KHAN ACADEMY PROVIDES RESOURCES DURING PANDEMIC

Sal Khan, founder and CEO of the Khan Academy, joined Phyllis M. Lockett, founder and CEO of LEAP Innovations, for a talk hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago. Photo courtesy of The Economic Club of Chicago
Sal Khan, founder and CEO of the Khan Academy, joined Phyllis M. Lockett, founder and CEO of LEAP Innovations, for a talk hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago. Photo courtesy of The Economic Club of Chicago

Khan Academy provides resources during pandemic

BY TIA CAROL JONES
    Sal Khan, founder and CEO of the Khan Academy, joined Phyllis M. Lockett, founder and CEO of LEAP Innovations, to talk about how Khan Academy has been at the forefront when it comes to e-learning during this global pandemic. The talk was hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago.
     LEAP is a non-profit organization that is focused on transforming the educational system by providing a tailored experience for students. Khan Academy uses personalized learning software to teach math, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, finance and history, for free.
    “The mission is to provide a free world class education for anyone, anywhere,” Khan said during his talk.
Lockett called what Khan has done extraordinary and Khan said he has the “best job on the planet.” He said he’s able to “learn new things” communicate what he’s learning and “connect with people who are able to benefit from it.”
    Currently, there are 30 million users a month in 46 languages across 190 countries associated with Khan Academy. Lockett described Khan Academy as an essential tool during COVID-19.
Khan said even pre-COVID, Khan Academy had “been preaching and building the tools for personalization,” where people could learn at their own time and pace.
     Khan said Khan Academy’s traffic started to pick up in Asia in February 2020 and that’s when he knew that the organization was going to be a relevant learning piece during COVID-19. He added they started working with their engineering department and started to create training programs. He said they knew that parents and teachers would need “structures” they could use as an “anchor” in a new environment characterized by hybrid learning models or where students were being homeschooled. He went on to say that when schools closed, their “traffic became about 300 percent.””
     When it became evident that schools would be closed through March into the next school year, Khan Academy started to create lesson plans. A new not-for-profit was also created, called Schoolhouse.world, which allows students to obtain free tutoring. Khan Academy is working closely with the University of Chicago on the endeavor.
     Lockett said because there is a real concern about a learning loss in reading and in math among low-to moderate income students during the pandemic, she asked Khan what could be done in order to stem the tide. Khan said schools and families can leverage learning opportunities at Khan Academy and Schoolhouse.world and learn at their own pace. “We have to view this as a disaster recovery project, you’re going to have 10, 15, 20 percent of the population substantively behind,” he said.
     Khan said COVID-19 has put a big spotlight on the digital divide, where there are students who can’t engage in remote learning because they don’t have access to the internet. He said the digital divide needs to be closed. He also said there needs to be a move towards a competency-based pathway.
     “We could imagine a future where there is a national free tutoring platform,” he said. “I think we’re going into a world where learning is not bound by time or space.”
    For more information about Khan Academy, visit www.khanacademy.org.

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