I tried the Khan Academy
Posted by David Wees on Oct 17, 2011
As an experiment, I started out the beginning of this year and tried flipping my classroom, but with a slight twist: I have extra instructional time, so students were to watch the instructional videos (from the Khan Academy and IBVodcasting.com) during classroom time. We spent about 1/3 of classtime using the Khan Academy videos and exercises, about 1/3 doing problem solving activities (like what is available on www.mathpickle.com and projecteuler.net), and the rest of the time attempting to put the knowledge we were learning into a useful context for the students. While students were involved in these activities, I spent my time circulating the classroom and providing individual and small group support and instruction.
After a month I ended my experiment and am currently in a state of transition while I explore other possible ways of running my classroom. Here are some of the reasons I ended it.
- Some students chose, despite repeated requests from me, to only watch videos and do exercises that were really easy for them, instead of advancing their knowledge. One student said "she liked the easy videos because it was easy to get points." Another student said she chose the easy exercises because "she was worried about getting problems wrong." These students were more focused on getting easy points and avoiding challenges than learning.
- Some of my students ignored the point system of the Khan Academy and focused on learning, but found that the information from the Khan Academy wasn't challenging enough. When given practice questions from the course content, they found that the Khan Academy style questions didn't adequately prepare them. This was partially addressed for these students by switching to the IBVodcasting.com videos, since they are more difficult.
- A few students were able to "master" the content in the Khan Academy exercises after watching a few of the videos, but were unable to transfer what they had learned to any other context, and when queried in more depth, lacked basic understand of what they were learning. For example, they could solve problems like log10 + log2 = log20, but had no idea how to find the value of log20 in terms of p and q when log10 = p and log2 = q.
I'm hoping to implement the RME model and looking for resources that will help support the course curriculum I'm required to cover in the International Baccalaureate program. If I can't find resources to support this, I'm switching back to my style where I spend some time with students doing experiments in math, some time working on practice problems, and some time with me explaining mathematical concepts. I'm definitely not using the Khan Academy videos again (but I will probably use the IBVodcasting.com videos as additional support for students).
See this Slideshare presentation for a description of what the RME model looks like.
What is Realistic Mathematics Education? National Mathematics Conference Swakopmund
View more presentations from jdewaard
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About David
David is a mathematics teacher and a learning specialist for technology at Stratford Hall in Vancouver, BC. He has been teaching since 2002, and has worked in Brooklyn, London, and Bangkok before moving back to Canada. He has his Masters degree in Educational Technology from UBC, and is the co-author of a mathematics textbook. He has been published in ISTE's Leading and Learning, Educational Technology Solutions, The Software Developers Journal, The Bangkok Post and Edutopia. He blogs with the Cooperative Catalyst, and is the Assessment group facilitator for Edutopia. He has also helped organize the first Edcamp in Canada, and TEDxKIDS@BC.
Disclaimer: The ideas discussed on this blog are my own, and in no way represent those of my employer.
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Comments
Action Research
David,
I thank you for your action research approach to finding best practices in teaching. It is a true inspiration to us all who value the advancement to teaching and learning. You have provided an excellent model of exactly what teachers should be doing -- trying new approaches and reflecting on the outcome.
Cheers and thank!
Tim
@tsbray
Thanks for the post. I tried
Thanks for the post. I tried the exact same thing with my grade 8s, with similar results. They found the videos too boring (maybe too long?) and the problem sets are good practice, but I pity the child who needs a lot of extra practice as Khan just keeps giving problems until they get a 'streak'. Some ended up doing 40+ problems per set!They were very diligent about it all but I think I will try something different for the next unit.
Hillary
@hdaniels11
Alternative to Khan Academy
Hi David,
Love reading your blog. Also agree with the fact that Khan academy is better for prepping for test questions as opposed to inspiring students or communicating deep ideas. I recently started a project which is a long form series on important problems which have existed through time. However, I have been posting short, cinematic (no whiteboards, no boring drawings!) 1-3 minute videos from the long episode which explain important concepts such as possibility space, randomness, prime factorization...etc
I'm really hoping to get some feedback from an inspired teacher such as yourself who could test run a video for a class in order to inspire debate or exploration into a lesson. I see video as a way to "open a door" to a students mind. If they can, for example, understand probability using dimensions it might change their thought process forever. It happened to me!
