Salman Khan at TED 2011

Origins of Khan Academy

Salman Khan’s vast and varied knowledge has certainly been put to great use. This is a man who started his adventure into teaching the world by tutoring his cousins remotely, and posting the videos online. In this TED Talk, Salman Khan entertains the audience with a humorous anecdote about his cousins who decided after watching Khan’s YouTube videos that they preferred the video recordings to Khan’s live tutoring.  They loved the ability to pause and repeat the instruction.

As Salman continued to tutor his cousins, he also continued to post his tutorials online, getting more attention each time his virtual blackboard appeared. His videos were created on the premise that fundamental principles that have been taught for years in a classroom can be preserved in digital form for repeated use. In addition to being informative, his tutorials proved to be entertaining, engaging viewers to watch and learn from Khan again and again.

Teachers Flip for Khan

His videos received much attention from teachers who began to use the videos to “flip the classroom”, assigning the videos to students for self-directed learning at home, and then using time in class for project based learning.  He also received the attention of Bill Gates, and in 2009, Khan joined the Gates foundation and Google, developing the highly successful Khan Academy.

Salman Khan’s Vision

In this TED Talk, Salman Khan explains his vision of the one-world classroom. He talks about how Khan Academy is revolutionizing learning, removing the one-size-fits all classroom, and leaving opportunities for self-paced learning.

This video originally appeared on TED and can be found by clicking here.

His TED profile can be read by clicking here.