Web Resource #2 - Khan Academy

In the second installment of this blog's web resource reviews, I will talk about a site that helped me get through undergrad.  Khan Academy is a free resource that is suitable for students in 3rd grade through the collegiate level.  The site contains thousands of videos that detail many aspects of the mathematics curriculum.  In each subject area, there are many subgroups and topics that contain videos.  The videos are very simple to follow and are highly informational.  The creators break down the concepts into smaller and easy-to-swallow tidbits that allow the students to go at a slower pace and allow them to understand each step.  The step-by-step aspect of Khan Academy is the part I like best.  With my own experiences, I could get the material up to certain points; the steps caught me up to speed with the remainder of the material and allowed me to do substantial remediation and ready for the next lesson.

Students in my classes now would greatly benefit from supplementing my lessons with the Khan Academy lessons.  They do not have to sign up, but doing so allows for more interaction.  Parents need not be present when students are learning on Khan Academy and there aren't any commercial advertisements to divert attention or anything of the sort.  

The site has many pros:  interactive, highly informational, step-by-step solutions, and many subject areas to choose from.  There are few cons, one of which is the length of the videos.  Rather than short spurts, many of the lessons take up to 15 minutes.  But I can see how that con can certainly transform into a pro.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Khan Academy to students.  I often tell my students to utilize the videos on the site when they are still unsure about a concept.  I really like this site, stemming from my own successes when using it.

WA