Blended Learning Model: Case Study of Khan Academy to Personalize Math Instruction

1. Blended Learning Model: Case Study of Khan Academy to Personalize Math Instruction Accord Institute for Education Research Ahmet Uludag Ph.D. Ali Korkmaz Ph.D.

2. Blended Learning • online learning in brick-and-mortar schools • supervised by an adult, not necessarily a teacher • student-centric (student control over time, place, path, and/or pace) • highly personalized for each learner with respect to the pace. • saves money in tight budget environment • supplements teaching • educational model usually dictates how long the blend is. • teachers can have additional time to do more creative and customized teaching

3. Blended Learning • Core subjects: Math, Reading, and Science • Typically a limited time for the instruction is for computerized learning. • Typically fundamentals or basics are covered in computerized learning. • Teachers need to build on the basics to extend learning beyond to ROTE learning. • Usually 10-25% of instruction time for computerized learning. • Rocketship Model = 25% • KIPP Model = 11% • Personalized feedback to all students at the same time not one at a time.

4. Khan Academy • Free repository of videos of math, science, biology, economy, etc. for anyone and anywhere. • Free exercise revolving around the concepts covered in videos. • Free progress tracking of students by their coaches, teachers, and parents. • The videos are demonstrations of concepts coupled with sample step by step solutions for math questions through an audio. • The videos have the same teacher (Salman Khan) for all videos and the same blackboard. • The videos have the same voice for all math videos.

5. Khan Academy – Math Concept Math

6. Khan Academy Videos Videos: Step by Step Explanation of Math Concepts through Sample Problems Sample Exercises: Answer Boxes and Hint Window

7. Khan Academy Practice Exercises Practice math at your own pace with our adaptive assessment environment. You can  start at 1+1 and work your way into calculus  or jump right into whatever topic needs some brushing up. Each problem is randomly generated, so you never run out of practice material.  If you need a hint, every single problem can be broken down, step-by-step, with one click.  If you need more help, you can always watch a related video.

8. Khan Academy – Progress Reports You can drill all the way down from a bird's-eye view of your profile into each and every skill practice problem that you've ever worked on. You'll see real, hard data about your increasing mastery of math. You can get a summary of class performance as a whole or dive into a particular student's profile to figure out exactly which topics are problematic.  The class profile lets coaches glance at their dashboard and quickly figure out how to best spend their time teaching.

9. Khan Academy - Students • How it works for students • Students can make use of the extensive video library, interactive challenges, and assessments from any computer with access to the web. • Complete custom self-paced learning tool • A custom profile, points, and badges to measure progress • Streaks: get ten questions in a row on a single topic; e.g.addition, for the MASTERY.

10. Khan Academy - Teachers • Teachers have easy access into what their students are learning and doing on the Khan Academy. • No grading • Ability to see any student in detail • A real-time class report for all students • Better intelligence for doing targeted interventions

11. Blended Learning and Khan Academy • Los Altos School District: • early adaptor district close to Silicon Valley; • recently expanded the program to all schools and wider range of grades; • No significant differences in test scores in an already high performing school district. • Reports of a newfound enthusiasm in student that they do not get through traditional textbooks.

12. Blended Learning and Khan Academy • Summit Preparatory Academy: • Made Khan Academy a part of their everyday classroom experience. • Splitting up lessons between those that are teacher-led and those that are computer-based • Unlike many of the other schools participating in Khan’s pilot programs, Summit is from less affluent community, with 40% of students qualifying for free lunches. • Students don’t have a computer at home, • Improved test scores.

13. Research Literature on Khan • SRI International’s Center for Technology in Learning (CTL), with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is studying the adoption of Khan Academy in Northern California during the 2011–12 school year. • Twenty-one public, charter, and independent schools are participating in the study.  • Case studies to understand how Khan Academy is being used to support math instruction in different school settings • Quasi-experimental designs to measure the potential impacts on student learning • An analysis of the costs of adoption • A report summarizing the findings for the 2011-12 school year will be available in December. • Envision Academy Study • High school student who failed in Algebra were randomly assigned to control and treatment groups • 5 week summer course • Algebra I curriculum • Small Sample Size • Hawthorne Effect, students knew they were part of the study. • Measures: • UC Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Program (MDTP) • UC Elementary Algebra Diagnostic Exam: Readiness for Algebra II

14. Theoretical Foundation • Based on a pragmatic perspective • A pragmatic perspective: • Educational research = investigation of the aims, ends and purposes of education; • Search for better methods of educational practice. • Pragmatism • Offers both inductive and deductive thinking • Focus on the consequences of the research - multiple methods used to inform the problem and research questions

15. Research Questions • Explore how public schools are utilizing Khan Academy to respond increasing pressure of accountability. • Know how to differentiate math instruction through Khan Academy. • Engage in a discussion on pros and cons of blended learning through the implementation of Khan Academy.

