Kahn Flips Classroom Instructional Design

Back in the last century when interactive multimedia training was in its infancy, the handwriting was on the wall.  Here was a technology that promised to provide learning experience to all, whether school children or professional adults seeking to improve their skills.  It might be used anywhere a playback machine could be located whether in an office, school, or at home.

I had visions of walk-in learning centers in every neighborhood much like the fast-food chains.  Walk in with some change and you could operate the interactive machines to take a college course or hone your own professional skills.  Of course this was before the Internet.  With the arrival of the Worldwide Web, universal anywhere anytime education became a reality.  You can now take those courses at home or at a coffee shop.

Enter the Kahn Academy.  an educational site created by Salman Khan.  Khan has created online video lessons on a wide variety of topics.  They can be, and are being used in schools at no cost to the teacher or students.  That, thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the Gates Foundation.

According to an article in Wired Magazine the Kahn Academy is turning classroom education on its ear.

Initially, (classroom teacher) Thordarson thought Khan Academy would merely be a helpful supplement to her normal instruction. But it quickly become far more than that. She’s now on her way to “flipping” the way her class works. This involves replacing some of her lectures with Khan’s videos, which students can watch at home. Then, in class, they focus on working problem sets. The idea is to invert the normal rhythms of school, so that lectures are viewed on the kids’ own time and homework is done at school. It sounds weird, Thordarson admits, but this flipping makes sense when you think about it. It’s when they’re doing homework that students are really grappling with a subject and are most likely to need someone to talk to. And now Thordarson can tell just when this grappling occurs: Khan Academy provides teachers with a dashboard application that lets her see the instant a student gets stuck.

 “I’m able to give specific, pinpointed help when needed,” she says.

The result is that Thordarson’s students move at their own pace. Those who are struggling get surgically targeted guidance, while advanced kids like Carpenter rocket far ahead; once they’re answering questions without making mistakes, Khan’s site automatically recommends new topics to move on to. Over half the class is now tackling subjects like algebra and geometric formulas. And even the less precocious kids are improving: Only 3 percent of her students were classified as average or lower in end-of-year tests, down from 13 percent at midyear.

 Looks like online interactive apps could become an integral tool for education.  The instant student feedback for the teacher might even subvert the current emphasis on test scores.