Khan Academy

nvestysly

nvestysly

Full time employment: Posting here.
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I saw an interesting segment on 60 Minutes discussing Khan Academy. In general... Khan Academy is a non-profit, online learning tool covering a variety of subjects so almost anything can be learned for free.

Apparently teachers in California and other states are using Khan software tools to aid their presentations and classroom time. I am very intrigued by their methods.

Khan was apparently started by a person (last name Khan) helping a relative (a niece I think) learn math skills via YouTube. It grew from there and Khan, a hedge fund manager, quit his day job to devote his efforts to the web site.

Maybe all this is old news but I immediately went to the web site www.khanacademy.org to learn more.

Today I've been spending time reviewing economics/finance and plan to watch a series of the videos. I'm also curious to see what Khan has to say about the government bailouts and stimulus plans - he has videos on both subjects.
 
Hedge fund managing must not pay as much any more.
 
I saw that too and checked them out last night. I've taken several already on electrons and orbitals. I liked chemistry in high school in the late 60's. In the mid 80's I was helping my ex wife with a chemistry course she was taking for nursing and I was shocked at how different this subject was in 20 years. I again am surprised how they now have d, p, and f orbits and how the electrons fill these. It is strictly for my amusement, I won't use it but I like science.
 
nvestysly said:
I saw an interesting segment on 60 Minutes discussing Khan Academy. In general... Khan Academy is a non-profit, online learning tool covering a variety of subjects so almost anything can be learned for free.
Click to expand...
Our college daughter swears by that free tool as an augment to the professors who the Navy is paying to teach her physics & chemistry.

I think Khan Academy got a nice writeup in the book "Abundance", too.
 
veremchuka said:
I saw that too and checked them out last night. I've taken several already on electrons and orbitals. I liked chemistry in high school in the late 60's. In the mid 80's I was helping my ex wife with a chemistry course she was taking for nursing and I was shocked at how different this subject was in 20 years. I again am surprised how they now have d, p, and f orbits and how the electrons fill these. It is strictly for my amusement, I won't use it but I like science.
Click to expand...
Chemistry and I tolerated each other. :LOL:
In HS, I think I was afraid of my not quite attentive [-]thinking of boys[/-] classmates leaving the bunsen burners going or combining the wrong stuff together and sending us all to the Moon. :(
I majored in Physics in college. I had to take Chem 101 and Chem 102, with labs of course. I felt safer then. :D
It wasn't until I took Atomic & Nuclear Physics that it all clicked together.
I am hoping for some Geology courses to appear at the Khan site. That is the really fun stuff. :dance:
 
That episode makes me want to tryout some of these learning modules. This is the type of ingenuity in education that has been needed for a very long time and for Khan, I'm sure its far more rewarding than being a hedge fund manager.
 
One of the things I hope to do once I ER is to visit Khan Academy regularly. (I already have it bookmarked in my favorites.) In an attempt to keep my mind sharp, I want to do a couple of lessons every week and explore different subject matters.

I recently read up on his explanation of the how and why of the U.S. electoral college system.
 
My grandson's grade school us using some modules and as the school is in the Silicon Valley doubtless technology professionals are evaluating its effectiveness.
 
Yea! And now that I'm retired - there is no test. There is no test.

:dance:

heh heh heh - learning as a fun thing - just imagine. ;)
 
You might also be interested in Coursera. They are offering free online college courses, I just signed up for one and there are 33 THOUSAND students in my class. Yowza.

SIS
 
Very cool site. Thanks for sharing. Guess this old dog can learn something new! Also can't resist this...

KHAAAAAAN! - YouTube
 
Remember, back in the day, when we were college freshmen and were in lectures with over 150 students? An on-line course has got to be better.

Our school systems need to figure out how to do more, better, cheaper education where hands on teachers are learning coaches.
 
Brat said:
Remember, back in the day, when we were college freshmen and were in lectures with over 150 students?
Click to expand...

That's why I started at a community college. Mr. Booth got me through calculus in a class of about 20 students. It was hard for me and I visited him several times to help me understand the subject, complete assignments and prepare for exams.

After I got my associates degree, I transferred to the big college but then I was in my major so most classes were specialized and I still had some face time with the professors.

Love the community college system. Particularly for folks like DH and I that paid for our education out of pocket with no assistance.

BTW, Dr. Jill Biden is a professor at my old community college. Please - no politics - just let me be a bit proud!

 
Purron said:
That's why I started at a community college. Mr. Booth got me through calculus in a class of about 20 students. It was hard for me and I visited him several times to help me understand the subject, complete assignments and prepare for exams.

After I got my associates degree, I transferred to the big college but then I was in my major so most classes were specialized and I still had some face time with the professors.

Love the community college system. Particularly for folks like DH and I that paid for our education out of pocket with no assistance.

BTW, Dr. Jill Biden is a professor at my old community college. Please - no politics - just let me be a bit proud!
Click to expand...

Ditto.

heh heh heh - Lower Columbia JC. :cool: Calculus was my nemesis also.
 
Last edited:
Yes, it is old news but it is a very interesting enterprise. It started getting some significant funding from the Bill Gates Foundation recently.

Last April I put on a class titled "Synthetic Biology and Social Ethics". The class was designed for the general public. I used a couple of the Kahn Academy lesson videos as supplemental materials for the course.
 
Continue to be Amazed!

I've been watching videos on finance, astronomy, and now going on to health/drugs/Medicare/Medicaid and I'm amazed at the variety of discussions available on Khan Academy.

The only thing I can think of that's equivalent is TED. As much as I like TED... Khan is my new favorite shiny thing.
 
Bill Gates has said good things about Khan. But, in spite of that, I like what he has done. Great for basics and remedial work.
 
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