Khan Academy Kudos

Being back in school may mean time to brush up on your algebra or physics. Have no fear, the Web now features KhanAcademy, a not-for-profit website that offers video tutorials in math, computer science, chemistry, and many other sciences. As of this writing Khan Academy presents over 3,000 instructional videos that average about 10 minutes each. These videos have been used over 180 million times, and counting, by learners all over the world. 

The founder of Khan Academy, Salman (Sal) Khan, narrates and illustrates most of the videos, which he began posting as YouTube videos for his younger cousins in the early 2000s. Now with major funding from Google and other donors, Khan Academy has a staff of expert teachers, translators, and engineers who have built up the Academy to make it easy to learn specific math and science concepts, understand how concepts are sequenced and interdependent within specific content areas, and communicate with other learners to learn together material that has often left students of all ages feeling isolated and discouraged. The site is currently in English with plans and funding to translate the videos into many world languages in the near future.

If you haven't been to the site before, get a feeling for its organization and quality by watching the short video "Overview of KhanAcademy". You can also go directly to the "Watch" tab and type in the concept you know you want to study. Check out the Knowledge Map to see where the concept or skill you want to refine fits into the field as a whole. If you create a login account and do the exercises, the interactive Knowledge Map will help you sequence your learning to make sure you have a handle on all the concepts you need in one area before you move on to the next.

Sal writes on the "About Khan Academy" page, 

"I teach the way that I wish I was taught. The lectures are coming from me, an actual human being who is fascinated by the world around him." 

Khan Academy is not just for school children and includes videos covering test preparation help for the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). A lot of people are saying that Khan Academy doesn't represent just the best in online tutoring but an entirely better way to learn key math and science concepts at any age. You can replay the videos and do the exercises as many times as you need to--Khan Academy video teachers never lose their patience or pre-judge you. For each video there is also an online community of fellow learners who ask questions and answer yours to supplement the video with the dialog of real people. You can even track your learning and measure your progress as you complete the lessons.

Because it is free, top-notch tutoring in difficult subject areas, the smart thing to do is to think of Khan Academy for math and science the same way we often use Wikipedia today. Go there first with your questions and stay awhile, for best results.