Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Mastery learning can help close pandemic learning gaps

As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic and prepares for its first post-pandemic school year, the results of a new Khan Academy survey of teachers offers hope for a brighter future and, at the same time, reaffirms education’s deep commitment to staying laser-focused on recovery.

The findings show: 

  • Nine out of 10 teachers say they’ve been able to identify learning gaps that need to be addressed. 
  • 84% of teachers believe mastery learning can help address learning loss from the pandemic.

We wholeheartedly agree. Mastery learning ensures each student has the opportunity and incentive to master a concept before they stop working on it. It’s the philosophical core of Khan Academy, and decades of research shows that mastery learning works. …Read More

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The new way to create flipped video in 60 seconds without adding software

Use PowerPoint to make tutorial videos for flipped or blended learning

Time strapped teachers need support—we all know this. Now there is a quick and easy way to create even more flexible video tutorials for your blended or flipped learning classes. The tutorials can then be watched over and over. Best of all, this solution uses PowerPoint, which many teachers are already comfortable with.

Previously I’ve outlined how to create Khan Academy-style video tutorials quickly and easily (using Office Snip) in a recent article. Those tutorials had a static background. “Active” (changing) backgrounds are also possible as they allow the teacher to record anything that is visible on a computer screen.

Simple and easy…Read More

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The app that lets you create Khan Academy-style videos in 60 seconds

How flipped educators can create video tutorials a la Khan in no time flat

P West Screen snip 2Blended learning and flipped learning just got a whole lot easier.

Anyone can now create learning resources for students in little more time that is required for a normal explanation of a topic.

  • Recording solutions to math problems — almost as quick as solving the problem on paper.
  • Highlighting important text, and explaining concepts along the way — a breeze.
  • Sketching, labelling and explaining diagrams with audio annotation — child’s play.
  • Providing personal feedback on a student’s work — super simple.
  • Taking a photograph of anything – an art work, an experiment, a building – and then drawing on it while explaining concepts — quick and easy.

The recordings can then be played on virtually any device, and are easily placed in a LMS or OLE (Online Learning Environment).…Read More

Khan Academy now Common Core aligned

Free website includes thousands of exercises for helping students prepare for the new standards at their own pace, founder Sal Khan announced

khan-academy
Each student will get his or her own learning dashboard to show progress toward mastery of the standards.

Over the last few years, Sal Khan’s free Khan Academy website has become a go-to resource for teaching and learning math skills. During the annual CUE conference in Palm Springs, Calif., on March 22, Khan announced a major expansion of the website that will help prepare students for Common Core math testing.

“While the standards may be common, we know that students are not—they each have their own learning journey,” Khan said. “This is why we are committed to personalized learning that lets students practice what they most need help on, at their own pace, at absolutely no cost.”…Read More

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Comcast, Khan Academy aim multimillion-dollar partnership at low-income families

As much as Khan Academy has promised “a free world-class education for everyone everywhere,” the reality is that many of the 10 million people reached monthly by its accessible video lessons remain middle-class people–those with enough means to have broadband access, Forbes reports. So today, Khan Academy founder and Executive Director Salman Khan and Comcast CMCSA -0.81% announced a partnership in which the cable company will provide a cash donation and hundreds of thousands of public service ads that amount to several million dollars over several years. The partnership was announced Monday at The Atlantic’s Silicon Valley Summit at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View…

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Duncan discusses education reform, back-to-school changes

Duncan said making sure children in disadvantaged communities have access to technology will be critical. (Albert H. Teich / Shutterstock.com)

A more well-rounded curriculum with less focus on a single test. Higher academic standards and more difficult classwork. Continued cuts to extracurricular and other activities because of the tough economy: Education Secretary Arne Duncan says these are some of the changes and challenges that children could notice as they start the new school year.

Several significant reforms have taken place over the past three years. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core standards, a set of uniform benchmarks for math and reading. Thirty-two states and D.C. have been granted waivers from important parts of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law. Billions in federal dollars have gone out to improve low-performing schools, tie teacher evaluations to student growth, and encourage states to expand the number of charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run.…Read More

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Why Khan Academy is so popular—and why teachers shouldn’t feel threatened

Sal Khan’s nonprofit now contains more than 3,100 free video tutorials, mostly on math and science—but the site has begun expanding its scope to other subjects, too.

Sal Khan, whose online Khan Academy serves up video tutorials to more than 6 million students worldwide each month, wants to reassure teachers that the free educational service isn’t out to take their jobs—nor is it a statement about a teacher’s ability to deliver a lesson effectively.

On the contrary, Khan said, teachers who are using the service with their students feel more empowered than ever.…Read More

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Khan Academy iPad app launches with free, educational videos on Apple tablet

Popular video education hub Khan Academy launched an iPad application featuring more than 2,700 free videos on March 11, the Huffington Post reports. The app, which is now available for download on iTunes, allows a wide range of users to browse through videos covering topics including chemistry, finance and history. Some are saying the non-profit organization’s foray into the tablet world is solidifying Khan Academy as a key player in the education sector. The app gives users the ability to sync videos between deceives without needing an internet connection, Lauren Landry of BostInno reports. In addition, users will be able to jump back and forth through the material — much like students do with books — as well as interact with lectures and take the material home with them to review at a later time…

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