16. Importance of Research • Blended learning is spreading fast to ameliorate budgetary challenges. • Policy makers and practitioners benefits from research of the practices of curriculum programs: how and why they work or do not work. • The research is timely as Khan is very popular. Why and how schools adopt Khan Academy?

17. Methodology • Qualitative Study • Case Study (Yin, 2008) • Measures • Teacher Interviews • Un-structured Interviews • Analyzed interview notes through constant comparison method (Glaser 1965; Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

18. Case Study as a Method (Yin, 2008)

19. Data • Schools are located in two different states; • Northern and Southern California • Arizona • Most of California schools are LAUSD schools. • Schools are smaller in size. The largest one has 500 students at its middle and high school. • Waiting list in some schools while other schools have low enrollment issues. • Low teacher/student ratio - 1/20. • Talked to over 6 teachers.

20. Demographics • Serving mostly to low socio-economic status students. • LAUSD schools have over 70 percent Hispanics. • Arizona schools are more diverse.

21. Finding #1 • Teachers utilize Khan Academy as a “enrichment tool”. But what brings teachers to Khan? • It is for both struggling and proficient students. • Teachers are under pressure to ensure growth in math. • Teachers identify below proficient students and assign them enrichment hours for math. • Removed from electives, the students go to enrichment. • In some cases, the computer classes serve as enrichment block. • Students take Khan Academy exercises in the computer classes.

22. Finding #1 continued • Khan Academy is also intervention • What: “It is intervention”. • Why: “It is being used as an enrichment tool to move them through”. • How #1: “Everybody is assigned a half hour work at home to go through videos and exercises tasked”. • How #2: “I ask struggling learners come in early in the morning before the class. They come in and I work with them on Khan Academy”. • How #3: “Special ed kids use the computers in special ed teacher’s room. They study on their own while I supervise.” • “Some kids do not get engaged. Kids are always have the tendency to stare at the television set”. No work gets done.

23. Finding #2 • Khan Academy does not replace standardized text book driven teaching. It is supplemental. It is a booster. • Khan is not geared towards any state or national standard or tests. • It has a concept map of its own. For this reason, it is a tool to develop and master the skills that they lack. • Khan Academy is just extra to differentiate instruction for the students.

24. Findings #4 • Khan Academy individualizes math instruction in dependent of the grade level that the students are at: • “The assignments are individualized. I know where they are at. (Assign tasks accordingly.) Geometry kids will do geometry. Other kids will work on whatever they need to work.” • “Khan is a lot more… The range is good… It has a lot more topics. It is not so much grade level. It is a continuum of math. This is focused. It is more rigorous”.

25. Findings #5 • Students engage learning conversations with their peers • The students engage each other to seek help for the areas that they have difficulty. • They seem to be more comfortable to go to their neighbor. • They do not go to the videos as much. “Kids do not want to watch videos. It is not changing every five seconds. That is why they are not interested in.” • Despite there is step by step hints for each exercise, the students need support from their peers.

26. Finding #6 • Teachers have more of a supervision role resulting in: • More time to spend with slow learners. No need to develop a lesson plan and assessment to test learning. It is already develop for them. • Academically talented kids do not face any ceiling disengaging them from sustaining their healthy learning pace. • Differentiates instruction for each student which is almost impossible to do in a mixed group of students who have different levels of mastery. • “I think that direct instruction is not working. I am (an) actor. I am enthusiastic. I try as much as possible. Peer work, group work. Group or individual work. Blah, blah, blah does not work. It does not seem to work any longer.”

27. Finding #7 • Free resource: • In a budget tight environment, school leaders want to benefit from free resources. • “Last year, we used MathScore. Khan Academy is free”. (Teacher, SSA Broadway) • “To be honest, we did not have any budget for blend learning. We wanted to also cut down teacher work load. There is not a lot of math resources for FREE. Khan is free and helps teachers to get a little bit of break from hands-on math teaching which can be very demanding”. (Dianne Traver, Summit Charter Schools CEO)

28. Finding #8 • Effective?? • It is effective for some students who are engaged. • Students are hooked onto points and badges. • Some special ed kids love Khan Academy.

29. Contact Ahmet Uludag, Ph.D. auludag@accordeducation.org Ali Korkmaz, Ph.D. akorkmaz@accordeducation.org CERA - November 29, 2012