I was in a car the other day with friends who don’t pay much attention to education issues, and one asked me, “Who is this guy who figured out how to teach math to everyone?” He said he read about him in Time magazine. Thus is a myth created.
I am not a reliable critic of math methods, it’s not my field so I have not assayed a view of Khan and his videos.
But today I read a devastating critique. The bottom line: the videos aren’t very good and neither is the math.
I have a tendency to want to see educational ideas developed in a sober and careful way, because I know of US education’s tendency to jump on bandwagons and adopt the latest fad and new thing. Teachers tend to be skeptical of quick fixes and properly so.
It is not that they are resistant to innovation, but they are resistant to hype, and properly so.
The author, Karim Kai Ani, writes as follows:
The real problem with Khan Academy is not the low-quality videos or the absence of any pedagogical intentionality. It’s just one resource among many, after all. Rather, the danger is that we believe the promise of silver bullets – of simple solutions to complex problems – and in so doing become deaf to what really needs to be done.
As Arne Duncan said, we need to invest in professional development, and provide teachers with the support and resources they need to be successful. We need to give them time to collaborate, and create relevant content that engages students and develops not just rote skills but also conceptual understanding. We have to help new teachers figure out classroom management – to reach the student who shows up late to class every day and never brings a pencil – and free up veteran teachers to mentor younger colleagues.
I recently attended the inaugural #TwitterMathCamp, a collection of teachers who traveled from around the country (plus two Canucks!)…during their vacation…and paid out of pocket…to discuss how best to introduce proportions and whether slope always requires units.
We need to stop focusing on the teachers who are doing it wrong and instead recognize the ones who are doing it right: the Frank Noscheses and the Kate Nowaks; the Sadie Estrellas and the Sam Shaws; the ones who spend their time trying to become better to make someone else’s kids smarter.
I saw my first Kahn video when my assistant principal showed it to me. Our school leadership team made a conscious decision to not inform our students of the site. The instruction was so poor we were afraid it would confuse them.
Oh snap! Beautiful takedown of Sal, the world’s best math teacher.
Here’s a link to a great video of two teachers watching Mr. Kahn’s YouTube lesson on multiplying with positive and negative numbers. Their commentary says it all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC0MV843_Ng BTW, Khan is now funded by Gates and Google to spread his YouTube lessons into all content areas across the world. http://www.fastcompany.com/1728471/change-generation-bill-gates-favorite-teacher-wants-to-disrupt-education
Yea their commentary sounds like they are two eighth graders making fun of a classmate. Stupid. There’s nothing particularly wrong with Sals presentation. In general, his videos to me seem better for people who can pick things up without too much hand holding. If you require slower, more detailed instruction, they are probably not going to work. I think it’s great for encouraging curious students to look into topics that interest them. 2 apples + 2apples = 4 apples. If you need more than that, you need an Ed plan anyways.
A teacher at my school uses Khan math. He is one of many teachers I share students with as a cross categorical special education teacher. My interested in Khan was based on this teacher’s use of the program, especially because the elementary program that my district uses has been extremely problematic for reaching kids who are significantly below grade level in math. (EDM, if anyone is curious.) I thought the students would enjoy and benefit from the independent practice on the computers. I got such a negative outcry from my students about how boring and hard it was when I mentioned using Khan that I decided not to pursue it. Those students would plead to come to my room to work if they saw me in the hall on the way to the computer lab to do Khan. I’ve learned enough about my students over the years to know that when they are adamantly resistant (or interested), that I need to take heed.
The proposal submitted by the Boston Consulting Group in Philadelphia includes as an example of “innovative, cost-effective practices” the following:
“Flip the classroom”: use resources such as Khan Academy to deliver online lectures, while class time focuses more efficiently on working problems”
(page 11 of ” A full proposal detailing the work BCG planned to undertake in Philadelphia”, linked to from here:
http://thenotebook.org/blog/124923/bcg-documents-show-far-reaching-proposal-overhaul-district )
Karim Kai Ani makes an excellent point: that good teaching does not consist of ad hoc lessons. There’s value in thinking through a topic, deliberating over ways to present it, and responding to students’ questions and reactions. Khan’s videos may be good supplementary resources, but are they good math lessons? Some of them may be, but others contain errors and misleading statements. So there’s a flaw right there in Khan’s “big idea”: it can’t be broken down into viable parts.
