Monday, March 28, 2011

sal khan



interesting in q&a -
doesn't see crowd sourcing on video based lecture
 possibly but would have to be consistent with their brand

to get people to do the homework - best way is to track it or to gamifying it
1000's of people's behavior has changed with badges
5th graders went into code to find out how many pts needed to get badges

could you make this work for grammar, writing or competition
sal thinks grammar is perfect for it
writing and competition is much more activity based, so doesn't see it as much

another asked how to help -
and they all agreed - can't have everyone doing videos... they might not be good
so how can they help..
money
modules on grammar, etc, translations

how much prep:
try to prepare my brain, but not script my lecture

currently khan is in families where one parent is in ed.. or google families
he thinks once khan exists.. catalyst for laptops and broadband

cool that he says no grade levels..

how do you dance around copyright?
i have a very loose interpretation of fair use
listed places he has taken something from and then said...
i wouldn't take something from mcgraw hill and do it..

motivation problem
allow them to do it at their own pace - no embarrassment, allow them to get badges for motivation...
learning styles are a myth, there's actually good instruction and bad instruction  (?)
making sure there's enough material out there that responds to different types of learners (?)

how have you been able to tap into unschoolers, sadbury schools, because general concepts are not new
mastery-based learning, mastering something before you move on..

when people watch a lecture they zone out after 10 min...

huge amount of research, just didn't exist because it wasn't practical until now..
[how is this practical? seems like people using it are using it just to get the curriculum done..]

khan academy - finally we have something that is something to do with the tech in the classroom... (?)

encountered any resistence? no.

now 5th graders who aren't doing the chain rule, and parents are getting worried

can college be disrupted - google could play a big role in that
best students are already using khan academy, so spend 6 mos at google, or wherever, do a series of projects, they are essentially your transcript, instead of paying tuition, we'll pay you
(interesting there - like our - college is quasi career, hatcheries)
faculties become the ceo's, kids don't pay to go to school, they get paid to go..

how do you do the next level of deep understanding
simulation based - ie: some unlock
maybe oral exams - to get to next level, have a skype oral exam... -

clear how this helps at elementary level, but worried about curriculum at higher levels..

you've cut the feedback loop here... is that a problem?
that would get closer to the peer to peer writing thing
i'm scared that this is going to be so successful it is going to dumb down the curriculum. so easy for teachers..
for bad teachers - they will at least get better at tests
for good teachers - khan has your back on that - we can go deeper in class

changes the convo at the dinner table when parents are doing the same math problems

is there a chance kids are gaming the system... just figuring out the game? are they retaining?
yes - but we are watching them... they sight the gaming and they continue to ask previous questions
have to add more modules to make sure people are understanding rather than just getting the mechanics

how do you assess, label kids, because people are expecting that?
khan thinks it's a good idea to have standardized tests, but do them when you are ready for them
a lot of people, when you say no grades, it's touchy feeling, the opposite is true, everyone should want 100% mastery... if you go through all of it and still don't know when to use it, what good is the non-mastery
if we say you know this... you know it at the A - level.


very interesting...

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