Khan Academy : The New Online Tutor

Khan Academy (KA) is one of the most talked about educational websites in this day and age. Many people wonder; “What is the big deal about the site?” “Why is it so popular?”. Khan Academy is an educational website that is meant to help anyone and everyone in subjects from math to Computer programming. Khan Academy was founded in 2006 by MIT and Harvard Business School graduate Salman Kahn. Salman started tutoring his cousin with math problems through Yahoo’s Doodle. When more of his relatives and friends started asking for help in math, he thought it would be great to put videos on YouTube and allow everyone to view his explanations. Salman’s videos became so popular on YouTube he made a life altering decision to quit his job and create Khan Academy.

One of the great things about Khan Academy is that it is a nonprofit organization that is free for anyone to learn and receive information. Salman has received very profitable donations from numerous people like Bill Gates and Google. Since 2006, Salman has taken KA and expanded the subjects that people can learn on his website. When I recently viewed the website KA has subjects from 3rd grade- college math, Computer Programming and even Humanities. In my opinion, KA is a website for everyone. I have had past history with Khan Academy. In the fall of 2012 I was taking Organic Chemistry. Anyone who has taken Organic Chemistry knows that it is a hard subject to grasp. There were many times in which I could not understand the various topics covered in lecture and the teachers and student tutors could not help. As a result, I took my problems to YouTube and came across Khan Academy. Khan Academy helped me understand Organic Chemistry. The videos were clear and understanding enough for someone who has never taken a chemistry class in their lives to grasp. The more I researched and viewed the KA website I noticed that Salman has hired experienced teachers, web technicians and business technology individuals in order to keep the information that is given out correct and concise with what is being taught in the classroom.

Khan Academy has not only helped me but it has also helped other people across the world. Barbra wrote on the Khan Academy website stating, “I just found your web site. I am 72 years old and I am now taking up learning where I left off. Thank you so much for all your hard work. Keep adding new subjects.” Barbra is a living testimony on how Khan Academy’s mission is “… by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere. “. Khan Academy has become such a resourceful tool in education that teachers and homeschooling parents use it to teach difficult topics to their students. Homeschooling parent Karla stated ,on the Khan Academy website, “My son and I have personally learned with Khan Academy math’s curriculum this year, and we can honestly say he has learned far more…” she also went on to say, “When doing Khan Academy lessons, I feel that my son, Khan Academy, and I are a dynamic learning team.” . When I read the other testimonials from other people it was all positive comments about KA. Many people see it as a very resourceful education website especially for math. However, not everyone is a fan of Khan Academy.

Krista McKeague, writer for Common Sense Media states, “The videos tend to be more procedural than conceptual and may, at times, contain minor inconsistencies that could confuse some learners.” Negative viewers see that the world is trying to put Salman on a pedestal because of website. When I furthered my research into finding negative comments about KA, I discovered that many issues are with the math subjects of Khan Academy. Justin Reich co-founder and co -director,author of the article: "Don't Use Khan Academy Without Watching this First", of EdTechTeacher states, “Khan teaches students to memorize a small set of procedural rules for dealing with multiplying negative numbers, with essentially zero effort expended to explain conceptually what the symbolic manipulations represent.” . In my opinion it does not matter how accurate a person must be in order to explain the subject I feel at the end of the day it is up to the teacher or homeschool teacher to teach the child/students the foundation for that topic in any subject and not just rely on a YouTube video.

In conclusion, KA is great educational resource, however, in my opinion, it should only be used at just only a resource. Once I become a teacher, I will use Khan Academy, along with many other videos, explain tougher topics to my students. I will encourage everyone to use Khan Academy because it is free and their main goal to educate anyone anywhere.

Works Cited
1.Khan Academy
2. Khan Academy Wikipedia Page
3. Educational Media "Don't Use Khan Academy Without Watching this First"
4.Common Sense Media

My Top Six Search Engines

This week assignment I was asked to give six search engines that I thought were helpful. I honestly thought this would be an easy assignment. However, what I did not realize there were many search engines for various reasons. Luckily, I was able to narrow my search down and give to you my top six search engines that I thought would be beneficial for people to use.

1.Yahoo. This is one of my favorite search engines. Yahoo.com is not only a search engines it is a great study tool for both teachers and students. One thing that I enjoy about yahoo is that you can ask questions in yahoo questions. This areas allows anyone to ask homework questions in any field of study. Also in yahoo you can view anything from movies, news and email.

2.Rate my professor.com is a search engine that is a useful source for college students in which you trying to decide what professors to take for the up and coming semester. In my opinion, this is the website that college students will be the most honest about professors. If you are new to a school or just attend a large university, this website will give you an insight at to which teachers are hard and easy. The only downfall is that not every university is on the website, Also, if your university is on the website check and make sure the professor you need an opinion on is on the website.

3. Wolfram Alpha. Wolfram Alpha is a computational knowledge engine. In my opinion, Wolfram Alpha is a great search engine for anything that deals with math or math related subjects. It gives search engines for other educational purposes as well. For example I typed in Robert Hooke, Wolfram Alpha gave me his date of birth time of death and other interesting facts about Hooke. I like this website because it gives you the information and not links to websites so you can search for them.

4.Monster.com. Monster is a job search engine. It allows you to find jobs in your local area as well as out of town job positions. One unique thing about Monster is that you can upload your resume and it can automatically fill in the job application for you. The good thing about Monster is that companies will post their applications on this website first before going to any newspaper. Why make looking for a job hard when all you have to do is go to monster.com.

5. KidRex.org. KidRex is a children safe search engine. As a future teacher, I would recommend students K-12 to use this search engine. It only gives children information that is being searched that is typed in the search engine. Parents will feel safe with their children using this search engine.

6. Ask.com. Ask is a search engine that is pretty much self-explanatory. You can ask a question and it will give you various links that will help you solve your question. The good thing about Ask is that you can even submit a question and real people will give you an answer.

The Deep Abyss of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is one of those subjects in which I believe every teacher should teach their students starting in middle school. Based on my personal experience, I was not taught the rules of plagiarism until I was in college. I had some plagiarism things taught to me during my senior year in high school but that was not enough for me to fully grasp exactly what is plagiarism. In my opinion, that is unacceptable. The reason I say that is because due to the advancement of technology students are unaware that everything that is on the World Wide Web is not free. The sad thing about students knowing the rules of plagiarism is that they do not know the rules of plagiarism. We are losing too many students from universities because of plagiarism. Like me coming up in high school I thought all you had to do was add quotation marks around a statement when someone is speaking and that was giving credit to that person. I was not aware of bibliographies and the fact I have to add page numbers as to where a quote came from in a book. It is our job as teachers to guide students in the right direction of exactly how to properly source information. As a future teacher, I will give a lecture on plagiarism in the beginning of the quarter for all my students. I will also place the rules of plagiarism on a poster in my class so that way students are reassured of the rules. We, as teachers, need to learn how show students how to avoid plagiarism instead of dismissing them from universities for something they have not been taught.

T'Keyan Peoples Introduction EDM510

T'Keyan Peoples digital story