Khan Academy in the Western Valley

Hi ho Silver! Let's gallop over to Green Valley and West to see 5th graders getting virtually tutored by 8th graders. Students are utilizing the Khan Academy's exercises and reporting system, as an 8th grade West student is teamed up with a 5th grade Green Valley student. They are excited with each tutoring session using a free online collaborative whiteboard, called Vyew and supported by the Khan Academy.

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Here's some of the 5th graders working below. FYI... all students and staff have a Khan Academy account via our Google Apps usernames (LLLFFFM@share.wilsonsd.org).

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So what's this Khan Academy?

• "A not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere. All of the site's resources are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. The Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge."

The middle schoolers are using the reporting system built into the Khan Academy to identify weak areas of their "tutorees". See the video below to learn more about the "Khan Academy Exercises and Reports Overview". The 5th graders do the exercises, the 8th graders check their progress and then work together once a week in the collaborative online work space on identified weaknesses.

Thanks to Jen Trout, Lauren Stump, Rita Berenhausen, Scott Easteadt, Mark Dusko, Stacey Stoudt and Kyle Wetherhold for being flexible, helpful and patient with the bumps and bruises along the way.

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Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.