Running Head: Khan Academy 1

Multimedia Critique Paper #1

Khan Academy: How Computers Work

George Warriner III

12 February 2018
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Background:

In the modern classroom, teachers and students alike are teaching and learning

respectively in ever-changing ways. With new modes of teaching and learning, comes an in-

depth investigation on how these new learning modes are impacting achievement and the

impact of learning. Many would argue that traditional teaching and learning methodology has

been sufficient for hundreds of years, and that there is no need for new learning modes and

teaching methods. Some teachers, anecdotally, believe that integrating a lot of technology only

serves to act as a distraction and a façade to an otherwise unengaged student population.

There has been some divide between those who believe that integrating technology into the

learning process is overall a positive investment and a negative one, with the scales tending to

favor more towards the mode that technology integration promotes higher order thinking and

a greater sense of learning and achievement than those classrooms that utilize traditional

methods. Specific methodology for the effective development of learning objects has been a

relatively new topic from the angle of technology integration, but the core principles of

designing learning materials has always remained constant. One of the leading theorists in the

realm of multimedia learning, Richard E. Mayer, presents 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning

that intend to inform and guide many of the materials and learning objects that educators

create for their students.

In the divide between technology proponents and detractors, lies sites like Kahn

Academy that pride itself on the offering of being a resource that is “For Free. For Everyone.

Forever” (Our mission). Begun in 2007, Kahn Academy has served to provide a high-quality,

globalized education to anyone, anywhere in the world. It does not require a subscription, nor a
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username, and all content is easily accessible with each course following an easy to follow

sequence system. Each portion of a course is a short YouTube video that discusses a portion of

content with the next portion of the course video content describing a new piece of content

that builds off the previously discussed content. In a research project conducted by Khan

Academy itself, showed that when students engaged with their math content on Khan Academy

at least 60% of their content, growth was as high as 80% higher than those students who did

not use Khan Academy for learning their math content (Learning). Kahn Academy has seen its

popularity skyrocket in recent years as more and more teachers, students, and even parents are

seeing the value and enrichment that comes through engaging the content through viewable

video segments that break down key concepts in little tiny pieces that every student can keep

up and gain a deeper understanding of what they are learning in their face to face classes. For

this reason, Khan Academy will be reviewed in greater depth and evaluated for its adherence to

the leading multimedia principles and learning theories. More specifically, Khan Academy’s mini

course in “How Computers Work” will be discussed.

Review of Multimedia Learning Object:

Link to Multimedia Learning Object(s):

https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-science/how-computers-work2

Introduction:

The specific course that will be discussed through this section is the course in “How

Computers Work.” This is a six-part series that begins with an introduction of how computers

work, followed by “What makes a computer, a computer?, Binary & Data, Circuits & Logic, CPU,

Memory, Input & Output, and finally Hardware and Software.” Each component builds upon
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the previous, so by the time one views the entire six videos, in order, the idea is that the viewer

would have a pretty firm grip on how computers work from viewing the series.

The Good:

Immediately upon watch the first video, one would realize that Khan Academy is the

real deal with Microsoft founder, Bill Gates providing the overview of what someone will learn

through the video course series. This video does a great job of conforming to the Coherence

principle of Mayer’s Principles of Multimedia Learning, in that only the main ideas are shown,

and no extras are on the screen during the video. Each and every graphic is placed and timed

with specific attention to detail and with a minimalistic layout. The multimedia principle also

applies to the video as accompanying Bill Gates is an onscreen graphic that provides an

illustration of each concept that he is talking about explaining the layout of the course. For

many people, words alone do not provide for the transfer of information from working memory

to long term memory. There is a requirement of an accompanying graphic or picture that would

provide the individual with some visual that they can use to help spark retrieval of the learned

information in future learning to help build onto long term memory. The video series does a

great job of conforming to the signaling principle in that for each small segment of the videos,

there is a title screen that will cue the viewer to what that particular portion of the video will be

talking about so that the viewer can get into the mindset and prepared to learn about that

particular concept. Additionally, Khan Academy does a great job of conforming to the

segmenting principle as each video is presented in a short section that can be followed up by

discussion or debriefing material from an in class teacher to help reinforce the content prior to

progressing on to the next concept. This will allow a teacher to ensure that the student
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understands the basic material prior to moving on to more complex or abstract concepts

(Mayer).

The Bad:

To be as critical as possible, there are only two really glaring developmentally

inappropriate aspects of the videos that Khan Academy produces. First of all, nearly all of the

videos that are produced do not conform to the Image principle in that the person doing the

talking in each video is almost always present during the lessons, although Mayer’s research

has shown that learners do not learn better when the person speaking in a video is actually

visible during the dialogue of the video (Mayer). Secondly, the only other negative aspect that is

present is the fact that the graphics that are used have a lot of moving elements, and this could

overload one’s ability to differentiate between relevant material and the moving graphics. They

are very visually stimulating, so they might not be appropriate for those with sensitivity to

motion or those with ADD, as the motion could cause one to zone out and not pay attention to

the dialogue and the information being taught.

The Conclusion:

Kahn Academy does a great job of providing a top-notch, world-class education for free

with some of each topic’s experts. Immediately when taking the “How Computers Work”

course, you are greeted by Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, and the viewer immediately knows

that they are going to be taught very thought provoking information that will grip and engage

the viewer. While there are a couple of modifications that could be made to make the videos

even better according to multimedia learning theory, but on the whole, Khan Academy does a

great job of conforming to many of the principles of multimedia learning. I would evaluate Kahn
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Academy to be an excellent learning site and multimedia learning object. I would recommend

Kahn Academy to any teacher who is looking for enrichment activities for their classrooms.

Works Cited

Learning Gets Personal: How Idaho students and teachers are embracing personalized learning

through Khan Academy. (2015, Spring). Retrieved February 11, 2018, from

https://s3.amazonaws.com/KA-share/impact/learning-gets-personal.pdf

Mayer, R. E. (2016). The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Our mission is to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. (n.d.). Retrieved

February 12, 2018, from https://www.khanacademy.org/about