Khan Academy recently launched a beta of their new "learning dashboard," which is basically a personalized online tutor. They started with math, but are in the process of developing other subject areas. Math seems to be the logical starting point for learning applications since it's so easy to understand how math concepts build on each other (Common Core standards are helping a ton with other subject areas, but that'll be for another post).
There are a couple fantastic features on its homepage that I think particularly take advantage of modern web capabilites:
1) The progress chart.
Gray means unexplored, dark blue means mastered. They figured out my concept map from a 10-question pretest. From the results, it seems like the pretest was measuring how long it took me to answer certain questions (The questions also got significantly more difficult as I went on, which might imply some sort of dynamic response thing). The map provide an important perspective on my long-term learning, and it uses a simple mechanism to show my progress: each math concept is literally a "pixel" in the picture of my overall knowledge. It doesn't do a whole lot to show how concepts relate to each other, but regarding efficiency of understanding and visual space it's absolute genius.
2) The badge/achievement system.
Badges have been floating around gamified learning for a while now and will probably stick around, because they work. Any extra motivation is worthwhile, and badges and tiny bits of affirmation help keep you around, Mr. Math Pretest Champion.
The badge system is seriously robust. You can select from a whole slew of badges and add them to a "goals" page that will "soon appear on the learning dashboard" (most of this is still in beta). The offer of small rewards for small, easily doable tasks is compelling and addictive. At least I'll be learning math instead of killing zombies. Although obviously some combination of the two would be ideal.
...and then the goal timeline thing.
There's a big opportunity for healthy classroom competition with this kind of tracking. They key would be framing it in a way that makes sure that the kid who's winning the math game isn't losing the social one.
3) Personalized lesson plan.
Based on my progress, the system generated a choice of lessons that it thought would be good for me to tackle. (If I have a human tutor/teacher, they can select the lesson choices I have). Moving away from a purely linear lesson timeline completely changes my mentality when doing these lessons. Instead of having mandatory next steps, I can choose to explore the lesson that most interests me. It's like the parent giving their kid the option between eating broccoli or cucumber at dinner: they probably wouldn't have chosen either on their own, but they still feel empowered by getting to choose what they eat.
4) Task-oriented learning.
Instead of starting with the lesson, Khan Academy starts with the test. It also provides a way to experiment and learn without previous guidance. Lessons are available on the side to help accomplish the tasks. This makes it so lessons are seen not as boring chores to get through, but rather as useful learning tools. Who would have thought?
5) Lesson reinforcement over time.
Once I passed my first lesson, I gained a level in that concept area. I can't test to gain a new level until a minimum amount of time has passed. According to Khan Academy, you learn best when you have to re-use information consistently over time. In order to make this "pixel" of my "learning picture" (remember the progress chart?) darker, I'll have to come back and prove my knowledge later.
Obviously there's still a lot more to this, and a lot will change in the near future. But overall this is a fantastic example of design, technology, and education theory working together in harmony. Aside from math, there are lots of great design lessons to be learned here. Thanks, Khan Academy!
I just started using Khan in my middle school special ed program. I LOVE it! Kids can work on what THEY actually need, not just what comes next in the textbook (which I don't have, but you get the idea). I love that if a student doesn't fully understand a concept, it isn't just dropped never to be seen again...they keep trying until the get it! Plus, kids who already understand a concept don't have to sit through the lesson again. Amazing! I'm looking into some competitions for my students that reward them for effort instead of correct responses or number of mastered concepts. I think I'm going to set one class against another based on energy points, then anyone who reaches 10,000 energy points a week gets to work on coding in KA. My students are over the moon over Khan, as am I.
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