Sal Khan is the actualization of my vision for online education. He is on a mission to provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere. He is the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, which offers free video tutorials for millions of students around the globe in 36 different languages. They are currently launching Khanmigo, an AI tutor for learners -slash- AI assistant for teachers. But what about the human interaction element of education? Well, during Covid he helps develop the Schoolhouse platform, which offers free real-time video tutoring with vetted volunteers from all around the world. And it is all nonprofit.
Ironically, I chose him for this project haphazardly. I didn’t know anything other than Khan Academy helps math students, and when my peers were bemoaning the lack of diversity in EdTech, I thought maybe whoever founded it was middle eastern (turns out he’s born and educated in the USA). And he’s not marginalized either, he is arguably one of, if not the most, successful people in EdTech. His Youtube channel has over 8M subscribers, he’s got donations from influential people like Elon Musk and has recently appeared as a guest on Bill Gates’ podcast.
There are a number of things that have stood out to me in reading Weller’s 25 years of Ed Tech. The first is that he felt it necessary to point out that he may have taken some liberties with the timeline, as if somehow his analysis is rendered less valid because he got a year or sequence wrong. That being said, it is interesting that he chose to start with message boards, and not the web or any software that came prior.
I’ve long ago learned about HTTP and URLs but had never considered the design of the web as a networked system before. So in reading Weller’s description of a robust, decentralized, and open system, my mind immediately went to bitcoin. The biggest Eureka! moment for me was the realization that these two technologies share the same design principles: that they are open and available for anyone to participate; that they are decentralized, running through numerous nodes and not owned or controlled by any one entity; and that they are robust and designed to survive attack. I don’t think those are coincidences but rather a lesson for me that demonstrates the depth and importance of design.
Another lesson in design was the chapter on wikis. It’s interesting how the culture of openness led to the design of a system that’s not particularly revolutionary in its technical elements, but has become the oracle for truth online. I’ve yet to participate in creating or editing a wiki but I’m eager to learn more.
Finally, the most contentious chapter was the one on e-learning. Because of where it’s situated on the timeline, it wasn’t ready for primetime and e-learning gets subjugated as a brand, the e-commerce of education in the midst of a dotcom boom. Today, e-learning theory espouses many of the same principles found in other works towards a unifying theory of online education. Let the ivory towers debate about whether face-to-face is as good as it gets til the end of time, the reality is that it’s entirely situational and that most learning environments exist outside of lecture halls.
Great post Matt and excellent work on theoretical frameworks. As you consider which one to use as the TF keep…