My Take
One of the main issues with Khan Academy is that it does not provide an adequate learning experience for students. The videos are cookie-cutter, impersonal, and lack any sort of teacher interaction. While the videos do provide an explanation of content, this is far from the whole teaching experience. With Khan Academy, students don’t experience the nuances and complexities of a classroom environment. They don’t receive feedback from the teacher or fellow students, nor do they get any personalized guidance. Another issue with Khan Academy is that it often does not align with the curriculum of a given school. While Khan Academy does offer some tutorials on more traditional topics such as math and science, it greatly favors more modern topics such as coding and technology. This makes it difficult for teachers to use Khan Academy as an effective supplement to their usual lesson plan. And even when they do use Khan Academy, they are still responsible for making sure that their students understand the material. The lack of alignment with the curriculum isn't the only problem. Khan Academy's assessment system is also based on multiple choice questions, which often do not accurately test a student's true knowledge. Multiple choice assessments are prone to guessing, and therefore give a false sense of understanding of the material. Finally, Khan Academy often encourages students to use it as a shortcut to learning material. While this does give students a leg-up on the material, it can often lead to cheating in class as students might submit answers from the Khan Academy assessment system. Overall, Khan Academy is a great resource for students who want to learn more about a certain subject, but it is far from an ideal learning environment for those attending formal classes. It fails to provide an adequate learning experience for students and often does not align with the curriculum. Additionally, Khan Academy has recently been deemed one of the most damaging educational products to ever be created in the eyes of many teachers. The company markets its services as a solution to support teaching and learning, but in practice, teachers have reported significant and lasting negative effects. For this reason, teachers should carefully consider the repercussions of using Khan Academy in the classroom, as there are a number of serious implications that may have a lasting effect on students.
How I Use It
I have typically used Khan Academy as an additional layer of instruction. I use the videos to introduce new topics and give additional information as needed. I then use the practice exercises and assessments to reinforce the material. With the practice exercises, I have found that students often quickly understand the concepts and can move on to further exploration. I also use the data and reports feature in order to track student progress and quickly identify areas of growth and improvement. But it has made everything so much worse, my kids comprehend nothing and its a waste of everyone's time.