Online Leaning has know a great success during the five past years. However, something needed to be done in order to make it more popular. That is what Salman Khan, a young math teacher did.
This article discusses the idea brought up by this professor who created the Khan Academy site. It is basically a website that offers a lot of instructional videos and practices exercises in math. Teachers can follow the progress of their students through this website and students are able to practice and to watch the learning material online. The Youtube lessons attracted up to 3.5 million viewers.
I found the concept very interesting since personally I had a lot of issues with Maths when I was in school. I think that this kind of interactive exercises and online explanations would have been helpful at the time. What I found very interesting as well is the fact that even if it is still a small group, the Khan Academy site benefits actually from the support of famous donors such as Bill Gates, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation...
I believe also that this e-learning software will make a real difference in learning, especially when it comes to a course such as math. Indeed, this is a new generation. The ability of students to concentrate is becoming more and more weak. They get easily bored with lectures, especially if the professor does not interact a lot with them.
I really hope this kind of ideas will very soon reach the Moroccan education, because there is a lack of creativity and students are bored with lectures and professors who are just trying to make them learn things by heart.
However, one has to be clear. Computers will never replace teachers. Going to class is the first key element for success. E-learning must be used as an additional element in order to practice or to provide an explanation that the professor has not been able to transmit to the student in the right way.
To conclude, this software remains a great one because it helps the professor to know exactly the weaknesses and strengths of his or her students and to follow their overall progress. This is very important since it allows for both professors and students to be more effective.
