Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization created in 2006 by educator Salman Khan with the goal of creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of YouTube videos. Its website also includes supplementary practice exercises and materials for educators. All resources are available to users of the website. The website and its content are provided mainly in English, but is also available in other languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Turkish, French, Bengali, Hindi, and German.
Video Khan Academy
History
The organization started in 2008 when Salman Khan tutored one of his cousins on the Internet using a service called Yahoo! Doodle Images. After a while, Khan's other cousins began to use his tutoring service. Due to the demand, Khan decided to make his videos watchable on the Internet, so he published his content on YouTube. Later, he used a drawing application called SmoothDraw, and now uses a Wacom tablet to draw using ArtRage. Tutorials are recorded on the computer.
The positive responses prompted Khan to quit his job in 2009, and focus on the tutorials (then released under the name Khan Academy) full-time. Khan Lab School, a school founded by Sal Khan and associated with Khan Academy, opened on September 15, 2014 in Mountain View, California. In June 2017, Khan Academy launched Financial Literacy Video Series for college grads, job seekers and young professionals.
Maps Khan Academy
Funding
Khan Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. mostly funded by donations coming from philanthropic organizations. In 2010, Google donated $2 million for creating new courses and translating content into other languages, as part of their Project 10100 program. In 2013, Carlos Slim from the Carlos Slim Foundation in Mexico, made a donation for creating spanish versions of videos. In 2015, AT&T contributed $2.25 million to Khan Academy for mobile versions of the content accessible through apps. According to Khan Academy's filings with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Sal Khan's annual salary in 2015 was $800,000. Salman Khan has received over $350,000 in annual compensation from Khan Academy since 2011. In 2013, former President and COO Shantanu Sinha also received over $375,000 in compensation.
Content
Khan Academy's website aims to provide a personalized learning experience, mainly built on the videos which are hosted on YouTube. The website is meant to be used as a supplement to its videos, because it includes other features such as progress tracking, practice exercises, and teaching tools. The material can also be accessed through mobile applications.
The videos display a recording of drawings on an electronic blackboard, which are similar to the style of a teacher giving a lecture. The narrator describes each drawing and how they relate to the material being taught. Non-profit groups have distributed offline versions of the videos to rural areas in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Videos range from all subjects covered in school and for all grades from kindergarten up to high school. The Khan Academy website also hosts content from educational YouTube channels and organizations such as Crash Course and the Museum of Modern Art.
It also provides online courses for preparing for standardized tests, including the SAT and MCAT and released LSAT preparation lessons in the summer of 2018.
In July of 2017, Khan Academy became the official practice partner for the College Board's Advanced Placement.
Language availability
Khan Academy videos have been translated into several languages, with close to 20,000 subtitle translations available. These translations are mainly volunteer-driven with help from international partnerships. The Khan Academy platform is fully available in English (en), Spanish (es), Portuguese (pt), Turkish (tr), French (fr) and Bangla (bn), and partially available in 26 other languages.
Criticism
Khan Academy has been criticized because its creator Salman Khan lacks a formal background or qualifications in pedagogy, or teaching. Statements made in several videos have been questioned for their technical accuracy, especially in the area of history. In response to these criticisms, the organization has corrected errors in its videos, expanded its faculty and formed a network of over 200 content experts.
In an interview from January 2016, Khan defended the value of Khan Academy online lectures while acknowledging their limitations: "I think they're valuable, but I'd never say they somehow constitute a complete education." Khan Academy positions itself as a supplement to in-class learning, with the ability to improve the effectiveness of teachers by freeing them from traditional lectures and giving them more time to tend to individual students' needs.
Recognition
Khan Academy has gained recognition both nationally and internationally:
- In April 2012, the founder and executive director of Khan Academy, Salman Khan, was listed among the Time 100 Most Influential People for 2012.
- Khan was one of five winners of the 2014 Heinz Award. His award was in the area of "Human Condition."
References
External links
- Khan Academy website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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