In Marc Prensky’s article for Educational Technology titled “Khan Academy”, he talks about the site created by Salman Khan that provides videos of explanations of lessons (originally starting with math) and has now branched into a variety of subjects. I liked how he praised Khan for not selling out to companies who would want to charge for his services, and instead wants to reach students to help them better understand. I actually do agree that Khan Academy can be seen more as “a beginning” rather than a final solution. I do think that what Khan has done is so helpful for many students (I have looked into it and have gotten great ideas for TA’ing, and my younger brother swears by it). I understood what he meant about this resource being an example of “teaching old things in new ways”, and that we should be striving to find NEW ways to teach material. At the same time, I have found this website to be very helpful and very easy to understand. Then again, I know these methods would not apply to every student, especially when their case is not that they didn’t pay attention but that they simply aren’t interested in the material (especially in the lecture/blackboard format). Overall I agreed with Prensky’s article, and I understand what he says about moving forward, but in general (even without NEW methods of instruction) Khan Academy is an excellent resource for students and teachers.
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