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Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

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Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#241

Post by mattmcknight »

waterhouse wrote: post #237
mattmcknight wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

School would be vastly improved by the ability to pre-test out of topics or subjects. I actually went to an elementary school that let you do that for math and it was great.

The fact that this isn't common is mind-boggling to me. If a student can prove that they know the subject well enough that them sitting in that class would be a waste, then why does anyone think it's a good idea to make them continue sitting in that class? My first guess is "there are some pushy parents who will want their kid to be in a higher class even when their kid isn't qualified for it". The answer to this is,…

For some subjects it seems that the issue is not level, but quantity of work. They don't want to be seen as letting students get away with less work.

Maybe there's also something of a resentment about them not being needed when they encounter an autodidact? I had problems with an AP chemistry teacher who was angry that I was doing the homework in class instead of listening to the lecture. When I said that I thought textbook had explained the topic quite well, her reaction was extremely negative. The existence of the autodidact sort of threatens the proposition of school itself.

Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#242

Post by vampiretooth1 »

vincentmarle wrote: post #2

The concept of an online high school may sound terrible, but sooner or later it’s bound to happen: quality education will keep consolidating until there’s one super school left. Outlier is doing the same thing but on the college level: why deal with a mediocre local math teacher if you can get taught by the best?

Turning standard education into something scalable is going to be very interesting. We're already seeing this with MOOC and all, but when it's a part of a national network that students can plug into - I'm excited about the potential here. I like the super school idea, gives me the impression of a merit-based winner-take-all system

Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#243

Post by yupper32 »

mattferderer wrote: post #170
umangrathi wrote: post #35

I am looking forward to the day, when quality formal education is available online to all which you may complete at your own pace instead of going with a strict semester and class system. Also, along with offline schools for supporting social learning and helping classes which require offline components like labs, in person support classes, interest based study groups etc.

It probably doesn't meet your definition, but if you were a K-12 student you could: * Homeschool * Use your local school's curriculum or a public one like Common Core or another one of your choosing * Use one of many amazing online sources, like Khan. The great thing is if you struggle, you can always find an alternative teacher. I've found sometimes I need multiple different explanations over the course of weeks to…

> Many communities in larger towns & cities have tons of offline learning opportunities for groups.

Yeah, schools.

Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#244

Post by nvarsj »

azinman2 wrote: post #11
vincentmarle wrote: post #2

The concept of an online high school may sound terrible, but sooner or later it’s bound to happen: quality education will keep consolidating until there’s one super school left. Outlier is doing the same thing but on the college level: why deal with a mediocre local math teacher if you can get taught by the best?

Because there’s more to high school than just classes. It’s important to learn how to deal with people as well. A purely virtual high school experience sounds extremely lonely and thin for the soul.

Learning social skills in high school is more like learning how to survive in a prison yard - it couldn't be more far removed from adult social skills. I'd say functional, healthy high schools are in the tiny minority, and generally are private and small.

Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#245

Post by azinman2 »

magpi3 wrote: post #71
azinman2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there’s more to high school than just classes. It’s important to learn how to deal with people as well. A purely virtual high school experience sounds extremely lonely and thin for the soul.

I hear this argument a lot, but lets's ask the question: are high schools the best way to learn to "deal with people?" How much trauma have high schools inspired and can we do better now that we have other options?

No one is shitty like children are. It’s part of growing up and a great source of bad interactions that teach us about the world and ourselves. If the only thing you do in life is protect yourself into a perfect atmosphere, the less you are prepared for the real world which is unpredictable and full of trauma.

Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#246

Post by kelvinquee »

lodi wrote: post #208
huitzitziltzin wrote: post #104

Very favorable comments all around from the very online crowd who comments here. I’m much more skeptical. I have no doubt this will work well for some students, but as someone who taught online for the better part of two years I can say with certainty that the experience is very different and (for the wide majority of students) worse than being in person. My colleagues and I can attest to both general learning loss (…

I despise the notion that "real communism has never been tried!", but real online teaching has, uhh, never been tried. The futuristic dream: kids use fancy tech like AR goggles and haptic tech to manipulate shapes in a collaborative learning game and ultimately learn math in an intuitive way. Think of the best Jypiter notebook you've seen and then take that off the screen and into the real world. Then add an AI assis…

We do exactly this at the startup [1] that I'm running. Depending on their level and the equipment they have, young children learn Chinese online with native teachers using Zoom on their phones or StoryLand (eg Gather) on their laptops.

