The fundamental ideas of the Khan web site are:That paradigm can produce education without teachers or coaches, given a self-motivated learner. Given teacher or coach, the Khan web site maximizes the utility of the teacher by
define the topics of an education.
- break the topics down into bite-sized chunks which can be explicated in 10 minutes.
- make the 10-minute videos, in an informal, respectful way which doesn’t patronize or intimidate the learner.
- make the videos available free, and make it easy to view and review them.
- provide drill and practice.
- reinforce concentration and full learning.
The Khan paradigm allows for self-pacing and for any exogenous motivation the teacher can provide. But the signal benefit of Khan is that you aren’t paying teachers to “reinvent the wheel” by doing lectures which are inherently one-size-fits-nobody. The lectures are done once, but the auditing of those lectures is unlimited.
- provide the teacher with detailed information about the needs of each student.
The Khan Academy provides one particular lecture from one particular lecturer for each topic. In principle the paradigm would be unchanged if there were multiple lectures from multiple lecturers are available for each topic. I don’t claim that, in principle, no lecture by Khan can be excelled by any other lecturer. But with his free lecture Khan provides a minimum which any other lecturer must seek to at least in some sense excel, in order that his lecture be worth anyone’s attention.
The benefit of the canned lecture which is free and readily paused and repeated makes live, in-person lectures difficult to justify - especially if it comes at the expense of scarce student-teacher direct interaction. Let other lecturers assay to excel the utility of the Salman Khan lecture, by all means. But don’t expect the live lecture to ever fit the student as well as the canned lecture which the student views when, as, and if he needs it.
The Kahn web site is also being used in tutor centers and math labs at many colleges and as supplementary material in K - 12 schools. And of course many students find their own way there.