As I've talked about before, both on this blog and elsewhere, I'm not hugely comfortable with digital schooling as a concept. I'm not against it, precisely, because I acknowledge that it has massive benefits for massive amounts of people, but I know it's uniquely unsuited to my learning style; my experience with Khan Academy is proof of that fact. Historically, I've used Khan Academy in two classes (geometry in eighth grade, and calculus in twelfth) and experienced the "flipping the classroom" model in my ninth grade Algebra II course. Although these are all classes I enjoyed for various reasons, I found Khan Academy intimidating and non-intuitive. Because the assignments I was supposed to complete were non-tactile, they felt unimportant, and I let a number of them fall by the wayside. (This is something I struggle with in web classes to this day, and that I've made a special effort to remedy in this class in particular.) When tasked with watching videos, I found they didn't help me learn: without a teacher I could interact with and talk to, I couldn't tease out the math concepts for myself.
All this said, I greatly admire Salman Khan and the work he's done. My target age range is a bit young for Khan Academy - although it has elementary math, I prefer teaching math in a more constructivist manner - but there are definitely individual students who could benefit greatly from it. As much as I struggled with Khan Academy, it rocketed a dear friend into his current mathematics major. For a certain type of more advanced student (ie: not me), Khan Academy helps fill a gap that most teachers simply can't afford to fill. I also greatly appreciate the non-math videos, as we didn't have those during my time with the program, and I think Khan's expansion is one of the wisest things he's done as both a businessman and an educator. I also appreciate the learning module's emphasis on mastery and achievement, elements heavily inspired by video games and other classroom gamification endeavors.
Coursera is much more my speed. Not only does it cover a much broader range of content (not that I begrudge Khan his lack - Coursera is the combined effort of dozens of universities, while Khan until recently made all of his content himself), but the system as a whole is much more student-driven. There are no classroom-designated "teachers" who can set up "assignments;" instead, students sign up for classes themselves and progress at their own pace. The entire syllabus is visible before students sign up for a class, and so there's much more transparency around class requirements than in most in-person higher education institutions. Although I'm sure most if not all of the courses contain the familiar bugbears that lead to my struggle with web classes, I haven't experienced them myself and am therefore much less inclined to bear them ill will. (I feel sorry for Khan Academy in this regard, as my excitement at its revolutionary high-concept education is laden down with a history not truly its fault.)
I'm personally intrigued and tempted by Coursera, to be honest - they have classes about my hobbies, like game design and creative writing, as well as my career, like a course surrounding autism spectrum children in the early childhood classroom. I often joke about wanting to attend college in my free time; Coursera is the first time that has even approached a possibility. If Columbus State accepted transfer credits, I'd probably sign up for something this moment. (A good thing, then, they don't seem to - the last thing I need is more homework!) I love that Coursera maintains teacher pages, as well. If I liked a course taught by a particular teacher, I can see what else they teach. If I find someone particularly onerous, I can see which of their courses to avoid.
Are websites like Khan Academy and Coursera the future? A part of me hopes so. One of my fundamental beliefs is that knowledge should be free (even if education is not), and the efforts of people like Khan and Daphne Koller (one of Coursera's co-founders) are helping to break down the insurmountable paywalls - both literal and metaphorical - that have until now characterized academia. But this comes, as always, with a mountain of disclaimers, because online classes in any form erect their own metaphorical paywall. Instead of a culture-wall or class-wall, though, it's a learning-style-wall. I have to put in noticeably more effort to even learn in an online class than a physical one, much less succeed. What becomes of students similar to me? Those who react even more extremely? I'm not talking specifically or only of disability here, although that certainly plays a part in my reluctance. What Khan and Koller are doing isn't powerfully because it's education driven individually, it's powerful because it's powered by the common man. It's not tangled up in the web of bureaucracy oh-so-common in American schooling. In order to keep it that way, it needs to stay accessible - not just to the poor and the disabled, although that's incredibly important and possibly the most valuable aspect of the sites, but to everyone who would be reluctant to take an online course.
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