It's another argument for constructivism, pointing out that Khan Academy is non-constructivist education on steroids.
As much as I agree with this argument, it underplays the fact that constructivism is a paradigm shift that will require gobs cultural readiness and energy that we don't seem to have. It's like, Why don't we live in domes? Well, because people expect houses to be rectangular, zoning laws assume they'll be made of sticks, and we don't have enough energy to blow past these things. Or, Why do we still use imperative programming languages instead of functional languages?
Once it was different: the constructivist program by Seymour Papert to put Logo (which, as it happens, is a functional language!) in schools. It was a fad in the early '80s and failed monumentally. So monumentally that today the power of computing is equated with making textbooks interactive
http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/
and backpacks lighter. Both Jobs and Gates criticized various 'computer in the classroom' initiatives in the '90s for this very reason, but they didn't mention (or didn't know about) Logo.
One constructivist aspect of Khan's program not mentioned in the article is the "flipped" classroom -- watching lectures at home and doing homework in class. This is a far superior use of classroom time that allows questions to come in the context of work, work to be a social activity, etc. And last I heard, K.A. were having real trouble selling the idea. It's too revolutionary for many schools.
What's often not understood is that schools are incredibly diverse institutions. The parents, the students, the teachers, the unions, the administration, the local, State, and federal governments... all sit in class each day. There is no way to improve classrooms by decree, or even by offering powerful alternatives like Khan Academy or Logo. The entire society must come along.
The article criticizes Khan Academy for not employing teachers. But failed to mention another constructivist act par excellence: they just hired Vi Hart!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=e1a6Bxc0OYQ
As much as I agree with this argument, it underplays the fact that constructivism is a paradigm shift that will require gobs cultural readiness and energy that we don't seem to have. It's like, Why don't we live in domes? Well, because people expect houses to be rectangular, zoning laws assume they'll be made of sticks, and we don't have enough energy to blow past these things. Or, Why do we still use imperative programming languages instead of functional languages?
Once it was different: the constructivist program by Seymour Papert to put Logo (which, as it happens, is a functional language!) in schools. It was a fad in the early '80s and failed monumentally. So monumentally that today the power of computing is equated with making textbooks interactive http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/ and backpacks lighter. Both Jobs and Gates criticized various 'computer in the classroom' initiatives in the '90s for this very reason, but they didn't mention (or didn't know about) Logo.
One constructivist aspect of Khan's program not mentioned in the article is the "flipped" classroom -- watching lectures at home and doing homework in class. This is a far superior use of classroom time that allows questions to come in the context of work, work to be a social activity, etc. And last I heard, K.A. were having real trouble selling the idea. It's too revolutionary for many schools.
What's often not understood is that schools are incredibly diverse institutions. The parents, the students, the teachers, the unions, the administration, the local, State, and federal governments... all sit in class each day. There is no way to improve classrooms by decree, or even by offering powerful alternatives like Khan Academy or Logo. The entire society must come along.
The article criticizes Khan Academy for not employing teachers. But failed to mention another constructivist act par excellence: they just hired Vi Hart! http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=e1a6Bxc0OYQ