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Tutoring his younger cousin over the internet results in a revolution in education.
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Students totally understand a concept or receive coaching before moving forward.
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Listen to a video. Feel the excitement.
Starting in 2004, Salman Khan started tutoring his younger cousin, Nadia in math. This was the beginning of a revolution reinventing education.
Sal Khan’s Khan Academy’s motto is, “A free world-class education for anyone, anywhere.” His not-for profit organization offers tutorials for free for everyone with internet access.
THE BACKGROUND STORY:
Sal Khan started tutoring Nadia over the internet when she needed help with math. This lead to him tutoring other relatives and friends. As it became demanding on his time, he started posting videos on YouTube.
He came to realize that his videos were more popular than his real life tutoring. Students found they could repeat segments until they thoroughly understood the concepts. These videos became so popular that he quit his full time job at a hedge fund in 2009. He then created the tutorials full time at the Khan Academy.
Sal struggled financially at first. Eventually his non-profit organization has gained backing from many philanthropic organizations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, and many others.
THE RESULTS:
At first their videos were mainly about mathematics. Following the expansion of their faculty, they now offer courses in subjects such as: art history, astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer programming, computer science, cosmology, economics, finance, healthcare, history, medicine, music, and physics. In addition, their materials are available in many languages such as videos which are available in 65 languages.
Sal Khan informs us that we do not build our students foundations properly. We move them up to the next level of a subject before they fully comprehend the previous level. This means that ultimately they are doomed to fail. They did not thoroughly understand the basic concepts.
With Sal’s approach the student learns each concept thoroughly. They demonstrate their knowledge in tests at each level. Until they pass that level they do not move to the next level. If a student is not comprehending a concept, this is flagged.
In schools that are adopting this approach, the teacher or a competent student will coach the struggling student. This allows teachers to assist those who are in more dire need of assistance. Sal states that they have discovered an approach that will revolutionize the education system.
LEARN MORE:
To learn more, you can watch Salman Khan’s TedTalk on the subject filmed March 2011 at TED2011.
If you watch the video, you will likely feel the excitement of what Sal Khan has created. They have changed the classroom so that the children work at their own pace. They get tutoring when they need assistance. It is exciting.
Now this brings me to the communication and leadership skills that our youth need. My question is, how can we assist our youth with some of the modern tools that are available?
Perhaps we set can set up groups where the students could share their communication and leadership skills online?
I think face to face communication is of primary importance, but there may be additional ways that we could hold online coaching sessions as well.
What do you think? Any and all ideas are welcome. Please share your comments.
If you wish to discuss how people can become involved with youth coaching groups, please contact me.
Wishing you lots of love and laughter, as always.
Fred Jones
Victoria, BC Canada
Fred Jones