The Khan Academy’s “big idea” is that actual instruction in subject matter should be removed from the classroom and transfered onto video. The students can watch it at home and then come to class to work on problems and take part in activities. Khan and others refer to this as the “flipped” classroom–where the instruction takes place at home, and the problem-solving in the classroom.
This isn’t entirely novel. In literature courses, you typically do the reading at home and then discuss it during class time. In math, you may read the textbook and work on problems at home, and then come to class ready to take in new material or consider some of the complexities of what you have learned.
But the “flipped” classroom takes this concept still further. Here, the teacher gives little or no whole-class instruction. Instead, the students engage in group work or solve problems at their own level and pace. The teacher circulates to help those who are having trouble.
But why assume that students can do without the instruction that takes place right there in the classroom? I have attended lectures and then later listened to them or watched them on video. There is no comparison.
Moreover, why assume that videos are such a great medium for conveying a topic? If the students are to learn some of the material on their own, at home, then a book may serve just as well, if not better. A book has the advantage that you can pause on a page and learn something through that pausing. You can read a paragraph as slowly or as quickly as you want. With a video, you’re either playing it or not. Sure, you can forward or backtrack, but only to find the spot you’re looking for.
And why assume that students benefit from solving problems in class, rather than at home? There’s a great liberty in working on problems alone, in quiet, without pressure or rush. Not that all children have quiet places to work–but at the very least, they can go to the local library or find another quiet place.
This doesn’t mean that students should do all problem-solving at home and that lessons should consist of instruction only. Nor does it mean that videos are useless; they may well have a place. But there’s no reason to treat the “flipped classroom” like a brilliant discovery. There’s nothing to flip. The proportion of instruction to discussion and other activities will vary from subject to subject, grade to grade, and lesson to lesson.
I touch on the Khan Academy in chapter 8 of my book and write about it at somewhat greater length here: http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2011/11/17/its-a-video-library-not-a-revolution/. I have read a number of short critiques since then–some focusing on the videos, others on the flipped classroom.
I find the Khan Academy a nice supplementary tool, especially when using it one-on-one with a student, but as the main thrust behind a lesson, it is of little pedagogical use.
That’s a pretty poor job of debunking.
I admire anyone who (free of charge) puts more than 3,000 video lessons online for anyone in the world to use. I have also found that Khan readily accepts feedback on any mistakes found in those lessons.
I find it sad that people indict all the work that’s been done there on the basis of looking through the mountain of content and finding some errors. Khan does not profess to be perfect.
How many of us are devoted enough to do all the work that Khan has done and give away the work?
Who among us would not have numerous errors if we had videotaped 3,000+ lessons we have given?
It’s one thing to do what Sorrel describes (above) and decide it’s not for your students.
It’s another thing completely to trash the whole body of Khan’s work. Very closed-minded.
He has financial support from Gates.
Ed, teachers create hundreds of lessons each year for their entire career and share them daily with their colleagues and we support each other. Not all of us can be the center of attention and most of us don’t want praise and recognition from Bill Gates or anyone else looking to cash in under the guise of helping children.
So when you ask who amongst us has devoted so much time to lessons and sharing, that would be the teachers of America. The ones you profess to admire and respect.
It is ironic how quick some are to criticize and blame teachers but then defend those who aren’t. However, since they claim to be doing whatever they are doing all for the children, it is so much more noble that those who choose to dedicate their lives to teaching and learning.
If a teacher posted videos with mistakes, Michelle Rhee would make it into a commercial to mock all teachers in the USA.
A non certified teacher makes mistakes and he is still a great guy just
trying to help the misfit teachers. It is also sad to indict the work of all
teachers in our country and try to sell it as “reform”.
Very, very closed minded.
