Three things Sal Khan says he learned in the last decade

Over at EdSurge, Sal Khan reports on Three Things We Learned at Khan Academy Over the Last Decade.

Although this type of reflection isn’t unusual, this one struck me as noteworthy because 1) Sal Khan/Khan Academy are among the best-regarded people/organizations in digital learning, and 2) his observations are characteristically useful and humble.

 I’ll list them and then comment on them all together:

 “Teachers are the unwavering center of schooling and we should continue to learn from them every day.

 Students need exposure to rigorous grade-level curriculum and they need to work at their learning edge.

 Our public schools are an abiding institution that is making important progress despite many challenges”

The immediate thought that comes to mind upon reading these is that they are…almost boring and cliched?

Few people would argue with the first two. Although certainly there are some who challenge public schools to do better—sometimes rightly so, sometimes not—the weight of evidence[1] and our own observations show plenty of public schools that are making progress, particularly if one defines “progress” as what is desired by our democratic schools processes (i.e., school boards and parents) as opposed to what we as individuals might like to see.

When reading Khan’s observations, I’m reminded of the quote “Everything has been said but not everyone has said it,” because upon further reflection it’s clear that there are still too many technology advocates who don’t fully take into account the role of teachers, and others who overlook how curriculum (digital or otherwise) must be matched to individual student needs—which is, in most cases, a key role for teachers.

This hasn’t changed in the recent past, and it won’t change in the near future. Khan references this idea when he writes

I made [the above] three assumptions back in 2010 that still hold sway today.

Although I didn’t know it a decade ago, I now understand these assumptions are enduring. They inform my day-to-day work as well as the important learnings I’ll take forward for years to come.

These concepts are indeed enduring. In fact, among my new year’s resolutions is to answer the query “What’s new in digital learning?” with the response “What’s new is less important than what’s not new.”

[1] Click on “reform policies” and other key terms in the blog word cloud to see some examples.