In the flipped classroom model, students gain first exposure to new material outside of class through video lectures and readings. Classroom time is then used to engage students in actively applying concepts through problem-solving, discussions, and collaborative projects. Students can learn content on their own schedule by watching Khan Academy’s library of over 4,500 instructional videos. Teachers can then focus class activities on higher levels of learning like critical thinking and creativity.
What Is Khan Academy?
Before we dive into the exciting realm of the flipped classroom, let’s understand what Khan Academy is all about. Founded by Salman Khan in 2008, Khan Academy is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide a world-class education for anyone, anywhere. It offers a vast library of instructional videos, practice exercises, and a personalized learning dashboard that empowers learners to study at their own pace.
The Flipped Classroom Revolution
Traditionally, education has followed a conventional pattern – teachers present new concepts in the classroom, and students practice at home. However, the flipped classroom flips this model on its head. Here’s how it works:
- Independent Learning: With Khan Academy, students watch instructional videos at home to grasp the basics of a lesson independently. These videos are not just lectures; they are engaging, interactive, and brilliantly explained.
- Classroom Time for Practice: In the classroom, teachers focus on practice, application, and problem-solving. This is where real learning happens. Instead of merely absorbing information, students actively engage with the subject matter.
The Benefits of the Flipped Classroom with Khan Academy
- Personalized Learning: Khan Academy provides a personalized learning experience, allowing students to move at their own pace, revisiting and reinforcing concepts as needed.
- Greater Classroom Engagement: In a flipped classroom, students are more engaged as they work on problems with the guidance of their teachers and peers. Learning becomes an active, participatory experience.
- Mastery Learning: With Khan Academy’s interactive exercises and immediate feedback, students have the opportunity to master each concept before progressing. This boosts confidence and competence.
- Time Efficiency: Classroom time is optimized for learning, and students can make the most of their time at school.
- Supporting Educators: For teachers, Khan Academy acts as a powerful assistant. It provides valuable insights into each student’s progress, making it easier to address individual learning needs.
The advantages of the flipped classroom are clear. Students receive more personalized guidance from teachers while becoming self-directed learners. Teachers have more time for in-depth interactions and can better accommodate different student learning styles. The flipped approach also promotes student engagement as they take an active role in knowledge construction.
Khan Academy has been key in making the flipped classroom model possible. Its videos allow students to learn at their own pace and review material as needed. Teachers can track student progress through Khan’s personalized analytics dashboard. The availability of Khan Academy as a free tool has allowed flipped learning to gain popularity even with budget constraints.
Many schools have already seen success with flipped learning powered by Khan Academy. Teachers in Los Altos, California replaced traditional math homework with Khan, allowing them to detect and address learning gaps in class through activities. Student math scores in the district increased dramatically within two years of adopting the flipped model. Similar results have been seen in schools across the U.S. that utilize Khan Academy for flipping instruction.
Khan Academy provides mastery software that empowers educators to ensure all students reach proficiency. The mastery system analyzes student performance on practice exercises and quizzes to identify knowledge gaps. Teachers can use these insights to provide targeted remediation and support. By leveraging Khan’s mastery features, educators can make sure no student falls through the cracks and all have a strong foundation before moving forward.
The flipped classroom represents the future of education. Khan Academy provides the platform to make this student-centered approach scalable from individual classrooms to entire districts. With the rise of Khan and the availability of instructional videos, educators now have the tools to flip their teaching model and create a dynamic learning environment. The flipped classroom revolution is only just getting started, and Khan Academy is leading the way.
Khanmigo : The AI powered student assistant
Khanmigo is an AI-powered guide developed by Khan Academy that provides personalized, one-on-one tutoring to bring deeper learning, confidence, clarity, and empowerment to all students. It is designed to mimic one-on-one tutoring experiences by providing tailored support, prompting critical thinking, and suggesting solutions to problems.
Khanmigo is available for learners and teachers, and it offers a lot of exciting features such as standards-aligned lesson planning tied to Khan Academy’s world-class content library, an on-demand summary of recent student work, and Khanmigo-crafted learning objectives, rubrics, and even exit tickets.
Khanmigo is also an AI-guided lesson planning tool that provides insightful student feedback, freeing up educators’ most limited resource—time. It is integrated into Khan Academy’s world-class content library and connected to an individual learner’s account, which gives it the unique ability to pull in different key insights, such as the courses a student is taking, their preferred language, or even their personal interests. With Khanmigo’s Tutor me feature, homework help is just one click away, and it offers activities such as Debate, Essay Feedback, and Coach my Career Growth. Khanmigo is a groundbreaking platform that provides high-quality, personalized tutoring on every exercise and video in Khan Academy’s world-class content library.
Case Studies:
- Missouri State University: A study examined the effectiveness of Khan Academy as an instructional tool in a high school mathematics course and found that it improved the math scores of participating students [link].
- Stanford University: Stanford University and Khan Academy collaborated to bring the flipped classroom model to medical education, identifying a core curriculum that could be taught through short, focused video clips, followed by interactive sessions where students could practice the curriculum [link].
- Indian Schools: Khan Academy provides resources for teachers in India to enhance learning through flipped classrooms, supporting personalized and self-paced learning for students [link].
- Khan Academy in the UK: A case study of Khan Academy in the UK found that it helped students to develop a deeper understanding of math concepts and improved their confidence [link].
- Khan Academy in Optometric Education: While not a specific case study, the principles of Khan Academy, such as mastery-based learning and flipped classrooms, have been identified as potentially useful in optometric education [link].