Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video) • Hacker News Board

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#21

Post by wyclif » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 5:44 AM UTC

Awesome speech. What's wrong with the YouTube video quality, though?

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#22

Post by aashpak1 » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 5:54 AM UTC

solipsist wrote: post #16

I've heard countless people rave about Salman Khan and his teaching methods - both here and away from HN. The truth is, I had no idea why he and his teachings were such a big deal... until now . I had seen some of his videos before and read some of the articles about the Khan Academy, but had never given them my full attention. To me, it was just another guy with his own teaching methods. But when I see him talk at T…

totally agree - making the self-learning part offline and creating more and better (teachers would know exactly where a particular student is having problems understanding) interactions is the best part of his model.

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#23

Post by arjn » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 6:01 AM UTC

Khanacademy is neat but I find it odd that people on HN either aren't aware or dont care about other earlier sources such as :

  - MIT's OCW
  - USNW eLearning channel on Youtube (esp Richar Buckland)
  - TIMMS (Germany, possibly the first of the video resources)
  - UCBerkeley youtube channel
  - Dr. Adrian Banner (Princeton)
  - Harvard (esp Michael Sandel's lectures, amazing)

The above can be easily searched for and are hardly a comprehensive list as that would be large. Here is a website which is a sort of clearinghouse for video lectures: www.cosmolearning.com

A search of HN shows less attention given to these original sources than perhaps they deserve. In my opinion MIT OCW was the best known initiative till recent times and started this wave of online video learning. BTW, I highly recommend Michael Sandel's lectures on ethics and politics, available on YouTube.

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#24

Post by keiferski » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 6:06 AM UTC

arjn wrote: post #23

Khanacademy is neat but I find it odd that people on HN either aren't aware or dont care about other earlier sources such as : - MIT's OCW - USNW eLearning channel on Youtube (esp Richar Buckland) - TIMMS (Germany, possibly the first of the video resources) - UCBerkeley youtube channel - Dr. Adrian Banner (Princeton) - Harvard (esp Michael Sandel's lectures, amazing) The above can be easily searched for and are hardl…

Khan Academy is miles better than any of those when it comes to design and ease of use, especially when it comes to presenting the material to elementary/middle school aged children. I certainly don't think a MIT lecture will appeal to 5th graders.

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#25

Post by tammam » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 6:08 AM UTC

I believe his method has a ton of potential. First saw Khan on This Week in Startups: http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/this-week-in-start... and was impressed to learn that Bill Gates invited him to talk. I think his method works for many people and could change the way many people learn.

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#26

Post by trickjarrett » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 6:08 AM UTC

solipsist wrote: post #16

I've heard countless people rave about Salman Khan and his teaching methods - both here and away from HN. The truth is, I had no idea why he and his teachings were such a big deal... until now . I had seen some of his videos before and read some of the articles about the Khan Academy, but had never given them my full attention. To me, it was just another guy with his own teaching methods. But when I see him talk at T…

I can't convey what a difference this would have made for me in my schooling career. I was constantly bored by teachers who were slowed by others in the class, and as a result I resorted to clowning or doodling, or programming my TI-86.

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#27

Post by solipsist » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 6:10 AM UTC

aashpak1 wrote: post #22

solipsist wrote: post #16

I've heard countless people rave about Salman Khan and his teaching methods - both here and away from HN. The truth is, I had no idea why he and his teachings were such a big deal... until now . I had seen some of his videos before and read some of the articles about the Khan Academy, but had never given them my full attention. To me, it was just another guy with his own teaching methods. But when I see him talk at T…

totally agree - making the self-learning part offline and creating more and better (teachers would know exactly where a particular student is having problems understanding) interactions is the best part of his model.

Yeah, the data from the students' interaction with the video could be sent back to the teachers and end up creating a comprehensive profile of each of the student's understanding on that particular topic. Then, in the classroom, the teacher would be able to walk from student to student (or form groups of students with similar strengths/weaknesses) and provide the help they needed based on their profiles. This help would be the help that relies on direct interaction between the teacher and student.

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#28

Post by solarmist » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 6:11 AM UTC

arjn wrote: post #23

Khanacademy is neat but I find it odd that people on HN either aren't aware or dont care about other earlier sources such as : - MIT's OCW - USNW eLearning channel on Youtube (esp Richar Buckland) - TIMMS (Germany, possibly the first of the video resources) - UCBerkeley youtube channel - Dr. Adrian Banner (Princeton) - Harvard (esp Michael Sandel's lectures, amazing) The above can be easily searched for and are hardl…

I'm a big fan of OCW and other online resources, but they just move the traditional style into an online format. And I'm especially excited for the OCW scholar site to get more material (plus, I'm excited to go through their Physics courses, I was never satisfied with my physics classes). My favorite Harvard lecture series is the Science & Cooking Public Lectures (http://seas.harvard.edu/cooking).

But all those sites are evolutionary not revolutionary. They would never inspire the kind of use that Khan Academy has seen.

I think the one of key's to the Khan Academy system is the short 5-15 minute "lectures" that only teach a single concept at a time. That makes it more approachable and easier to go right to where you need to be; rather than a 50 minute lecture that covers a dozen different things at once.

Teaching it like a tutoring session may not seem like that big a change, but when you combine all the little differences from the traditional model it become something totally revolutionary.

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#29

Post by Rickasaurus » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 6:13 AM UTC

As a kid I had ADHD, I found myself staying up all night programming and sleeping in my classes. The skills I leanred then have served me well but if the classroom was more engaging maybe I wouldn't have had such a difficult path.

I hope this spreads like wildfire.

Re: Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

#30

Post by dr_ » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 6:13 AM UTC

This is great, but I wish there were some lessons on coding. Computer programming at some basic level at least should be required of all students - even if they don't make a career out of it, being able to work snippets of code will come in handy across all disciplines in the future - finance, medicine, media, or repairing that broken fridge in your e-home.