The Rath of Khan ?

Excuse the title.  We were charged with creating an interesting one, that "grabs."  I may well have missed the mark, but, as a self-confessed Star Trek fan, (and, as technology moves us, perhaps, toward a world that embodies Roddenberry's positive and hopeful ideals), that 1982 movie title (The Wrath of Khan) kept running through my mind this week, and I constructed the precarious metaphor of a chariot (a rath is a ceremonial Indian chariot) representing a flipped mastery approach and Khan Academy (and similar other platforms) whisking the learner, previously walking, ahead at a faster pace.

A free, world class education for anyone, anywhere.  

That is Khan Academy's audacious mission statement.  Salman Khan is a really smart guy, with three degrees from MIT and one from Harvard, who also happens to be personable, engaging, and remarkably good at breaking down and explaining things.  What began in 2006 with Mr. Khan interactively tutoring his cousin using Yahoo Doodlepad (an instant-messenger sketch pad, now outdated by other technologies), has evolved into a multimillion dollar nonprofit (is that an oxymoron?) that has delivered over 300,000,000 lessons.  The history and evolution is an interesting and inspirational story, synopsized aptly in Wikipedia as well as on the organization's own website, and covered by major media like CBS's 60 Minutes.

A quick way to get a good understanding of the tool, its creator, its evolution and its potential, is to watch Salman Khan's 2011 TED talk:

Even with use of hyperlinks (as is an asset and liability of this kind of forum), to broaden my reach, the primary challenge I felt preparing this week's post was paring down the issues and implications that sprang to mind, treating any one of which in an adequate fashion would exceed a reasonable word limit.  For example:

• The changing role of teacher ("not the sage on the stage but the guide at the side") in the 21st century, and the proliferation of a flipped mastery approach in classrooms worldwide.

• Broad, easy access to a wide variety of curricula as a "world flattening" phenomenon, and the eventual, if not immediate impact on the institution of education itself (not only K-12, but higher education, and especially with respect to cost/value of tuition).

• Cautions about concluding too much, too quickly--for example as in a balanced but cautious treatment, here:  http://esheninger.blogspot.com/2012/04/khan-academy-friend-of-foe.html, in another principal's blog (notably, one published for his expertise in leadership and technology).  Also, here, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-keith-devlin/khan-academy-good-bad-or-_b_1345925.html from a Stanford mathematician, and here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/29/parody-video-made-by-two-_n_1638460.html from a couple of middle school teachers.

So instead, I offer them as questions, and I look forward to your thoughts in the comments below, to the degree you are ready to engage in conversation.

I can offer a couple of personal experiences:  I have enthusiastically used the site (and the mobile iPad app as well) as a review of statistics concepts as I head into my dissertation, and earlier as I was preparing for the GRE as a general mathematics refresher:  I found the lessons to be helpful in just the ways and for just the reasons Khan references in his description in the TED talk.  My youngest son (age 11) has found similar success, though has required the adult guidance of my wife, who leads him through the "learning universe," and works with him.  Both commented that they enjoy the lessons, but also mentioned difficulties with  navigation between lessons, and with appropriately choosing "what's next."  My oldest son (17) is currently taking a second year calculus course via distance learning, and reports that the instructor has discouraged using Khan Academy (instead providing internal content--some self-produced and some selected from other sources), saying the Khan lessons sometimes used the "wrong terminology," for example.  Finally, while not using Khan's videos specifically, but with teachers creating their own in a similar vein, our district has been implementing a flipped mastery approach in some of our math classrooms--it is not a panacea, but I do see it as a very positive and successful development that empowers students.  I fully expect to see gains in math achievement as a direct result.

If you are pressed for time, I would encourage you to skip the hyperlinks, but do take time to watch the embedded video, and take a quick visit to the site itself, and choose and view a lesson that piques your interest, to get a good understanding of this tool's potential--both the potential presently being realized, and potential into the future.  Is it revolutionary?  I think in many ways it is.  Certainly, it is PART of a revolution.  Is it a great resource?  I think, inarguably, yes.