Facts About the Khan Academy; Four Million Visits in November, Up Four Times From Last Year
1. Over the last month (November), Khan Academy had 4 million unique visits. That’s up from 1 million in the same period last year, and up from 3.5 million in October.
2. The Khan Academy team is currently made up of 22 people, and they’re hiring one more each month on average.
3. 90% of the videos are shot in one take, and 99% are shot in one or two takes.
4. There are now 2,600 individual videos available.
14 Comments:
I just watched the video on Ponzi schemes and noticed two big errors right at the beginning. The perpetrators of the two largest Ponzi schemes in human history were not Charles Ponzi and Bernard Madoff, they were FDR and LBJ. We know theses schemes as Social Security and Medicare.
che says: "The perpetrators of the two largest Ponzi schemes in human history were not Charles Ponzi and Bernard Madoff, they were FDR and LBJ. We know theses schemes as Social Security and Medicare"...
Amen che!
(P.S. Friedman gets pwned by Santelli)
Don't forget to add the third ponzi scheme, Obamacare.
189% of videos are shot in 2 takes or less?
While it's nice that this guy is doing this for free and such online learning is no doubt the future, there are two big problems with Khan Academy. One is that everything is free, so the quality is just not going to be that great. I wouldn't be crowing about doing everything in one take, that's a sign of low quality and cheap, not anything to trumpet. The other big problem is that most of the material is obsolete. Nobody needs to learn calculus these days because there are many software suites that will do it all for you. The future of online learning is in making sure students understand the fundamental concepts behind whatever they are interested in, not the silly steeping in technical detail that most education currently consists of. For example, if one wants to learn the laws of thermodynamics, though they're admittedly fairly useless for most, it is important that they understand the non-mathematical concepts behind it, not the statistics and other math that the software does for us these days and which are still taught cargo-cult style in most schools.
We know why most schools almost exclusively teach the latter, because this massive waste of time is really a jobs program for the sort of mostly second and third-raters that teach. But it is amazing that Khan, who should presumably know better, persists in teaching the same outdated material, that he apparently doesn't realize is fairly useless in our software-drenched age. Of course, there will always be a few who still want to learn worthless subjects like calculus or dead languages like Latin for their own edification, but those few people aren't likely to use free, low-budget lectures like these anyway.
Absolutely right about Social Security. The KA video on Social Security even says that the "trust fund" assets have been "invested" in bonds, so there are assets there to pay benefits until 2040 or thereabouts. Anybody who says that is either an idiot or lying.
My kids use Khan Academy to learn what their teachers are speeding through. One teacher has set half his class on Khan, since they are academically gifted, and very competitive with each other. It's fantastic. It doesn't need bells and whistles. It has exactly everything it needs to do a great, fantastic job. I bless the founder each night in my prayers.
And, are you bug-snot? Kids need to learn math so that they can use it. You don't learn to drive by watching videos. You learn by driving. A base of information is needed to continue exploring the world. If kids were little, ignorant savages, then they could rely only on the ancients, or the better educated to provide for them. That meme- only look stuff up- died an ugly death in the early eighties. It's stinking carcass ( in defense of planned ignorance) ought not be shovelled up.
My kids use Khan Academy to learn what their teachers are speeding through. One teacher has set half his class on Khan, since they are academically gifted, and very competitive with each other. It's fantastic. It doesn't need bells and whistles. It has exactly everything it needs to do a great, fantastic job. I bless the founder each night in my prayers.
And, are you bug-snot? Kids need to learn math so that they can use it. You don't learn to drive by watching videos. You learn by driving. A base of information is needed to continue exploring the world. If kids were little, ignorant savages, then they could rely only on the ancients, or the better educated to provide for them. That meme- only look stuff up- died an ugly death in the early eighties. It's stinking carcass ( in defense of planned ignorance) ought not be shovelled up.
Ariadne, every thing you praise Khan Academy for in your first paragraph is really praise of online videos, there's nothing specific to Khan in your defense. If you think almost anyone uses math these days or that anyone will be driving in a couple decades, you are fairly ignorant of what's going on or around the bend. When was the last time you added up your grocery bill by hand? That's all done by computers these days, which is why even arithmetic is fairly useless now.
Saying obvious things like a "base of information is needed" contributes nothing, you have to say what that base consists of. I've already noted that most math beyond some basic counting is not necessary for 99% of the populace, so you're dead wrong about math. Haha, you think "only look stuff up" died in the "early eighties?" Wow, you are clueless, ever heard of google? That's their entire business model. :D You are deeply confused if you think not knowing math or avoiding reading worthless books like A Tale of Two Cities equals "planned ignorance." Tools like washing machines and calculators exist to do grunt work for us. Insisting that people continue doing those things by hand is luddite ignorance at its worst.
