. The addition of computers has
been more like 'faster horses' than 'cars'. Highschool/gradeschool teachers
aren't really that effective at learning new things. Sure, there's
professional development, but that's the equivalent of HR presentations on
sexual harassment.

In the last 5 years, we've had a revolution of the available teaching tools
and an institution that is resistent to change/improvement.

A friend of mine is working on a pilot project at one school where everyone
gets an iPad. I feel this is a huge waste of resources, since they are just
modeling their current process but with an iPad. It's basically being used in
place of handing out photocopies. It's a huge waste. Technology should be
leveraged and used to evolve so we can do things we couldn't before, not be an
expensive drop in replacement.

If you have kids, ask them if their teachers forbid the use of wikipedia, or
embrace it as an imperfect information source. Has a class ever worked on
updating a wikipedia article? Ask them if they've ever had a skype video
conference with an expert from a particular field. Ask them if their teachers
include kahn videos as supplement resources. Or do they watch VHS tapes of PBS
recordings during class time like I did 15 years ago?

These are the things I expect every classroom should be doing today.

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ISeemToBeAVerb
In my opinion, anything that improves upon the current system of education in
public schools is a welcome innovation. As it stands, teachers have little
leeway when it comes to actually TEACHING a class. Teachers are forced to
follow a curriculum that the school board deems appropriate for the majority
of students. How is that effective? Generally, it caters to the lowest common
denominator.

Personally, I think it's a great idea to let students follow the lectures on
their own time and use class as an opportunity to engage the teacher in more
personal questioning. I can count on one hand the number of times I actually
got personal time with my teachers in school. Why? Because 99% of school was
suffering through lectures. My teachers never had time to actually work with
students one on one.

The Khan Academy recognizes that teachers could be better utilized by actually
tracking where students are excelling or failing and working with them In the
classroom on a personal basis. In the end, the proof is in the pudding. I
think it's great that this concept is even being tested. There isn't much use
in arguing that the state of public education is in turmoil, that's a fact.
The real question is what anyone is going to do about it. Whether right or
wrong, at least the Khan Academy is TRYING to help improve the situation,
that's more than I can say for my local board of education, who seem to value
ego arguments over actually getting anything done.

~~~
jeffreymcmanus
It's easy to say "anything that improves on what we have today is a welcome
innovation" but the whole point of the article raises the question of whether
these videos are, in fact, an improvement. Bear in mind that anything you do
in the classroom is connected with a cost (based on the finite resource of
time) -- if you spend time doing something, you lose the ability to do
something else.

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nolanbrown23
I can't find the article that moment, but in it there was a teacher who used
kahn academy videos as the "homework" and then class time for further
explanation, practice problems and most importantly, questions from students.

I like this approach for a number of reason but imagine your child with an
iPad watching several lesson videos a night. It makes the "homework"
significantly easier to manage (i.e. rewind videos, rewatch difficult parts,
and parents watching together to help with concepts) when compared to
traditional worksheet homework. By shifting the conceptual learning work to
the home, students are able to get a better experience from one-on-one work
with their parents, and then handle the practice and application of knowledge
to the school room which, in general, the teacher is better suited to handle.

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wnoise
Different people learn best in different ways. Undoubtedly Khan Academy isn't
going to work for everyone. Neither does the standard classroom. Diversity in
education is a good thing, so long as people can find out what works for them
and use it, instead of being forced into something that doesn't work.

