Thursday, November 8, 2012

Upside Down Academy

Upside Down Academy http://upsidedownacademy.org/ is a crowd sourced Khan Academy.  It is a good idea but the execution is poor.  The lessons are virtually all math, leaving out other subjects.  Different links end up taking one to the same place on the site as well.

I have a question about these amateur sites.  How do people choose which video to watch if there is more than one on a topic?  I assume some sort of rating system will help learners choose.  What happens when learners choose videos with questionable pedagogy but that help them get the answers on a test?  For example, one of the Khan Academy videos says something to the effect of "Alkali metals like to lose electrons."  This can generate misconceptions.  Seeing as how reform science educators are intent on stamping out misconceptions I predict a collision between amateur video sites and reform science educators.