Many commenters have mentioned that socialisation and its associated obligations are beneficial to learning, and this is what we are reminded of everyday among our students.

Kids learn best when they see other kids learn. And kids learn best when they are able to directly apply what they learn into a project that they own. We enable our own students to publish their own books and to perform in musicals that they produce.

Many online education companies fail because they think that all online education ("edTech") is simply digitising the school. It's not. To succeed, we need to think deeply about what online and physical education does best.

Hit me up if you want to learn more.

[1]: https://storychopsticks.com

Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#247

Post by Anumitha12 »

It is definitely a great initiative, and Khan academy has always nailed course materials. I can't wait to see what they've done with this! It'll have its share of pros and cons, it'll work for some, might not work for many. This will work out for most if its part-time and they go to in-person as well, to get both social and explorative schooling. For self-learners this will be a gold-mine, for anyone who wants to take the cognitive and explorative approach will probably benefit from this.

Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#248

Post by PolygonSheep »

huitzitziltzin wrote: post #104

Very favorable comments all around from the very online crowd who comments here. I’m much more skeptical. I have no doubt this will work well for some students, but as someone who taught online for the better part of two years I can say with certainty that the experience is very different and (for the wide majority of students) worse than being in person. My colleagues and I can attest to both general learning loss (…

I was homeschooled after 8th grade due to social problems at school (I was bullied to the point of being suicidal for being fat). This was entirely by choice on my part and this was back before online learning was a big thing (early-mid 00s) so it was all in paper books then.

I did quite well in the program and on the SAT I took to get into college in lieu of a high school diploma. I did okay in college too, graduating with honors. I really can't see what I lost by basically doing high school alone in my bedroom reading books and taking self-graded exams.

I think it can work with the major caveat that it has to be both voluntary and the student has to bring a genuine desire to learn to the table. Not all students do. I think Khan World School will work very well but for maybe 10% of students leaving 90% worse off. Conversely I think in-person traditional schooling will work well for 90% but make 10% worse off due to stuff like bullying.

It would be unconscionable to withhold something like Khan World School from the people it could benefit. It's okay that it doesn't work for everyone. Neither does the traditional system.

Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#249

Post by magpi3 »

azinman2 wrote: post #245
magpi3 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this argument a lot, but lets's ask the question: are high schools the best way to learn to "deal with people?" How much trauma have high schools inspired and can we do better now that we have other options?

No one is shitty like children are. It’s part of growing up and a great source of bad interactions that teach us about the world and ourselves. If the only thing you do in life is protect yourself into a perfect atmosphere, the less you are prepared for the real world which is unpredictable and full of trauma.

Is this opinion just Stockholm syndrome since we were all forced to go through it? What other models do we have to compare it to?

I would argue that segregating children by age for schooling purposes is a relatively modern idea that probably runs counter to tens if not hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.

Re: Khan Academy launches Khan World School online high school

#250

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

bnralt wrote: post #125
huitzitziltzin wrote: post #104

Very favorable comments all around from the very online crowd who comments here. I’m much more skeptical. I have no doubt this will work well for some students, but as someone who taught online for the better part of two years I can say with certainty that the experience is very different and (for the wide majority of students) worse than being in person. My colleagues and I can attest to both general learning loss (…

In my experience, in-person educators often do a rather poor job with online education. There's often a lot of effort to emulate in-person learning, instead of an acceptance that online education is its own thing. They also often approach online education with a bias against it, which I doubt helps things. In-person educators trying to do online learning, getting poor results, and then saying it's the fault of online…

If there's a choice between online/offline school, Then one could choose what works for their kid.

But it's not a choice anymore in India where the online-school-education started out as a necessity during pandemic lock-down and now kids are enrolled in it due to peer-pressure; Parents in India already spent >40% of their income on their kids education before pandemic.

What's worse is that these online school education startups copied Khan Academy's coursework and some even became an unicorn during pandemic with fraudulent practices(False advertising: E.g. 'Kid who took our course got employed by Google', Untrained/Unqualified teachers etc.); So I wouldn't think twice about enrolling my kid into an online-school run by Mr.Khan if I had one.

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