With the vast web of online information expanding every day, students are utilizing various kinds of resources available on the Internet. Khan Academy, a non-profit educational website containing more than 3,000 videos on every subject from elementary arithmetic to art, history, and finance, is becoming especially popular in Korea Kent Foreign School (KKFS), where both teachers and students have effectively incorporated these educational videos into their studies.
Thomas Wiebe, the AP world history teacher at KKFS, uses Khan Academy to help students gain background knowledge of certain historical events before actually teaching them.
“Even though there aren’t many videos on history, I try to make use of them as much as possible because it’s hard for me to go through every minute detail during the short fifty minutes of class,” said Wiebe. “Khan does a great job explaining the overall flow of events, and I think it’s a great resource for teachers to use as well.”
Outside of class, students are using Khan Academy to prepare for upcoming SAT and AP exams.
“I’m studying some AP Calculus free response questions with Khan’s videos, and his explanations make it easy for me to understand a lot of difficult concepts,” said Cathy Jun, a junior in KKFS. She also stated that she frequents the site whenever she needs a brief review of what she had learned in class. “I forget things really easily, so these videos would come in handy for people like me,” said Jun.
Jun also believes that students are not taking as much as they can from all the educational opportunities provided by Khan Academy. “You don’t have to be necessarily studying for something to go online and watch them. Khan has a wide variety of videos, so you can always check out some that aren’t class-related or SAT-related,” said Jun.
This is a really interesting article. Not only does it provide students with a new possible source of education, it also provides evidence that technology is evolving day by day. Great job!