Quote from Sprewell: "Nobody needs to learn calculus these days because there are many software suites that will do it all for you."
You have no idea what you're talking about. Everybody needs to learn calculus. It is the basis of every advanced science. Next will you tell us that nobody needs to learn how to spell or write? Computers can do that, too.
What people don't need to learn is how to grind out long chains of equations by hand, unthinkingly, so they can complete so many problems in the space of a one hour class period. Too much of today's teaching is still living in the 19th century teaching paradigm. It's is too focused on procedures, and not on education.
If you don't know the basic concepts of calculus, or arithmetic, or spelling, or grammar, etc., then you don't know enough to be successful in a modern world.
Quote from Sprewell: "Nobody needs to learn calculus these days because there are many software suites that will do it all for you."
You have no idea what you're talking about. Everybody needs to learn calculus. It is the basis of every advanced science. Next will you tell us that nobody needs to learn how to spell or write? Computers can do that, too.
What people don't need to learn is how to grind out long chains of equations by hand, unthinkingly, so they can complete so many problems in the space of a one hour class period. Too much of today's teaching is still living in the 19th century teaching paradigm. It's is too focused on procedures, and not on education.
If you don't know the basic concepts of calculus, or arithmetic, or spelling, or grammar, etc., then you don't know enough to be successful in a modern world.
geoih, apparently I know what I'm talking about a lot better than you. :) I'm not some math-illiterate railing against the mean teachers, I studied the most math-intensive subjects in the most math-intensive engineering field there is. It is from that training that I've seen that there is basically no use for math for even 99% of engineers. After all my fellow engineers were force-fed calculus and other more advanced math for a decade or so, they all got jobs twiddling software where essentially no math was necessary, because of CAD tools that do all the math for you. This is true for practically every engineering profession these days. And that's just the engineers, imagine how utterly worthless math is for the general populace. As for your notion that everybody needs to learn "advanced science," that's just ridiculous.
Uh, "nobody needs to learn how to spell or write," case already made! :D I completely agree with your second paragraph, but apparently I go a lot farther in eschewing equations than you do. :) If you think knowing calculus has any value for most people in this age of CAD software tools, that arithmetic has any value when every smartphone and cash register has a calculator and computer chip built in, that knowing spelling or grammar has much value when everyone types on computers or smartphones which all come with spell-checkers and grammar-checkers built in, then you clearly have no clue about what is necessary in your "modern world." :) Just as nobody in the first world knows how to wash their clothes by hand because they all have washing machines, the computer and internet have completely obsoleted the already antiquated school curriculum. This is why online learning will destroy the schools and universities in the coming years.
Sprewell? Is that Latrell Sprewell? One might think so with these worthless comments.
Reading and writing might as well be outdated as well since computer programs and cell phones can now "speak" and "listen".
The purpose behind all learning should be critical thinking, and in order to critically think, you need building blocks (like addition and subtraction) to give you the ability to hypothesize and generalize and use your knowledge. Its a sad world if your view on education is nothing more than contacting Wikipedia University, or your handy Texas Instrument. You must be a fan of homeschooling your kids....God Bless them, because you are not a fit parent, if you even are or choose to be a parent.
Haha, your nick is blahblahblah and you make fun of my alias? XD Funny shit, are you trying to signal that you only spew worthless blather or was that unintentional? :D Yes, I already noted that reading and writing are outdated and linked to where I made that case, good to see we agree about that, even with the reasons, but why repeat that obvious result again?
Haha, it is hilarious to be told how important critical thinking is from a person who obviously can't think critically. XD If you think knowing how to add and subtract by hand instead of using a calculator aids critical thinking, by all means, present a case or an example. You can't because there is none, it is as ridiculous as asserting that everyone should know how all parts of a computer work before using one.
I actually think Wikipedia is a mess, but yes, different online resources similar to that are all you need. And you won't even need a TI calculator because all the math is done for you in software, whether your smartphone adding up all your bills for you automatically or your computer doing all the heavy number-crunching involved in your 3D video games without your having to know any of the math.
Why yes, I'm a big fan of homeschooling, as it allows plenty of parents to exit the ridiculously broken school system. I would only homeschool if I were taking care of any kids. I am making a different claim: you are not a good parent because you are too dumb to realize that you are wasting your kids' time with the worthless curricula that they will never use again. If you admit that their education is useless, like forcing them to learn how to play the piano or shoe horses, but that you want them to learn it anyway, then I pity your kids but that's your choice. But when you try to force your idiocy on every other parent is where I draw the line.
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