Maybe some of you know about Khan Academy - the non-profit education organisation that had delivered more than 1 billion lessons worldwide, and is used by 40 million students and 2 million teachers every month. The reason this company was created is simple: our educational system could be better than it is now. And that’s what this TED speech is about.
- What is your opinion about the education system in our schools and universities?
- Have you used this service before?
As a bonus - a short video from Khan Academy:
Comments
It is said that there will be a lot of "real" knowledge at the universities. Sad fact is that it's not true. Most lectures are useless. It's hard to say why it's so. Someone may say that courses are to general, sometimes not up-to-date and made by people that never worked in industry they teach about.
I quite often use sites like Khan Academy, Udemy, Udacity etc. They are great, but in my opinion only for beginners. Tutorials are good choice for learning basics, so if it's your reason to use it, you will probably be satisfied.
Every try of creating place where knowledge is free is a good thing. It may help people that can not afford books and still want to learn how to program etc.
In Khan Academy some subjects like math, physics and chemistry contain a lot of materials for intermediate and advanced levels as well as for beginners. But, for example, there are only JavaScript courses for programming - maybe because there are a lot of other services that are already provide good materials on this subject.
Btw, which topics are you interested in on those services?
2. I have never used this service before.
I have heard somewhere about Khan Academy but I've never checked this service.
We put too much emphasis on memorization and not enough on understanding, processing complex information and creative problem solving. We have overcrowded classes (which is also a problem for teachers) and no good solutions for delivering education to overachievers and underachievers. The students are not encouraged to think freely and individually. I think each of us has some more or less traumatic experiences from school ("Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone"). Practically, the education system as we have it is less about education and more about having a place to keep the kids while the parents are busy working.
I can't comment on Polish public universities, because I don't have a first hand experience. From what I heard from past Polish public universities' students who later went to study to get MSc in PJATK our lecturers are much more encouraging and open to work with students. It reminds me of Canadian universities (I studied there) where a lecturer's main job is to teach, inspire and motivate students the best way they can, not to be a prima donna.
I have heard about Khan Academy before, but I have not used their service.
I have used Khan Academy, because is exceptionally helpful when It comes to understanding complex and counterintuitive subjects. However, I do not recommend it as a main source of knowledge, as it explains theory on very basic level just enough to grasp a subject.
I have never used Khan Academy but I use other online courses to acquire new skills and extend my knowledge.
The other thing I don't like is splitting students into groups by age. In my opinion, every student should have individual teaching approach.
I used such service only once. It seems to be good option for beginners.
No, I haven't used it yet but no doubt I will use it someday
Nope i have never used this service.
There is only one part of our education system I don't like. Teachers are not paid enough. We end up having people who don't want to teach and can't even sort out their own lives and they come with these problems to schools. It affects pupils, students other teachers and the whole sector.
There is no way of developing a perfect education. Everyone needs something else and this is why I believe whining and grumbling about everything that is wrong actually makes it wrong. So we can move forward or talk more.
This requires a curious mindset, and this mindset takes time to develop. For some people, school just passes by too quickly to fully grasp all the concepts to enjoy them.
For example, some students somehow think that even if you "get" the material, a 100% should be for the birthright gods of the subject.
So, a lot of people think they are somehow genetically not suited for education, but the truth is that if you have a functioning brain, you can almost learn anything, as long as you have the desire.
Unfortunately I have to agree with the content of the video. In Poland, the teaching system is quite weak. It often happens that there is a multitude of theoretical material. Then we do not have enough time to practice. The second thing is that even a teacher who has a knowledge is not able to explain in easy way for students. Sal Khan is right. Even if we know 95% of the material what about the remaining 5%? These 5% in the future make the difference.
Unfortunately I have not used KhanAcademy yet, but today I will visit this site.
I've used some Khans Academy and I liked it. Great place, wonderful philosophy, idea.
I've never used this kind of service.
But as an addiction to the academic model, it's ok. I personally did similar stuff. I watched some videos on YouTube before tests, because I couldn't understand lectures. And it worked well for me.
And there are some services like Coursera or other, where you can get courses, learn them. The courses are provided by Universities. And you have a choice. You can buy the course and after finishing it get a certificate. Or you can only listen to the course and that's all. Many people choose the first option.
When it comes to schools, it’s worse. You need to learn things that you’re not interested in, for example: learning chemistry, biology etc. when you would like to be a programmer is strictly for the birds. Secondly, one teacher for too many students - it’s a big problem too.
No, I have never used Khan Academy, but I know it and it seems great for beginners.
I've never heard about that service.
I haven’t used this service ever before, but I will definitely read some more out it.
I never used mentioned service.
As for this service I didn't use it, but maybe I will in the future.
Yes, I've used Khan Academy when I was studying for my physics exams in high school.
I've only heard about Khan Academy but never used it. May I will check few courses after reading your article.
I think we have great education level. Many things we learnt we forgot and that is completely true but sometimes it is more important to achieve a goal and raise a bar in our life.
Have you used this service before?
Never heart of it.
Its good for basics, but it's more like "HERE- just read those books, and you will pass those tests", nothing more but few marks that theoretcially tell other people that you are either smart or dumb, even if you have already forgotten everything and don't know what is 2*2. They don't encourage you to actually pursue the knowledge, just squeeze it in your head, until the next test, then you can forget everything, no one cares.
The same is with universities - I feel like im "as dumb" as when I came here in 2014. In the meantime, I had some episodes during which I really wanted to know some more about some things that seemed interesting for me. Guess what- I didn't have time to actually extend my knowledge on that topic. I just had to learn some other things, and leave behind the ones that were important to me...
>Have you used this service before?
Its one of those e-courses, like udemy and stuff, isn't it? Well- "The real knowledge starts where Google can't give you answers on your question", and usually those courses are nothing but basics...
Thanks to the modern tech however, we can finally adjust to individual needs of each student by providing additional learning materials, for very low costs. We see it on YouTube with a variety of small channels dedicated to making general knowledge videos. But there are also some heavy-hitters, MIT for example owns a YouTube channel where they publish video recordings of all of their courses' lectures for free.
I think this is what the next revolution in education will look like. People having access to sources of knowledge, learning at their own pace, to get the most out of the time spent.