Today I make a recommendation for maths tuition. It’s back to school, and most parents will be thinking of getting extra help for their children way before it is too late. I believe that it is a positive thing to show your child that you care about their education. It might be the motivation they need to get through the days and weeks of schooling. Even if you have no clue how to help them with their school work, show a little interest. Ask about the school day. Ask them what they did and what questions they asked the teachers. It might be the conversation a child needs to talk about the challenges that they’re facing. Another thing you can do is to ensure that your child has all the equipment they need for school.
In this article, I want to recommend a resource that I think is ideal for maths. A lot of people find maths intimidating. The situation becomes worse if we go through primary school and later high school with gaps in knowledge. These deficiencies are difficult to fill towards exams. The internet has democratised access to information, and now there are free resources available. One of them is www.khanacademy.org. I would recommend this resource for several reasons:
- Mastery Based Learning and Instant Feedback,
- Self-paced Learning,
- Diagnostic Tool,
- Supported by Google and Microsoft.
I’ve been using Khan Academy for some time now, and I will explain the reasons why.
Mastery Based Learning and Instant Feedback
When your child signs up to Khan Academy, the artificial intelligence algorithm uses their age to generate questions that correspond to their age group and the national curriculum. When a child answers a question, they receive instant feedback because the computer marks the answer. If the answer is correct, the student can move on to the next question. But if the answer is wrong, they can try again, or they may choose to read some hints. There may be three or more tips depending on the question. There is also one or more video suggestions where the child can watch a video which explains the concept or demonstrates how the student can answer the question. After these hints, the child is should be able to respond to the question. If not, then they can always ask a teacher or an adult for help.
The instant feedback which they are getting from the computer is what they need to be able to proceed knowing that they have mastered the current question. Immediate feedback is how video games operate. Players have to pass through stage 1 to move on to the next one. But in school students may have to wait a day or more to get their results back for a piece of work. By the time they get the feedback, they would have done other things in between and may find it difficult to connect all the work that they are doing. So I think Khan Academy addresses that problem very well.
In the mean time, the Khan Academy algorithm is building a knowledge profile for the student based on their performance up to now. It uses how long it takes the student to answer the questions, whether or not they have accessed the hints and the types of questions where the students are struggling. It uses that to generate the questions for the next set of questions. It will produce a mastery challenge with problems that seek to address trouble areas. It is useful for mastery-based learning because it ensures that the student does not move on to the next more challenging task unless they have mastered the easier stuff.
If students of the same age group start using Khan Academy at the same time, they will be solving entirely different problems by the end of the exercise because the algorithm differentiates according to individual performance. It will quickly move forward a student who is doing very weell and move back a student who is struggling. The questions are tailor-made for individual students. It means that the teacher can focus on those who are struggling or ask those who are doing well to help those who are finding it hard.The child is competing against himself in this case.
Khan Acadamy is a brilliant diagnostic tool for teachers and parents to identify areas of difficulty for the student or the child. The teacher or coach or parent can use a dashboard which is colour coded so that areas of difficulty appear in red. The helper can jump to that topic and assist the learner. Ideally, teachers can use this for the flipped classroom concept. If students can work at home, in class the teacher can focus on the problem spots. The teacher can quickly identify those who need help and assist them. Although the questions are mostly for maths, Khan Academy has said that they will soon roll out questions for other subjects as well.
Big Support and Concerns
Both Google and Microsoft are helping the founder Sal Khan. When the big guns come in, then you know it is a great platform to use, and these guys come in with their technicians to improve the algorithm. One of the concerns people have is that since it is an American based company, the content may not be appropriate for other countries. I don’t find that to be a problem. After all, it is the conceptual understanding which matters. Maths is maths anywhere in the universe. Khan Academy is being used in many countries and receiving great reviews. Education has been moving very slowly compared to other industries despite advances in technology and the internet. Although individual educators are using their initiative to implement platforms such as Khan Academy, the education industry itself is still stuck in the 19th century where the teacher disseminates information to students who are paying attention.
If you haven’t already done so, I recommend that you use this platform for your child. If you have questions, please get in touch with me through www.derecktafuma.com or social media.
Are you using any platforms for your child at the moment? One thing I like about Khan Academy is that it is professional and FREE.