Bill Gates uses Khan Academy math videos to help his own children understand math.
What is Khan Academy? Here is the story.
Salmon Khan’s cousin asked him for math help. His tutorials were so successful that more cousins asked for help. Khan didn’t have time to meet with all of them so he created math videos and put them on You Tube. The rest is history. Khan Academy now reaches a worldwide audience. There are more than 1,600 videos – totally free to anyone with access to a computer. His videos have attracted more “eyeballs” than most university sites. Khan, 34 years old, has quit his day job as a hedge fund analyst and now devotes 100% of his time to Khan Academy.
Khan’s successful teaching format is a series of short videos, each devoted to one topic. These 10 – 20 minute chunks of knowledge can be viewed for free on any computer. Brief repeatable lessons in difficult subjects are easier to absorb and understand.
His goal is to keep making videos until he has covered every subject! Math (K – 12), Science, Economics and Finance are the topics currently covered on the videos.
He plans an additional 20-30 elementary school level math videos, and then will move on to history, languages, and onward through the high school curriculum.
These videos are not just for students. Anyone can use them to fill gaps in their learning, or to tackle an entirely new subject. I’ve just read that learning a new language is great for our brain health!
One of the most important benefits of Khan Academy is that his videos provide learning opportunities to students in remote third-world areas with limited access to adequate education.
Khan Academy is a not-for-profit should the desire to make a donation seize you.
