The Perils of "Live" Learning

Recently I was staring at my computer screen waiting for a live interview to begin. It was 1 p.m. and the interview was with Salman Khan, the founder of Khan Academy.

I was intrigued about this interview for two reasons. The first reason:  I’m a big fan. Khan, the 38-year-old founder of Khan Academy, is a pioneer and many regard him as a leading thinker in education. I read his 2012 book, “The One World School House” and found it inspiring. I was interested in what he was going to say during this one-hour interview.

The second reason I was intrigued was that the interview was live. I found this, well, ironic. Dating back to 2003, Khan has recorded over 5,000 videos and created exercises on a wide range of topics that are all delivered via YouTube for people to consume wherever and whenever they want. Time and place are not a factor – which is a big part of what’s made his approach to learning so revolutionary and effective. So, the idea of a “live interview” with Khan seemed not only odd, but also kind of unnecessary.

 KZO Innovation's "live" interview with Sal Khan

1:08 p.m. Still nothing. I’m wolfing down a plate of mini-carrots and hummus because I skipped lunch to fit in a conference call. Now I’m staring at a screen of old fashion TV color bars and the words on the screen read, “offline.” That’s it.

I grumble, still amused by the irony at hand. I instant message a colleague of mine in Texas to make sure I don’t have the wrong link. He quickly confirms he’s staring at nothing as well. We’re both waiting and we aren't alone. The Twitter feed embedded into this interview launch screen is popping with Tweets – questions like, “What’s happening?” “Is there a problem?” “Does anyone hear anything?” All very logical questions.

Biting into a mini carrot, I wonder how they heck they make these carrots so small. Do they pull them out of the dirt early or do they cut them up and shave them down? I honestly don’t know. I also wonder what it must be like at K-ZO Innovations, the Reston, Virginia company running this live – yet to be aired – event.  They must be totally freaking out.  Almost 10 minutes in and it’s complete crickets.   Finally, K-ZO, a technology company that delivers video via the web, sends an e-mail stating that they are having technical difficulties and that the event will begin  “shortly.”

I'm annoyed, but decide to stick it out. After all, it’s Sal Khan – king of the recorded lesson, the guy who has over 15 million students watch his videos and take over 4 million lessons every single day. It’s a compelling model not simply because of the convenience of learning at your own time, but also your level and your own pace.

I think of how teachers in live classrooms struggle to meet the needs to students on the high ability end and the low ability end at the same time. With 25-30 kids, it’s hard to reach them all. But through his videos, lessons, feedback and tracking, Khan's system does this really well.

There is also no stigma for students of asking the teacher to repeat something because they don’t "get it." It’s a video. They can rewind and watch again. They take the lesson again until they get it right. They spend as much time as they want and then move onto another lesson that follows or select a different one that intrigues them.

What they do on Khan Academy is done on their own time, outside of school – and in their own language.  Khan’s approach has been proven to boost student performance – both when it's used in a school setting and outside of school.

Oh, one additional thing. It's all free.

1:10 p.m. Scraping the last hummus from my plate with a nub of baby carrot, I chuckle at the Tweet by learning luminary Allison Rossett as she replies, “What exactly do they mean by ‘Soon?”  We all wait until finally, K-ZO Innovations lets us all know they are pulling the plug on “live” and will send out a recording in a few hours.

It was as it should be. Much more convenient. Whatever happened was a colossal collapse and quite embarrassing for a company that delivers video via the web. To K-ZO's credit, though, they were humble, contrite and quickly churned out a white paper detailing the event, calling it, "When Live Goes Wrong." I will say, I really like their approach using video for learning, by the way. Very smart design. These guys appear to have something compelling.

As I was watching the recorded interview of Khan, of course I was impressed with him. Video is powerful. It's can work on the job and in schools. Hearing him talk, my mind kept going back to a recent meeting I attended at my daughters’ elementary school. The district’s superintendent, on the job less than a year, had just finished talking to about 30 parents in the school’s library about the painful $2.2 million in cuts they were planning for next year.

Salary costs are rising along with transportation costs and other operating expenses. Meanwhile, revenues are not keeping pace. Unless something changes, the deficit in our relatively small 17-school district will climb to nearly $9 million in 4 years. This was not happy news to me, a parent of a 9 and 6-year-old.

A parent seated behind me asked the superintendent: “How does the district plan to use technology?” The superintendent, who is a bright, caring guy doing a very good job thus far,  provided a “we’re open to ideas…” answer. I thought of Khan, his 5,000 videos, lessons and quizzes and scribbled in my notebook, “Send link to recorded "live" interview to superintendent.”

Clearly a future in which our education system more fully embraces technology needs to come sooner rather than later. Thoughtful, integrated, well-executed technology has stopped being a “nice to have” in schools. Universities have gotten the message – at least some have. Businesses have known this for a long time.

Even at the elementary level, a blended-learning approach, combining technology with live classroom instruction – needs to start being simply how children today learn.