Education Review: Web site offering free math lessons catches on ‘like wildfire’

By Julie Rasicot

Here’s how Salman Khan thinks schools should work: Students should learn lessons online and do homework and projects in class.

(Courtesy of Khan Academy) - An example of a science concept as presented on the online Khan Academy.

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This “flipping” of the traditional classroom is the operating system espoused by Khan and his Khan Academy, a Web site whose popularity is exploding as millions tune into its free videos, practice exercises and assessment tools.

Khan’s videos provide basic tutorials, mostly in math and science, which students can watch repeatedly in class or at home and pause if they need to — something that can’t happen with a classroom lecture. Teachers are then free to work individually with students and be more creative.

And that, Khan says, enables class time to be “an optimal experience for students and teachers.”

Recently hailed as revolutionary by Bill Gates, Google and some in the media, the concept is gaining traction among educators. Teachers view the site as a useful tool to individualize learning, says Dennis Van Roekel, who taught for 23 years and now is president of the National Education Association.

“Our members see it as something that really does help students,” he said. “Everybody doesn’t learn at the same pace. But once you’ve got it, you’ve got it.”

Karen Cator, director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, says Khan automated “something that is so recognizable in our view of education: I have to solve problems, and somebody has to tell me how to do that.”

“It has caught on like wildfire,” Cator added.

Since Khan first posted math videos on YouTube to tutor his cousins in 2004, the former hedge fund analyst has expanded his video library to 2,400 lessons that include basic addition, advanced calculus, history and science. Users also can access exercises and track their progress.

Based in California’s Silicon Valley, the Khan Academy was established as a nonprofit organization in 2008. Its lessons have been viewed by more than 60 million users, the Web site says, and are being translated into 10 languages. Khan estimates the Web site is being used in more than 1,000 classrooms nationwide, including in a pilot math program in two fifth- and seventh-grade classes in the Los Altos, Calif., public schools last year. The district plans to expand the pilot program to all fifth- and sixth-grade classes this fall.

Khan, who quit his job in finance in 2009 to serve as the academy’s executive director, views the academy as a stand-alone virtual classroom. “That’s what our mission is: a world-class education for everyone that’s free,” he said.

There’s no doubt that the Khan Academy’s videos, narrated enthusiastically by Khan himself, have struck a chord among students and educators as well as the independent learners who make up the majority of the site’s visitors. Users only hear Khan’s voice; he never appears on screen, and he uses neon colors to write on a computer blackboard.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is a fan; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made a $1.5 million donation to the academy in 2010. In a video posted on the academy Web site, Gates says he sees Khan as a pioneer in the movement to use technology to educate people. “It’s the start of a revolution,” Gates says. Google awarded the academy $2 million that year for winning a crowd-sourced contest offering money to organizations with world-changing ideas.