Sal Khan's "The One World Schoolhouse"

      I recently began reading "The One World Schoolhouse", written by Sal Khan.  Khan uses the book to discuss his journey of how he began tutoring one student, using technology and the internet, to educating millions of people worldwide, with the use of communication technology and Web 2.0 resources.  He illustrates in the book, his observations of how students learn, why they struggle in certain areas, and discusses appropriate strategies that can be utilized to obtain student success in learning.  Furthermore, he discusses how the benefits of computer technology and communication can be integrated into education, to meet the needs of today's unique students and learners.

      He begins the books by addressing the question of the standard classroom model.  He, like so many others in the education field, believe that this model is out of date with today's learner.  With the inception of the internet and social media, Khan believes that the world requires "active processing of information", meaning that information and learning needs to be analysed for dunderstanding and the connections that exist among ideas and concepts.  The standard classroom model focused more on rote memorization to learn new concepts, which is out of date with today's global community.  Our educational system needs to incorporate this new digital age, with a heavy emphasize on explaining and sharing with others, what we know and what we've learned.

      Khan begins the first few chapters, discussing his observations when tutoring his cousin.  He identified the fact that students tend to pick up some concepts much easier than others, as students learn different things at different rates.  Due to the nature and depth of our curriculum, if a concept was not fully learned or understood by a student in a certain time frame, then that student was then left behind in terms of their abilities to comprehend the material, as new curriculum material would be presented to the class.  He also makes the distinction that catching on to new concepts quickly, is not the same as understanding an idea thoroughly.  He believes that education should be like a "Treasure Hunt", where students would have fun discovering the mysteries of new ideas and concepts.  Lastly, Khan identifies the optimal time frame for students to be presented new learning, before attention spans begin to wander, which is more or less ten minutes.

      Thus far, I have found very little in terms of new learning from the first few chapters of Khan's book.  As a teacher who has been in the classroom for ten plus years, I have always been very aware of the behaviours of my students, in terms of their attention spans, which is why I have always tried to keep my classes moving after certain time periods, by continually switching tasks and activities throughout the day.  Also, I have always done my best to balance the timelines of the curriculum with the learning rates of my students.  Providing extra lessons, extended help times, drop in periods during breaks and after school, has often helped my students who need extra time when learning certain concepts, but obviously to a point.  It begs the question, do we as educators have too much to cover in terms of curriculum content....or do we need to challenge our students more to work harder, and be better prepared for a competitive and well trained work force?

      While I am very familiar with Khan's observations about teaching and learning, I do believe he does make many valid points, in terms of education needing to be student centered, with a curriculum and schedule that meets their needs.  I also feel that Khan's use of internet videos and video conferencing to be beneficial for students, in terms of time length and ability to review material as needed.  I question though, can this format replace the need for an actual teacher to be present, in terms of one to one learning?  Can videos and video conferencing cover all necessary questions and inquiries a student may have when trying to comprehend new concepts?  While I do believe that Khan's methods have validity, I believe that there is a lot more that a teacher can do, in terms of one to one curriculum delivery, guidance, and problem inquiry.

      I look forward to reading on, to see how Khan utilizes technology and 21st century learning skills to assist his students in their educational development.