(For those who have to discovered the TED pot of gold on their "smart phones", see "What On Earth Is TED?".)
The YouTube channel that Aye TaiTai is talking about is Khan Academy. It has more than 4,000 video lessons teaching a wide spectrum of academic subjects, mainly focusing on mathematics and the sciences.
In late 2004, Salman Khan, the originator of Khan Academy, began tutoring his cousin, Nadia, in mathematics over the internet using Yahoo!'s Doodle notepad. When other relatives and friends sought his tutoring, he decided it would be more practical and beneficial to distribute the tutorials on YouTube where he created an account in 2006. Their popularity on the video sharing website and the testimonials of appreciative students prompted Khan to quit his job as a hedge fund analyst in late 2009 to focus on developing his YouTube channel, Khan Academy. (From Wikipedia)
Who Does He Think He Is?
Don't play play ok - Salman Khan holds four degrees: a BS in mathematics, a BS in electrical engineering and computer science, as well as an MS in computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is married to Umaima Marvi, who is a Pakistani American physician. (From Wikipedia)
And and... In March 2011, Salman Khan was invited to speak at TED by Bill Gates who says he uses the Khan Academy Exercise Software to teach his own children. Khan Academy, a non-profit organization, is also funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Google. (From Wikipedia)
Which Of His Talks Are Worth Your Brain Juice?
Aye TaiTai is no technical superbrain, nor is she working in any technical area. In fact, she hardly uses any maths in her life other than counting the coupons for the cheapest bargains at the supermarket. So, many of the physics and mathematical talks are waaaay out of her league, even if simple English and angkongkiah (i.e. pictures and diagrams) are used.
Starting with the basics, Aye TaiTai explored those preschool-level talks and realized that it's possible to rethink many concepts in a whole new way!
- "Addition 2" : Using a number line
- "Addition 3" : Expanding on Addition 2 to include memorizing of a few simple results
Or you can try out those on other topics for quick 10-minute introductions:
- "Healthcare and Medicine" (Medicine)
- "Empires before World War I" (History)
- "Cosmology and Astronomy" (Astronomy)
- "Ozymandias and writing invention" (Literature)
- "Microeconomics and Macroeconomics" (Economics)
Why We Should All Learn From Khan
Khan outlined his mission as to "accelerate learning for students of all ages. With this in mind, we want to share our content with whoever may find it useful." Khan also plans to extend his "free school" to cover topics such as English. Programs are being undertaken to use Khan's videos to teach those in isolated areas of Africa and Asia. He delineated his motives: "With so little effort on my own part, I can empower an unlimited amount of people for all time. I can't imagine a better use of my time." (From Wikipedia)