Hi Linda1, I chose my words carefully when I said, “How many of us are devoted enough to do all the work that Khan has done AND give away the work?” That word “and” is important. It’s great when teachers work together and share lesson plans that work. It is another thing entirely to videotape thousands of lessons and post them to the Internet for all to see, use, critique, (or choose not to use). And it’s free.
It would be a wonderful thing if you would write a proposal to do something similar but better. You get to define what better means. Go and get it funded by a source you trust. If you create something vastly better than Khan, people will flock to it. It is a chance to multiply your impact on the world thousands of times over.
Or you can send feedback to Khan to improve what he has done.
There is no critique of teachers in my post. I can worship teachers and the noble work they do every day. Instead, what I wrote is a critique of people – regardless of profession – who completely reject all of what Khan has done. I think what Patrick Johnson posted (above) is a reasonable way to be open-minded and think about Khan’s work.
I’ll pass….Too busy raising children, teaching full time, going to school part time while defending my profession and educating my local self-appointed “experts and reformers” I don’t need to be worshipped nor am I motivated by recognition or money. The classroom is where it will always be real.
You are always here to quickly defend anyone BUT teachers. Maybe you can get in on the Klein/Murdoch digital gravy train or many of the
other lucrative “reform” scams.
Hi Linda1, I defend teachers as well. As I’ve posted elsewhere on Diane’s blog, I am pro-teacher-union, pro-holding-charters-extra-accountable, pro-increasing teacher-pay-and benefits, anti-publishing-teacher-VAM-scores, anti-AYP, anti-Teach-For-America (as currently structured).
More related to the post above, Khan IS a teacher. I know many teachers cringe at the thought but, until something better comes along, people around the world will be using Khan videos (in a variety of ways) to educate themselves or others.
When I saw his first videos, I really, really wanted to like them.
Fact is that, actually, *many* teachers and others have pointed out pretty fundamental errors and they have been summarily ignored. For instance, he states that two times one is “two plus it self, times one.” Last time I checked, two plus two was four. He repeats that error throughout his videos. He calls multiplication problems “sums” and mixes in algebra with basic arithmetic. He says pithy things like “I know this is confusing, but it’s so it will make sense later.”
He is trashing teachers — whole cloth and our whole job– by putting one-off videos stating that no, he doesn’t really think about what he’s going to say… and letting it be passed off as revolutionary and wonderful and better than what teachers work hard to do.
I am not ashamed to “trash” a whole body of work with such consistently abysmal standards, one that trashes me. My students deserve better for the millions given to fund that project.
Kepler was kicked out of his Protestant church for not signing the ‘Formula of Concord’ – this was about 100 years after Martin Luther did his stuff.
Kahn posts videoes. People interpret all kinds of meanings and implications and conclusions. People argue over the meanings and interpretations and conclusions. yawn.
The fact that lying charlatans like Duncan see a way to monetize a bunch of youtubes and, by the way, fire a bunch of people making above family wage wages, and, by the way, ruin community schools, and, by the way, employ his parasitic $ocial cla$$ at fat salaries – and fish live in the water, and birds fly in the air!
It is too bad the author is 1 of those math reformers pooh-poohing the drudgery of mastery. I have to deal with the consequences every year, with scores and scores of high schoolers, of the damage the math reformers have done. The CONCEPT of slope is irrelevant, and how it can be applied, when 24/32 and 12/16 and 9/12 and 3/4 are RANDOM decimals and percents. The garbage math reformers have pushed on millions of kids has done far more damage than Kahn will ever do.
Oh well.
As good teachers were are taught to deliver content in a variety of ways to engaged a variety of learning styles. Kahn Academy may engage a particular learning style but should not be dismissed if it doesn’t.
I tried to refresh my knowledge of algebra with Khan videos. But by the third session, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I nodded off twice and then shut it down and I never went back.
That doesn’t mean Khan isn’t a nice and really smart guy. But there is a real limit to what this type of video can do for students, who can’t stop instruction to ask questions about the material.
I have just looked at the Khan site for biology. There are other Biology video lessons out there that I think are better. But for some students where video might be the thing they listen to it might work.
