Why do some teachers bash on Khan Academy?

bjkmom
Wed, 23 Dec 2015 10:31:38 +0000

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Khan Academy.

I find the videos to be very dry, for one thing.

But, more than that, I think that sometimes they miss the shortcuts, and make the material harder than it has to be. For example, we’re using them in my SAT prep class. A good 50% of the time, we’ll watch the video, and then I’ll stop it, focus on the problem, and either show the shortcut or translate what was said in the video to something phrased in a way that’s easier to understand.

I don’t bash KA-- I think it’s a great resource for some kids in some situations. If you’re one of those kids, wonderful. And any resource that helps anyone to understand the material is a valuable resource, particularly one that’s free.

And right now, they’re the go-to source for the new SAT.

But I do think there are sometimes-- frequently??-- better videos to be found on youtube, teachertube, educreations, and teacher websites. They may be a bit harder to track down, but they tend to explain things the way I would in class, or in a way more likely to arrive in an “AHA!” moment for a struggling student.