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

[Frank O'Connor]

Just when I give up on the world, someone like this appears ...

Happens all the bloody time ...          :)

				Regards,
---
At 4:44 PM +1000 28/6/10, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>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
>
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