Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Khan Academy: Computer Science

khanacademy.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 188 posts

Re: Khan Academy: Computer Science

#41

Post by thisisblurry »

sosuke wrote: post #23
mahyarm wrote: post #3

Pretty cool! He has to do discrete math / mathematical logic & foundations to fill out the 1st/2nd year of mathematics and most computer science math requirements next.

Does the mountain of other math videos and exercises on the site not already provide that? I'm pretty sure they cover enough. They cover through Calculus and maybe more. Which do you feel is missing?

While I'm sure it's possible that the plethora of other math videos and exercises on the site do provide the background that CS students would need, it'd be nice if perhaps they were cross-categorized so that people could know which topics go best with each other.

Re: Khan Academy: Computer Science

#42

Post by loup-vaillant »

manish_gill wrote: post #34
loup-vaillant wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

C or C++ are definitely not a good idea. The beginners' brains will be too occupied with curly brackets and semi-colon. There's also the brain-dead notation for types (see function pointers). The poor souls already have a hard time differentiating assignment and comparison, just because of counter-intuitive notation (compared to high school). As experts, syntax doesn't annoy us. We see past the curly brackets (or the…

Yeah, but I still advocate the use of C++ over Python. Just because of the fact that I can now appreciate what goes on under the hood instead of groaning that why should I learn it when the "language takes care of it". Many classmates of mine really enjoy Java because of they had learned C++ first. It's a harder learning curve, but I think it's worth it.

If you have to, pick C. Never ever touch C++, especially its standard IO library. Classes are of very little interest anyway (C easily emulates modules), they can learn it later.

There is a crucial point that should not be ignored. The first two languages someone learns should be easy. Monstrosities like C++ give the poor beginner the impression that learning any language is hard to learn, and that would discourage such learning in the future.

Re: Khan Academy: Computer Science

#43

Post by brador »

capnrefsmmat wrote: post #39
brador wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adaptive learning is the way forward. They've been planning it for ages and it's taking way too long to roll out fully. I'm gunning to compete with my own platform, but he's in as a non-profit which means a for-profit doesn't stand a chance, especially with the timescales the sector operates on. The only way to create something to compete and light that fire under their ass would be a "generous donation". I think I c…

What sort of adaptive learning do you mean? I'd guess you mean something like ALEKS: http://www.aleks.com/about_aleks ...but I'm not sure. The Khan Academy exercise framework is also open-source, so presumably you can contribute that way.

That's too basic to be competitive.

Try this link: http://www.carnegielearning.com/higher-ed-solutions/cognitiv...

Re: Khan Academy: Computer Science

#46

Post by jmcqk6 »

brador wrote: post #43
capnrefsmmat wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sort of adaptive learning do you mean? I'd guess you mean something like ALEKS: http://www.aleks.com/about_aleks ...but I'm not sure. The Khan Academy exercise framework is also open-source, so presumably you can contribute that way.

That's too basic to be competitive. Try this link: http://www.carnegielearning.com/higher-ed-solutions/cognitiv...

It's going to be a while before widely adaptive learning software comes around. Learning Assessment is already a difficult problem, and when it's done well, takes a lot of insight and wisdom on the part of the teacher.

As yet, there isn't a way to replicate that in software. One day it will be, but until then, khan academy and those like it can't even come close to having a good teacher.

That said, I can easily see how it could take the place of a bad teacher.

EDIT: I do see now that the CM software you linked to does have a human component. That's an interesting aspect and I'm going to have to take a careful look at this.

Re: Khan Academy: Computer Science

#47

Post by moreorless »

mwidarto wrote: post #36
danso wrote: post #14

I've never used a Khan Academy video but that's out of pure negligence on my part, not skepticism. That said, I have always wondered how effective video is as a teaching tool for programming? I guess when I think about it, it's the same delivery tool as an in-person lecture, but in some ways, more effective since you can pause, rewind, etc. See the comments on this article about how to do a Fibonacci recursive exampl…

I found video to be every effective teaching tool for programming. I don't know why, but I can read something 10 times and didn't get it but If I see video covering the same material it clicks. The only thing I don't like about video is that I can't do search for it. Sometime they show you a piece of code and you don't remember exactly where, you can't easily go to that part of the video.

Video search is coming along quite nicely. In one of my previous jobs, we employed Everyzing and the results were pretty good.

Re: Khan Academy: Computer Science

#48

Post by sethg »

sosuke wrote: post #23
mahyarm wrote: post #3

Pretty cool! He has to do discrete math / mathematical logic & foundations to fill out the 1st/2nd year of mathematics and most computer science math requirements next.

Does the mountain of other math videos and exercises on the site not already provide that? I'm pretty sure they cover enough. They cover through Calculus and maybe more. Which do you feel is missing?

Their math selection goes through calculus, differential equations, first-semester statistics, and linear algebra. I don’t see anything beyond that.

Re: Khan Academy: Computer Science

#50

Post by mhoofman »

frewsxcv wrote: post #45

For the record, Khan Academy is going to eventually scrap all the Python videos. John Resig, creator of jQuery, is going to redo all the videos narrated by him and with the code written in JavaScript.

John goes over how and why the new CS videos will be taught using JavaScript+HTML5 in these youtube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Fi8EnSInE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_EU6w8iIGQ

Post reply on HN