Okay, so the consensus is that the article is a joke (khan academy helped me a lot couple of years ago in high school so I agree). Why is it on the front page of HN then?
Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
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Re: Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
#12"When Bill Gates and others generously donated millions of dollars to Khan’s organization, he immediately turned around and used this money to hire an all-star team of…computer scientists. Of the twenty people who work at Khan Academy, none has ever taught in a K12 classroom in the the United States. Zero."
When you look at it like that, you never got it; leading to erroneous conclusions.
Re: Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
#13To address our challenges, we need to do what every other successful country has done: invest in professional development; give teachers more time to collaborate; and provide them with resources that help them not only meet the learning standards, but exceed them.
You could have copy/pasted that conclusion without altering a word from the debate about every other educational reform: school choice/vouchers, NCLB, high-stakes testing, teacher testing, etc etc. It's invariant under every proposal because the goal is to employ teachers and education of students is a welcome-but-unnecessary industrial byproduct.
It is also just as false that the US lags peer nations in professional development / collaboration time / pointless frippery ("resources that help them not only meet the learning standards, but exceed them") than it was the last 47 times this was brought up as a panacea.
Re: Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
#14I think this piece would be more effective, or at least somewhat effective, if its author had described a vision for online learning that takes the best of Khan's approach and combines it with, well, something interesting. The author never really explains what that something is. I don't think Khan Academy is perfect. Its gamification techniques will not work for all students. But it is an alternative for some students. If a kid who is ahead can stay with her peers at the same grade level while watching Khan videos at night, great. If a kid who is behind can stay with her grade level by using Khan to catch up without the shame of remedial math, even better.
Frankly its author sounds bitter.
Re: Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
#15For one thing Khan Academy does not say it strives to solve the problems you discuss. It's only goal, I believe was and still is accessibility.
Re: Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
#16For one thing Khan Academy does not say it strives to solve the problems you discuss. It's only goal, I believe was and still is accessibility.
Re: Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
#17Silly article. It offers no proof to their statement that students learning through Khan are on a "wild goose chase" for correct answers except for a 1973(!) paper. I believe it to be the opposite, the chances of you just guessing 10 correct answers in a row is ridiculously low. It encourages you to make sure every answer is correct before submitting it, otherwise you would have to start over again. It doesn't addres…
The article is pointing out that the Khan Academy is very similar to previous pedagogical attempts. You are also not presenting any evidence that the ways in which it differs are significant. I fail to see why you can claim that the article, which raises a valid objection to the Khan Academy, is silly, but your own arguments, also without data to back them up, are not.
But yes, let us get more data, that I can always get behind.
Re: Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
#18Silly article. It offers no proof to their statement that students learning through Khan are on a "wild goose chase" for correct answers except for a 1973(!) paper. I believe it to be the opposite, the chances of you just guessing 10 correct answers in a row is ridiculously low. It encourages you to make sure every answer is correct before submitting it, otherwise you would have to start over again. It doesn't addres…
By the way it's written, it just seems like this guy is pouting about Khan Academy getting all the press.
Re: Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
#19I think this link is a much better treatment of the famous "Benny" experiment: http://blog.mathed.net/2011/07/rysk-erlwangers-bennys-concep... (with a bonus of less conflict-of-interest.)
Re: Khan Academy: It’s Different This Time
#20Okay, so the consensus is that the article is a joke (khan academy helped me a lot couple of years ago in high school so I agree). Why is it on the front page of HN then?
So that it won't be again.
Edit: Downvoting probably means that was not clear enough. I meant this will gather enough evidence for people to not post anything similar on Hacker News.