Really interesting conversation today as we were picking a couple of hundred pounds of tomatoes in 97 degree temperatures. I was the youngest at 57. Two of the four of us have 100% disabilities. The other gentleman was down from Wisconsin visiting his brother, Tomato Tom. So we’d pick for 15 minutes or so, sit under a shade tree for 20-30 minutes or so just shooting the shit. And the discussion came about, about not being able to find younger folk who had any sense of mathematics at all. One of the disabled (had a stroke) guys who used to run an asphalt paving business was amazed that many of the younger employees couldn’t figure out things like cubic feet necessary to complete a job. The other gentleman from Wisconsin who worked at a casino in security was amazed that many younger employees couldn’t figure out in their head simple multiplication and/or division problems.
We realized that we all had to memorize math tables, not only add/subtract but the multiplication tables. I reiterated that as a Spanish teacher that I expected my students to memorize vocabulary. Doesn’t seem to happen now. Basic facts that should be at the tip of one’s tongue aren’t there for the younger folk. I also indicated that I had to teach English grammar terms to high school students who don’t know what an adverb, subject or prepositional pronoun is much less the moods and tenses of verb. Now I would never teach grammar for grammar sake (unless I was an English teacher) but grammar is the scaffold upon which to link the various structures of the languages.
I guess I’m just an “old fogey” but sometimes “old fogey” truths hold thrughout time.
The interesting thing about the Kahn academy is that its success or failure rides on whether students find it useful, not on what anyone else thinks about it. No teachers need to require it, no school board will have to give it the ok, no school of education need advocate for it, students will find it useful or they will not.
If anyone is interested in the opinion of math education from a recent high school graduate, my son posted this comment on Mindshift here: http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/09/is-math-education-too-abstract/
His name is Alex Becker
I think you nailed it with your first sentence: “The interesting thing about the Kahn academy is that its success or failure rides on whether students find it useful, not on what anyone else thinks about it.”
Some people here though believe that people aren’t smart enough to do this evaluation. They also think there is a capitalist, corporate conspiracy that will use its money and influence to delude the public and make them THINK Khan’s work is great when, its really is terrible (in the eyes of those who feel they know better).
I believe people are smart enough to figure this out on their own. It’s already happening and people seem to be finding Khan’s work very helpful and useful and they are speaking up when its not and he is taking the feedback.
I do believe that people who reject ALL of Khan’s work and similar work of others – past, present and future – are simply going to be bypassed by it. It will not put public education and teachers out of business and I am glad that it won’t. It will change the meaning of “teacher” and “public education” in profound ways.
I believe the best outcome is the one whereby teachers are a big part of this change and are a productive part of this change. To me that means embracing what is great, helping to make the parts that are good or so-so much better, and give feedback on the parts that are truly bad (or creating a better replacement).
My fear is that educators may reject Khan-like work in total and just say nyet to any use of it in any scenario. If the answer is a full-scale no, we will have a situation like we have today with much of Federal education policy – educators will be sidelined and painted as out of touch and will have virtually no impact on policy or content. That would be a very, very bad outcome.
Michael, you’ve made my point for me. Your value judgement doesn’t matter and won’t matter. Nor does mine. Intelligent people will reach their own conclusions. We don’t need gatekeepers. We don’t need high priests of knowledge. We don’t need anyone to save us from ourselves.
I have found many good uses for Khan content. I have many supporters among educators, parents, and students and most of these people are very bright. When you say they are consuming McDonalds food, they laugh at your smugness.
You have decided that the only use for Khan’s work is “for ideas on how NOT to teach a topic.” Let’s compare notes in a year and see how that’s going.
When I saw his first videos, I really, really wanted to like them.
Fact is that, actually, *many* teachers and others have pointed out pretty fundamental errors and they have been summarily ignored. For instance, he states that two times one is “two plus it self, times one.” Last time I checked, two plus two was four. He repeats that error throughout his videos. He calls multiplication problems “sums” and mixes in algebra with basic arithmetic. He says pithy things like “I know this is confusing, but it’s so it will make sense later.”