Would love to hear from you. You can check out some recent videos. I'm on youtube under www.youtube.com/artoftheproblem
Keep up the great work,
Brit
Argument for a Flipped Class?
Hey David-
I think this is a really interesting post because it is one of the first that I have seen that actually tries Khan Academy before being pro or against its use. I would like to argue, though, that this is also a fantastic argument against blind implementation of someone else's "stuff" and a non-example of how to run a flipped classroom.
Learners want to see their teacher, not hear someone else's voice. I think if you had used videos made personally, you would have had a different result. This is also a great example against using videos for straight content delivery. They should be supplemental to the coursework and should NOT be awarded points.
The flipped classroom is NOT synonymous with Khan Academy and I think this is a great piece for that argument. Real learning comes from relationships with learners and opportunities for continued growth and application of material. Video in a flipped classroom, whoever produces it, should not be the central tenet to its success.
Thanks for posting,
Brian
Good point, Brian. But I
Good point, Brian. But I wonder how many teachers have the time and ability to make quality educational videos?
There are other models...
I agree with Brian. I would necessarily dismiss the idea of the flipped instruction based on the these videos. Every good "flipper" that I know is constantly evaluating and revising their methods to meet the needs of their class. Also consider that there are different flipped models. If you haven't seen it already, check out flipteaching.com and click on "models". There is so much more to flipped instruction than just watching and/or making videos. So much so that you can do it without using videos at all.
oops, typo...."would" should "wouldn't"
It should have read, "I wouldn't necessarily dismiss...."
Hi Troy, I haven't abandoned
Hi Troy,
I haven't abandoned "flip" teaching yet. I'm just looking at alternatives, but I've definitely abandoned the Khan Academy.
David
David, I agree
David,
I agree wholeheartedly. I think Khan Academy has made incredible strides in opening access to all but it is a far cry from replacing teachers or best practices.
I documented my use of ALEKS here: http://www.brokenairplane.com/2011/03/aleks-math-software-for-differenti... and here http://www.brokenairplane.com/2011/05/aleks-math-qualitative-and-quantit...
Unlike Khan, ALEKS learns from how students are doing and adjusts so it is never too difficult that they shut down and never too easy that they coast.
That being said, there was still the ALEKS: Black Hole as we referred to it where a student could still game the system. This was reduced if not eliminated through data tracking made possible through the reports (which are also available in Khan) to ensure progress was made.
Most importantly, I met with each student every two weeks to see how they were progressing as well as observing them as they would work in class. Sometimes, they would say, "It's too hard" and I would remind them that's why I am here to support them.
Without a software like that, I was unable to differentiate my instruction to the degree which I did. If it is used well, these technologies allow us to be the teacher/mentor we want to be, but they are not the "classroom in a box" that some make them out to be.
Time to make videos
I've been experimenting with flipped classrooms and Khan academy video approaches too but have mixed it slightly differently. I split my class into small groups and then asked them to come up with their own "Khan Academy" slide using the IW we have at school and screencast-o-matic.
We did this as a revision piece at the end of a topic and then rated each other's pieces: how well did it explain the process ...
This is from some 10 year olds on number machines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlUH8t796jg&feature=player_embedded#!
It's slow, needs some tech input but really engaged the kids and when we introduced algebra they immediately made the link to number machines.
Also, for each topic, I could set various revision bites I needed them to explain, so that I could stretch them.
Thanks for your informal research and honest reporting
David,
I appreciated reading how you implemented your idea of a "flipped classroom," your students' reactions to the Khan videos, and why you decided to use a different model in the future. You are a role model for all teachers in your honest sharing and reporting.
I also enjoyed reading the many comments left by fellow educators. There are so many intelligent, dedicated, and creative teachers out there who are still striving to increase their effectiveness in meeting the needs of their students!
Sincerely,
Scotti Glasgow
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