Chances are if you are a high school student living in Canada, or really anywhere in North America, you have at least once heard about Khan Academy. Whether it was because you were fruitlessly trying to understand the recent lesson on organic chemistry, or simply reviewing (or cramming) for a math test the day after, Khan Academy’s collection of videos can come in handy for anyone.
For anyone who does not know about Khan Academy, or simply wishes to learn more, it is a non-profit organization focused on accessible education for everyone. It provides free video tutorials and interactive exercises for a wide range of subjects, ranging from simple addition to an in-depth look into the carbon cycle. The organization even declared its mission was “changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere.”. To this day, they have not disappointed.
Originally a hedge fund manager, Salman Khan created his first video to help his young cousin with her math. With three degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard, Khan found he was able to create short, informal lessons very quickly using something as simple as the Yahoo Doodle notepad. He quickly amassed a large following on Youtube and started to even receive financial support from Bill Gates’s charitable foundation, once the man found out Khan’s videos were helping his son learn. In the present day, Khan Academy has a dedicated professional staff headed by the founder with contributions coming from Google as well as the Elon Musk Foundation. It has a growing number of volunteers who lend their expertise to create lessons in new subject areas, continuously improving and updating their videos and website.
Khan Academy now has thousands of videos posted so internet users can fill in almost any of their “gaps” with the content on this site. While the lessons were conceived primarily for distance learning, they are also suitable for use in the classroom. The tutorials themselves are informal in style and simply organized for building knowledge on one concept at a time. Many of the lessons are even delivered as electronic backboard talks by someone who has a definite passion for their topic. The topics are made in easily-digestible 10-20 minute chunks, specially made for the purpose of learning by a computer rather than being a longer video of a conventional “physical” lecture. The videos have a conversational style of teaching that serves as such an antithesis to what is typically associated with math and science instructions. Not only that but because of this style of teaching, students can learn at their own pace from anywhere with internet, as opposed to strictly a classroom setting. These slight distinctions are what make Khan Academy such a precious resource to so many students.
If my own word is not enough, there have been multiple studies that have discovered that Khan Academy produces a higher positive effect on student math performance (which is the subject that the organization first created videos for) than other comparison groups. The Academy is even associated with increased Accuplacer algebra test scores and higher course pass rates.
This is a style of teaching that has only recently been explored upon during the lockdowns, in which schools across the world shut down, and learning was moved online. Despite this, Khan Academy has been popular for years and has been helping students for even longer. The mission of the organization is a noble one, and it is one that I and many other students across the country are grateful for.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
– Nelson Mandela