Khan Academy (not Star Trek related)

[forgeforsaken]

So somehow I missed this, but I'm pretty fascinated by it. It's the work or essentially one man who has put together well over a 1000 free educational videos, mostly on Math, Science, and Economics. The videos range from basic education to college level. Exercises are also provided at the site. Most of the videos are about 10 minutes long, and Salman seems to do a pretty good job of explaining things.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

[peterb]

I just discovered this today. It's completely fucking awesome.

[chase j]

Awesome. Being mostly a science and math nerd, I wish he had more stuff on literature and the like. Would love to broaden my knowledge of that stuff.

[peterb]

There are achievements for doing exercises and watching videos.

I AM STARTING WITH ADDITION I.

[ReptileHouse]

There are achievements

Oh crap.

[Siren]

It's a brilliant way to get kids thinking that math is fun. My boyfriend used this with one of his little sisters recently, who was complaining that "math is hard" and "I'm not good at math", all due to her not understanding ONE concept. She's back to enjoying math and getting 100% on her test scores.

[peterb]

I have just over 58,000 points from doing grade school arithmetic. MUST UNLOCK THE ENTIRE TECHNOLOGY TREE.

[Jojo]

I posted Khan's (KHAAAAN!) recent TED talk to a few friends, and one of them complained that it was rubbish because the graphics on the youtube video he chose at random were low-res. Sigh.

I was more interested in his idea for switching around the way we teach. Instead of having teachers explain concepts in class, then send kids home with exercises for homework, we should have them watch the explanatory video at home at their own pace, then do the exercises in class with the teacher present to help out.

[peterb]

Hmmmm, do I take a moment and go for the "Arithmetic Master" badge, worth a whopping 100,000 points, or do I press on into Algebra for now?

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo!

PS: I don't think I ever consciously realized that the 0th power of a negative number is a positive number. So I learned something new even in the basic math section.

[CLWheeljack]

I'm probably going to take the GMATs soon. Looking at the exercises available, this is actually probably a pretty good math refresher for it.

[Dave Perkins]

PS: I don't think I ever consciously realized that the 0th power of a negative number is a positive number. So I learned something new even in the basic math section.

Would you mind linking to this particular video? Thanks in advance! Unless you don't do it, in which case u sukk.

[tronnc]

Khan gives a really great talk that is worth checking out, he goes through the history and what he is trying to do with Khann Academy. If you have a hour to kill its very enjoyable.

Start at 2 mins in to skip the introduction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C7FH7El35w&feature=player_embedded

[gmonkey]

I aced addition 1. Why do I feel so proud of my achievement? Seriously, I feel better than when I solve an ODE.

[Aeon221]

The practice section is pretty good (I WISH TO SPEND MY STARS INCREASING MY STR ATT!!!) but who on earth has time to watch videos that go on for half an hour?

Actually, now I'm kinda wondering if they have some sort of API for using this thing outside of the website. How hard could it be to tie it to an RPG? You fight zee monsters, but you only level up by kicking ass on practice and watching the videos.

Or a game about raising puppies. You earn fat loots to pimp your pup by doing stuff.

It'd work way better if the problems didn't stop at trig and algebra. What is this, math for people who can't count? Welcome to 8th grade, please take out your slide rule and try to think slowly?

edit: DERIVATIVES IN HD. WIN: http://www.khanacademy.org/video/calculus--derivatives-1--new-hd-version?playlist=Calculus
Just can't stop laughing at the idea that HD and calculus are tied in an educational sense.

[peterb]

At least some of the Calculus has exercises also:

http://www.khanacademy.org/exercises?exid=derivatives_1

I kinda want an RSS feed so I know when they release new content.

[Nikolaj]

Don't miss his short series on the French Revolution. He explains it very well, and it's entertaining.

I wish he'd do more episodes on history.

[forgeforsaken]

It's still just him doing the videos right? I think at some point he might need to bring in some other subject experts to cover history and what not. I'm sure there's willing folks out there.

[peterb]

It's still just him doing the videos right? I think at some point he might need to bring in some other subject experts to cover history and what not. I'm sure there's willing folks out there.

Based on the TED talk, it looks to me like he is presenting the videos, but it wouldn't surprise me if at least some of the content was being created by others.

[gmonkey]

Does anyone know of a website like Khan Academy's practice section, but for physics?

[Abilio Carvalho]

this thing needs a facebook login. You guys know if it spams a lot? is everyone I know going to get "Abilio passed Addition 1!!!!!" on their feeds?

[gmonkey]

It has a facebook and a google login as options.

[MattKeil]

Does anyone know of a website like Khan Academy's practice section, but for physics?

If there were other websites like Khan Academy, Khan Academy wouldn't be such a singular phenomenon. He does intend to eventually have practice support on all subjects, I believe. It's just taking time.

This is his fulltime job now, and he has other employees as part of his non-profit organization. He presents the videos, but he has numerous people to help out in the subjects he isn't an expert in (I believe he's mainly math/science). His history section is particularly exciting, should it fully get off the ground.

It's a great learning tool, and it's cool that he realizes his method of presentation is key, and continues to do all the videos (up to 2000 or so now) himself.

[Strollen]

He is one of my heroes. Talk about one man making a difference. I've been amazed at his ability to scale. The practice sessions, I think solve the biggest problems with this type of learning. You actually have to do some work to really retain the information.

[gmonkey]

By the way, as a not-American, one thing that irked me were the units exercises. Why they aren't done exclusively with SI units is beyond me.

[Ben Sones]

In all seriousness, that website is very, very cool.

[gmonkey]

Oh, yes, it's quite brilliant.

[peterb]

By the way, as a not-American, one thing that irked me were the units exercises. Why they aren't done exclusively with SI units is beyond me.

I assumed this was a subtly awesome way to teach you that English units are retarded and hateful.

[peterb]

YEAH baby

http://www.khanacademy.org/images/badges/Geometry-Trig.png

MASTER of TRIGONOMETRY.

[rowe33]

Wow I missed this the first time - thanks for posting...looks incredibly awesome!

[peterb]

Note that they also absorbed/added a whole series of videos just on art history:

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org

[foogla]

I watch the videos while exercising, now I need a way to do the exercises while exercising.

[interman]

Hey foogla, we heard you like to exercise so we put an exercise in your exercise so you can exercise while you exercise!

[foogla]

Hey foogla, we heard you like to exercise so we put an exercise in your exercise so you can exercise while you exercise!

I KNOW, RIGHT?!
http://i.imgur.com/UCIHy.jpg

[peterb]

ARISE!

Just letting people know that they continue to add practice modules. They just added a whole little segment to the 'map' on imaginary numbers and the complex plane.