School Leadership Briefing Questions (Sep 12 2011) 2

TL;DR

Khan Academy's model for teaching less concrete subjects involves using videos for lectures and exercises for practice, allowing students to learn at their own pace.

Transcript

Voiceover: All right, we're on question, on this one right over here. We often hear people say if you're teaching math in this country, there's no way you haven't heard of Salman Khan. That's a little bit surreal to me if that's true. How does your Khan Academy model work for less concrete subjects, say creative writing? It depends where you want t... Read More

Key Insights

• 👾 Khan Academy's model focuses on enabling students to learn at their own pace and making class time more interactive and engaging.
• 👻 They plan to create question banks and exercises for less concrete subjects like history, allowing students to practice and assess their understanding.
• 💦 Videos can be used for lectures in creative writing, and Khan Academy aims to provide a platform for students to write, receive feedback, and assess each other's work.
• 🍗 Decision-makers should assess educational materials by trying to learn from them and evaluating their effectiveness rather than being swayed by surface-level impressions.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does Khan Academy suggest teaching history and other less concrete subjects?

Khan Academy suggests using videos for lectures and exercises for practice outside of class, allowing students to learn at their own pace. This approach frees up valuable class time for discussions and richer understanding of the subject matter.

Q: What are the potential challenges in creating exercises for subjects like history and creative writing?

Unlike math problems, generating exercises for history and creative writing is more complex. Khan Academy plans to develop a repository of pre-determined questions with appropriate data, difficulty levels, and relevance. This will enable quizzing on history topics and provide practice for students.

Q: Will Khan Academy offer videos for creative writing in the future?

While Khan Academy does not currently offer videos for creative writing, they do see the potential in providing lectures on basic skills like grammar, vocabulary, and critical analysis. They also aim to create a platform where students can write, receive feedback, and assess each other's work.

Q: How should decision-makers assess educational materials before purchasing them?

Khan Academy advises decision-makers to go beyond superficial assessments and try learning from the materials themselves. It is important to question assumptions and focus on the effectiveness of the content, rather than being swayed by fancy graphics or expensive production.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Khan Academy believes that lectures for less concrete subjects like history and creative writing are best done through videos outside of class, while class time should be reserved for discussions, feedback, and assessments.

• They plan to create a repository of history questions to quiz students and assess their understanding of the subject, similar to their current math exercise platform.

• For creative writing, Khan Academy is exploring the possibility of offering lectures on basic skills like grammar and vocabulary, as well as providing a platform for students to write, receive feedback, and assess each other's work.