[LINK] A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

A global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting
June 27, 2010
By Lisa M. Krieger
http://www.physorg.com/news196868176.html

 From a tiny closet in Mountain View, Calif., Sal Khan is educating the 
globe for free. His 1,516 videotaped mini-lectures -- on topics ranging 
from simple addition to vector calculus and Napoleonic campaigns -- are 
transforming the former hedge fund analyst into a YouTube sensation, 
reaping praise from even reluctant students across the world.

"I'm starting a virtual school for the world, teaching things the way I 
wanted to be taught," explains Khan, 33, the exuberant founder and sole 
faculty member of the nonprofit Khan Academy, run out of his small ranch 
house, which he shares with his wife and infant son.

Khan has never studied education and has no teaching credentials. His 
brief and low-tech videos, created in the corner of his bedroom, are 
made with a $200 Camtasia Recorder, $80 Wacom Bamboo Tablet and a free 
copy of SmoothDraw3 on a home PC.

But every day, his lectures are viewed 70,000 times -- double the entire 
student body of UC Berkeley. His viewers are diverse, ranging from rural 
preschoolers to Morgan Stanley analysts to Pakistani engineers. Since 
its inception in 2006, the Khan Academy website has recorded more than 
16 million page views.

At a time when conventional education is under stress, his project has 
caught the attention of educators and venture capitalists such as John 
Doerr, who just invested $100,000 to help pay Khan's salary.

Jason Fried, CEO of tech company 37signals, said he invested in Khan's 
nonprofit because "the next bubble to burst is higher education. It's 
too expensive. It's too much one-size-fits-all. This is an alternative 
way to think about teaching -- simple, personal, free and moving at your 
own pace."

With a computer science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology and an MBA from Harvard, Khan settled into a lucrative 
position at Sand Hill Road's Wohl Capital Management, while his wife 
studied medicine at Stanford.

Then, his young cousin Nadia started struggling in math. In afternoon 
long-distance conference calls to Louisiana, Khan taught her "unit 
conversions" using Yahoo Doodle as a shared notepad. He wrote 
JavaScripts to generate random algebra problems.

Soon Nadia's brothers and other far-flung family members wanted help, 
too. Frustrated by scheduling tutoring sessions around work, soccer 
schedules and different time zones, he simply posted his talks on YouTube.

"Then somebody searched YouTube for 'greatest common divisor,' " he said 
with a laugh. Web traffic now soars 10 percent a month.

His approach is learn-as-you-go. Students can start anywhere in the 
curriculum. Stumped? Simply stop the video, and repeat. He's off camera 
and conversational. Lessons are bite-size. The modules offer immediate 
feedback -- what's right, what's wrong. There's conceptual progression.

Some lessons -- in math, computer science and physics -- are 
spontaneous, as Khan works from memory. Other topics, such as cellular 
respiration or the Haitian revolution, are more scripted. He immerses 
himself in material, roaming the aisles of the used bookstore 
BookBuyers. When stuck on a question, he calls experts.

"I just ponder things, until they're clear," he said.

So clear that Felix Thibodeau, 11, of Wilmington, N.C., can enjoy math. 
"I think he rocks. I'm studying pre-algebra and I love it," he said in 
an e-mail message to the San Jose Mercury News.

Saudi dentist Fawaz Sait wrote: "He deserves a Nobel Prize."

It's not possible to verify the accuracy of each video. But in their 
testimonials, students say Khan helped them master the material -- 
particularly math.

"I learned more about calculus in the last few hours than in the whole 
of the last semester at university," said Derek Hoy, majoring in 
geological science/geophysics at Australia's University of Queensland. 
"I was almost ready to change majors, because I wasn't understanding a 
lot of the content but am now up to speed."

Khan laughed. "I'm the 'Dear Abby' of math problems. But if you 
understand something, shouldn't you be able to explain it? Isn't that 
the whole point?"

He concedes that "it's a little crazy to want to sneak into a room and 
make math videos. But these are beautiful subjects." To relax, he enjoys 
Isaac Asimov, Jane Austen and the HBO miniseries on John Adams.

"I've already got a beautiful wife, a great son and a house," he said. 
"What else do you need? I get to learn all this stuff. It's what makes 
me happy. Even if I'm forced to drive a used Honda for the rest of my 
life, my great-great-great-grandchildren can learn calculus from these."

Khan's mother is from Calcutta; his father was a pediatrician from 
Bangladesh. His parents divorced when he was 3, and his father died when 
he was only 13. By high school, he was growing up in a New Orleans 
suburb with a hardworking single mother and a fiercely protective elder 
sister.

Valedictorian of his high school class, with a perfect math SAT score, 
he always regretted the way educators failed to show the beauty of what 
they taught.

He dreams of a world free of dense textbooks, crowded lecture halls and 
bored students. Even children in developing nations can learn on a $200 
refurbished PC.

"There's no higher social return on investment," he said. "We can 
educate a million kids, for all time. We can build a lecture library 
that continues to deliver. This is the operating system for a whole new 
school."

More information: Sal Khan's topics include math, chemistry, physics, 
biology, finance and history. Several modules cover material in the 
California Standards Test in Algebra I and II. See them at 
http://www.khanacademy.org
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/khanacademy

(c) 2010, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
email:	 brd at iimetro.com.au
website: www.drbrd.com