Khan Academy

VideoSocial ConstructivismCognitivism

Khan Academy is an educational organization that creates short educational videos for a variety of topics. Khan Academy also has educational materials, including practice problems and exercises, that enhance learning with these videos. Khan Academy allows for the personalization of education, offering students an opportunity to go through lessons that are scaled to their current level of understanding at their own pace, moving forward only once they have mastered a topic within a lesson. Khan Academy was founded in genuine and humble roots in 2004 by Salman Khan, who used the initial videos to help tutor one of his cousins. The best part is that Khan Academy is completely free for anyone and everyone, and the organization is committed to keeping it that way forever.

It is a great tool for flipped classrooms, personalized learning, and blended learning, ensuring that you are meeting the learning needs of ALL of your students and not just teaching at the pace of your “average” student.

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Tool Snapshot

Price Free
Learning Cognitivism & Social Constructivism
Ease of Use ★★★★☆
Privacy ★★★★☆
Accessibility ★★★☆☆
Class Size Unlimited
ISTE*S Empowered Learner
COPPA/
FERPA
Yes

Khan Academy Overview Video

Watch on YouTube

Khan Academy Video Transcript

Khan Academy & the SAMR Model

Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR model offers a lens for examining how technology is adopted in a classroom. As you strive to incorporate online tools into your classroom, we encourage you to use this model as an analytic tool.

Here is an example of how Khan Academy might fit within the SAMR model:

Khan Academy Spanish Homepage
“Khan Academy Spanish” [Screenshot].
Retrieved from https://es.khanacademy.org/ 

Learning Activities

Elementary School (Grades K-5): Assign Khan Academy videos for students falling behind on a given topic or for students who want to go beyond topics being currently taught in the classroom.  For example, if a student in your class is struggling with addition and subtraction, you might have them watch the video “Addition and subtraction within 20” and complete some of the practice problems from that after.  Alternatively, if a student has mastered that before the rest of the class, you may move them on to “Addition and subtraction within 1000.

Middle School (Grades 6-8): Flip your classroom: Assign Khan Academy material or missions to students and use class time to complete additional practice and exercises, answer questions, and build upon what they learned in the videos.

High School (Grades 9-12): For a Science course: Have students browse Khan Academy topics under Health & Medicine.  Have each student give a short presentation in the class about what they learned, and how it connects to two concepts that have been discussed in class.

Higher Education (and all grade levels): Challenge your students to watch several Khan Academy videos (on any topic) and then make their own for a given assigned topic. 

Over 100,000 interactive practice problems; thousands of reference videos for tutorial support; tools for monitoring progress in real time
Khan Academy Infographic by Gabrielle R. Merchant

Resources

How to Use Khan Academy

  1. Go to www.khanacademy.org
  2. To use without registering: Select a topic from the “Subjects” menu or do a search for a topic of your choosing
  3. To use with registering: Click “Sign Up” and register for an account. You may sign-up with your Facebook, Google login, or email address.
  4. For teachers – Add a class:
    1. Click your name in the top right hand corner
    2. Select “Add Students”
    3. Click “create your class”
    4. Give your class a name
    5. Choose a mission for your class.  If, for example, you are teaching Algebra I, select the Algebra I mission.
      Screenshot of Khan Academy mission options with Algebra I selected and circled in red
      “Khan Academy: Algebra 1” [Screenshot]. 
    6. Add students by email or by Khan Academy account username, or share your class code with your students to add the class themselves.
      Khan Academy Screenshot of Algebra I page with class code circled in red
      “Khan Academy: Algebra 1” [Screenshot].
  5. For students: Students can utilize Khan Academy to explore material, practice material with problems, or work through a mission, which is content curated for students to work through a specific topic or grade-level at their own pace.
    1. Under a topic, click “Explore”, “Practice”, or “Mission”.
      Khan Academy Screenshot of Algebra II page with Explore, Practice, and Mission circled in red
      “Khan Academy: Algebra 2” [Screenshot].
    2. Explore
      1. Students can explore videos of different topics by clicking links under “Topics” or by using the search function and watching corresponding videos and lessons.
    3. Practice
      1. Students can practice problems within a topic by clicking on “Practice.”  There is a scratch pad if a student needs to write or draw to help solve a problem, and there are also embedded videos if a student does not know how to solve a practice problem.
    4. Mission
      1. Missions guide learners through self-curated material for a specific grade level or subject. Students can work through missions at their own pace, and only move on once they have mastered a lesson.
      Screenshot of practice problem: Evaluate composite functions
      “Khan Academy: Algebra 2” [Screenshot].

Research

Murphy, R., Gallagher, L., Krumm, A. E., Mislevy, J., & Hafter, A. (2014). Research on the use of Khan Academy in Schools: Research Brief.

Vidergor, H. E., & Ben-Amram, P. (2020). Khan academy effectiveness: The case of math secondary students' perceptions. Computers & Education, 157, 103985.

Weeraratne, B., & Chin, B. (2018). Can Khan Academy e-Learning Video Tutorials Improve Mathematics Achievement in Sri Lanka?. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, 14(3), 93-112.

Author

This page was created by Gabrielle R. Merchant.

This content is provided to you freely by EdTech Books.

Access it online or download it at https://edtechbooks.org/onlinetools/khan-academy.