He is trashing teachers — whole cloth and our whole job– by putting one-off videos stating that no, he doesn’t really think about what he’s going to say… and letting it be passed off as revolutionary and wonderful and better than what teachers work hard to do.
I am not ashamed to “trash” a whole body of work with such consistently abysmal standards that trashes me. My students deserve better for the millions given to fund that project.
Michael,
I will point out the response. If you are interested, here is another link to some advice he gave to a student who found his teachers telling him not to study advanced mathematics:
http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/167294/am-i-too-young-to-learn-more-advanced-math-and-get-a-teacher/167306#167306
Backpack TV video response to Mystery Teacher Theater 2000 and in defense of Sal Khan and Khan Academy.
For a critique of the statistics videos, take a look at this post:
http://learnandteachstatistics.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/khan-not-good/
Math teachers should pump the brakes on the pride and give it a shot…chances make champions.
I heard a number of good things about the Khan Academy until I looked at some of the videos myself. I work with a group of kids at an area chess club, and one of the mothers who home schooled two boys asked for a recommendation. She had mentioned the Khan Academy, and this led me to do some research since I didn’t feel comfortable recommending the Khan Academy just based on what I had read. I’m really glad that I did.
I think it is sick the way the media heaps outrageous praise on the man of the moment. But as a return to school engineering student, who is taking the second semester in a graduate level course titled “Advanced Engineering Mathematics,” I have found Sal Khan one of the best lecturers on math that I have ever seen. I use him to backstop PhDs who, though they may know their math, have a limited ability to teach it. Perhaps the problem is mine alone, but listening to the comments of fellow students, I don’t think so.
Having taught animation classes myself, and having been a student in many and varied classes over the years, I know that teaching is a skill all its own. Being a Doctor, Masters, or Bachelors, in a field doesn’t seem to insure the ability to teach it. Being a certified teacher doesn’t seem to insure it; neither does being there in person.
I have encountered excellent teachers, (there seems to me a positive correlation with them handing out quality teaching materials that they prepared beforehand,) but many seem to be doing something other than Merrill’s “First Principles of Instruction.” Higher Learning as a whole doesn’t seem to operate according to “First Principles.” Everything is taught in the sterile vacuum of the University. Math professors seem addicted to abstraction. Concrete gut feeling first, then abstract would be my call, but I’m just the student.
As far as one-off videos, I have found those instrumental to understanding the material.
I have a course textbook, littered with errors, that I paid well over one hundred dollars for. I don’t remember that as part of my undergrad experience, years ago. I have had to research and buy my own auxiliary textbooks to paper over the shortcomings of the former. Finding Sal Khan, Dr. Chris Tisdell and the other top tier lecturers has been a welcome relief in a frustrating experience that is taking more time than it ought.
It seems to me that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way we do Higher Learning. We’ve lost something vitally important with the demise of the apprenticeship system; something that we need to recover. But again, I’m just a student.
It is always interesting to see how quickly professionals are to jump in and bash a successful peer. This is not a response to anyone here specifically, but a general comment after reading many, many posts.
A perfect plans badly executed is always than a so so plan run perfectly.
This guy reaches a wide audience. Sometimes that angers the perfect math teacher who doesn’t understand why students in their class don’t like math (or them for that matter). The teacher for whom math always came easy might have seen many great teachers along the way, but they have always had the innate math ability in the first place. They, then, can’t understand the appeal of KA or why everyone is flocking to his programming and think they need to take a stand.
KA teaches to the masses (for the most part AFTER the masses local math program has failed them). Math teachers are not the masses, nor have they been able to effectively teach the masses. I’m not saying it is necessarily their own fault, as resources and teacher education play a massive role in this. This guy has found a way to reach everyone.
If there are math teachers here who have serious issue (issue that ALL math teachers can agree that something he is teaching is seriously flawed), don’t waste your time commenting and complaining here – APPROACH HIM!!!!
Here is really sounds like sour grapes.
…and who is unprofessional now?
The quality of the lectures is good. But it is required for students to do problems on their own. This is missing. So Kahn is good, but should not be relied upon by itself.