Oldie but Goodie

Salman Khan- Founder of Khan Academy:

Let's Use Video to Reinvent the Classroom

* if you are a reader not a viewer, here is the Transcript from the video.

Three traits were chosen from Jason Ohler’s rubric to use in order to critique this story (each worth 10 points):

1.       Story

2.       Research

3.       Voice, Creativity and Originality

1.  Story- was it well articulated and compelling?

Comments:   Yes, I believe the story was well articulated and compelling.  He started with how he came up with the idea and gave viewers good examples of actual comments from users on YouTube.  He then moved to the progression students will see as they work through the program and then the data/reports teachers can pull to help plan accordingly.  While working through the slides, he talked about how we can “flip classrooms” and use Khan Academy to transform the traditional classroom, which I loved.  I recently started using Khan Academy in my classroom to help struggling math students and I really enjoy it.  I believe what he was saying was 100% accurate and have not yet dug as deep as what I saw in the video, but plan to next year. 

Score: 10

2.  Research- was it clear, thorough and integrated?

Comments:  Because the speaker was the founder of Khan Academy, yes the presentation was well researched.   It wasn’t as thorough as I believe he could have been though.  Because I have used Khan Academy before, I knew a lot of what he was referring to and showing.  However, if someone has never seen the program before, he moved very quickly and it could have been confusing.  He could have made this better by slowing down a bit or showing viewers where he pulled the data from or the homepage where it shows all the skills kids can choose to work on. (Perhaps this wasn’t meant to be a Khan Academy 101 and he didn’t have time.)  I did like how he integrated screen shots of data teachers can pull and incorporated actual videos and tutorials from the site.

Score: 8

3.  Voice, Creativity and Originality

Comments: He seemed to be a bit nervous while speaking, stuttering and stumbling some.  I did like the creativity because he came up with this glorious idea all on his own.  With that being said, it was also original, especially because it is completely free (I’m still wondering where the money comes from to develop all this.)

Score: 10

Overall Score: 28

Sidebar- My biggest fear with Khan Academy is teachers will use it as a means to be lazy and let students teach themselves and each other.  (Don't let this be you!)  However, if used as it was meant to be used them it is a great asset to the classroom.  If you have never seen Khan Academy before and you are a teacher, check it out, it is really cool and has a lot to offer!