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TITLE
Khan Academy
LEARNING OBJECT
Video tutorials & Interactive exercises
WEBSITE OF THE PRODUCT
NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
Salman Khan
NAME OF PRODUCER
Google
TYPE OF PRODUCT
Web Site/Portal, Mobile Apps
SUBJECT TAUGHT
Math, Chemistry, Natural Science, Biology, Physics
LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE
Basic
TARGET GROUP AGE
14 – 16 years old
TUTORIAL SUPPORT
Yes
DESCRIPTION
Khan Academy is a free online resource for anyone to use. It boasts “a free world-class education for anyone anywhere” (Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy). Students can earn a series of badges as they reach ‘mastery levels’ in different topics in a huge range of subjects. They complete different programs online and have the opportunity to watch short online tutorials to help if there are any areas of difficulty. The teacher acts as a virtual coach to advise which areas need practice. In our world of instant gratification Khan Academy is a fantastic way for students and coaches to see exactly areas of strength and weakness.
It can teach students self-direction, self-motivation and self-reliance, thus encouraging them to become independent learners, full of confidence and active participants in their own journey. Some people may view getting something wrong as failing but Khan Academy views failing as “another word for growing”.
The online tutorials are filled with up to the minute writing to assist the viewer in keeping up with the explanations.
It is a suitable resource for weaker students and extremely bright students. It is very easy to use and very accessible to everyone.
It can teach students self-direction, self-motivation and self-reliance, thus encouraging them to become independent learners, full of confidence and active participants in their own journey. Some people may view getting something wrong as failing but Khan Academy views failing as “another word for growing”.
The online tutorials are filled with up to the minute writing to assist the viewer in keeping up with the explanations.
It is a suitable resource for weaker students and extremely bright students. It is very easy to use and very accessible to everyone.
EXPERT'S COMMENT
I suppose if I am being honest, this is probably a resource more suitable to the more able student. Some of the reasons being that it is not big on colourful graphics and in order to make full use of it, the voice explaining the work has to be listened to very carefully in order to maximise the resource. This is precisely the reason I like it. it is a great support for the independent learner and contains such a huge array of topics all in the one easily accessible area. If you look up a subject on Khan Academy, it will have a section on all topics and a subsection of smaller topics broken down into easy to follow videos. For example, if you want to look at videos pertaining to the atom, it will start off with the atom, go on to atomic structure and continue on again to atomic bonds. Each section builds on the teaching and learning from the previous section. This is my favourite resource for more able students to use.