The Khan-daan of all Academies

This blog post is dedicated to the other Salman Khan .The one who started Khan Academy, the one who millions know as the teacher who teaches subjects ranging from math, to healthcare to finance and even cosmology. For people who are not familiar with him ,you'll  must be wondering what is so great that he has achieved. Well lets see who he really is...

Salman Khan is a Bangladeshi-American and former hedge fund analyst. In 2004, Khan, an alumni of MIT and Harvard, started Khan Academy, a free online platform with home-made video tutorials in maths and science. Khan began these informal tutorials to actually teach maths to a cousin. He first used just a Yahoo Doodle notepad for scribbling equations over which he recorded his explanations. These easy-to-understand, conversational videos were uploaded on Youtube and quickly became an internet rage. Soon, students were writing in asking for more tutorials on topics like calculus and trigonometry. Adults who needed refresher lessons in maths followed suit.The turning point came in 2009 when traffic to his website became impossible to ignore. He quit his job to work on his tutorials full time, carving out office space in his walk-in closet. And the Khan Academy was born.

This sparked a revolution in education in the US with even Bill Gates, who calls Khan a "pioneer", using the videos to teach his children. Indian students, too, have used his videos to untangle IIT JEE problems. Also lately the site has come up with different innovative ways to teach the students. An example- http://www.khanacademy.org/new-and-noteworthy/v/lebron-asks-about-the-chances-of-making-10-free-throws. 

Now that we know how it all started lets see whats in store for us as students from the Academy. First and foremost we (and anyone for that matter who has access to the net )get good quality knowledge . The quality is unquestionable because he has ''gurus '' of different subjects like art finance medicine and various other subjects talking about the subject they love. Topics discussed are as diverse as the French Revolution to the economics of a cupcake factory. Now, all the first timers who have just come to know about this website must be thinking..."Whats the catch here??"..."there HAS to be one...SOMEWHERE!!"."They'll definitely ask for my credit card number...or a small ""donation" before 'signing in'...!!". Yes there is a catch...it is that there is no catch. This beautiful creation of a website which imparts knowledge is absolutely free of cost. Yes, you read it right....it is FREE OF COST. Yes it is as simple as it sounds, no profits, just plane good quality education right in your living room.

No wonder that big names like Bill Gates mentioned him at the 'Aspen Ideas Fest' and gave him $5m. And then another $2m came from Google.

    Since its inception the Academy has built an extensive library of more than 3,000 video tutorials, over 240 exercises and a data-rich & interactive dashboard platform for teachers and students. The Academy has changed the whole ''study in a classroom'' idea up on its head. It allows students to watch the video at home, and solve problems in class, thus reducing the ''homework'' factor to zilch. A little example of a Algebra lesson.- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm98lnrlbMA&feature=plcp

     Now lets analyze what Salman Khan has achieved by launching this website.

First, he has delivered his teachings in a way which was not available to the students before. Result?All those students who were doing poorly in the ''regular'' classrooms, can increase their potential greatly. Also the students get to learn in the comfort oh their homes. No time constraint, no keeping quiet or tied down like in a classroom.

Secondly, the students can view the videos as many times till they understand the subject, plus in class they can focus on solving problems after learning from the video., which they used to do earlier as homework.

Thirdly, by allowing students to take their own time to learn, he has made sure that their base is strong enough before they move to higher levels in subjects. Without these strong bases, their self confidence can go for a toss, as the problem might keep compounding as they go from one level to the next and so on.

     When you have such useful advantages coming from a website, you can understand  what positive effect it must be having on the students. The Khan Academy is a tool which helps parents educate and develope their children without the burdens of a normal classroom weighing them down. More importantly he is helping breaking the notion that higher authorities know best,and in doing so his contribution to education will far likely go beyond the students who use the site.