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Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

physorg.com

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Re: Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

#11

Post by bluesmoon »

amh wrote: post #7
chime wrote: post #2

I finished my undergrad 6 years ago and want to get into a PhD program in a year or two. I expect my research will pertain to DSP and involve FFT/DFT on a regular basis. To brush up on my math (PreCalc, Calculus, Linear Algebra etc), I've been watching Khan's videos nightly. I must say his videos are a great way to recollect what you've already understood once but forgotten now. I wish there was a way to speed them u…

It would be cool if he offered all the courses as a single download via torrent or perhaps a mail-order DVD.

I think that would detract from his primary focus, which is teaching the subject. If he had to spend time maintaining a server, managing accounts and sending out DVDs in the mail, there won't be much time left for teaching. If he had to hire someone to do it for him, he couldn't offer the service for free any more.

Re: Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

#12

Post by wdewind »

MusicTrainer wrote: post #4

I agree that higher education is the next wave. I am doing kinda the same thing as this math teacher but with music. http://www.MusicTrainer.com . I should be "officially" launching soon. Please let me know what you think. I read hackernews everyday and value the opinions of the community here.

So this is a bit weird but, I recognize my old guitar teacher from there! I used to take lessons from Dave Wood back when he lived in NYC and can easily say if you have him involved in the project you are headed in the right direction. Absolutely amazing teacher!

It's not the prettiest site out there, but it's definitely easy to navigate. I would consider making the menu a little smaller, and the page flap in the top right is kind of annoying.

Re: Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

#13

Post by spicyj »

stewars wrote: post #10
MusicTrainer wrote: post #4

I agree that higher education is the next wave. I am doing kinda the same thing as this math teacher but with music. http://www.MusicTrainer.com . I should be "officially" launching soon. Please let me know what you think. I read hackernews everyday and value the opinions of the community here.

The site looks like it will be a great resource especially for young people learning. Just curious why are you disallowing anyone under 18 from using it?

Is that right? I don't see any mention of age on the site and the first video I clicked started without problem for me.

Re: Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

#14

Post by pstuart »

sandGorgon wrote: post #9

They also have an open-source code repository for some web applications that they are trying to build. http://code.google.com/p/khanacademy/ I daresay that they could use technical help from all the web/javascript gurus out there.

I was hoping that this would be an effort to transition the content from video to smart html5 markup. The lessons themselves are obviously valuable, but it would be nice to have it done w/ text, JS animation and optional audio.

Re: Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

#15

Post by stewars »

spicyj wrote: post #13
stewars wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The site looks like it will be a great resource especially for young people learning. Just curious why are you disallowing anyone under 18 from using it?

Is that right? I don't see any mention of age on the site and the first video I clicked started without problem for me.

I was looking at the terms of service here: http://www.MusicTrainer.com/lgl/tos/

"ALL PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18 ARE DENIED ACCESS TO THIS WEBSITE. IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE, IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR YOU TO VISIT, READ, OR INTERACT WITH THIS WEBSITE OR ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER. THIS WEBSITE SPECIFICALLY DENIES ACCESS TO ANY INDIVIDUAL THAT IS COVERED BY THE CHILD ONLINE PRIVACY ACT (COPA) OF 1998."

Re: Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

#16

Post by kragen »

bluesmoon wrote: post #11
amh wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be cool if he offered all the courses as a single download via torrent or perhaps a mail-order DVD.

I think that would detract from his primary focus, which is teaching the subject. If he had to spend time maintaining a server, managing accounts and sending out DVDs in the mail, there won't be much time left for teaching. If he had to hire someone to do it for him, he couldn't offer the service for free any more.

You know, it doesn't take that much time to upload a torrent of some MP4s to The Pirate Bay or LegalTorrents or whatever.

Re: Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

#17

Post by spicyj »

stewars wrote: post #15
spicyj wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that right? I don't see any mention of age on the site and the first video I clicked started without problem for me.

I was looking at the terms of service here: http://www.MusicTrainer.com/lgl/tos/ "ALL PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18 ARE DENIED ACCESS TO THIS WEBSITE. IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE, IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR YOU TO VISIT, READ, OR INTERACT WITH THIS WEBSITE OR ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER. THIS WEBSITE SPECIFICALLY DENIES ACCESS TO ANY INDIVIDUAL THAT IS COVERED BY THE CHILD ONLINE PRIVACY ACT (COPA) OF 1998."

I thought COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) only applied to people under 13, and only when accounts are created.

Re: Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

#19

Post by jamesash »

MusicTrainer wrote: post #4

I agree that higher education is the next wave. I am doing kinda the same thing as this math teacher but with music. http://www.MusicTrainer.com . I should be "officially" launching soon. Please let me know what you think. I read hackernews everyday and value the opinions of the community here.

I agree with you. As long as you're passionate about a subject, you can start your own micro-school. I couldn't get a job as an organic chemistry professor even with an MIT pedigree and a long list of papers, including one in Science. So I said screw it, I'm doing this anyway, and I'll treat it like it's my own business. So I started a blog devoted to teaching undergraduate organic chemistry, and I make money from funneling a small portion of the people who read the site into online Skype tutoring. So much fun to be my own boss and not have to deal with academic bureaucracy. Good luck to you.

Re: Khan Academy: A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

#20

Post by MusicTrainer »

stewars wrote: post #10
MusicTrainer wrote: post #4

I agree that higher education is the next wave. I am doing kinda the same thing as this math teacher but with music. http://www.MusicTrainer.com . I should be "officially" launching soon. Please let me know what you think. I read hackernews everyday and value the opinions of the community here.

The site looks like it will be a great resource especially for young people learning. Just curious why are you disallowing anyone under 18 from using it?

Thanks for the compliment. Regarding the age limitation. Just working out the legal information for the younger audience. I plan on opening up the site to all ages once the applicable legal policies are created.
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