This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 116 of the Cult of Pedagogy

podcast. In this episode I'm talking with Sal Khan about how Khan Academy is

bringing free mastery learning to the masses.

We live in a time when a person can learn just about anything from YouTube. And when it comes to creating free

instructional videos Khan Academy has been leading the pack for the last decade starting first with math videos

then branching out to include tutorials on science, computer programming, history, economics, and even grammar.

Recently Khan Academy has added a new layer to its platform that could really be a game changer for all of us.

Mastery Learning. This system allows students to go beyond cherry picking videos and instead take full courses

measuring their progress as they go, earning mastery points, reaching new skill levels and completing challenges.

Teachers whose students use the platform have a dashboard that shows student progress.

It's important to note here that digital learning programs are not a substitute for many of the experiences students should be having in our classrooms.

A rich robust empowering education gives students regular opportunities to talk with each other, actively problem-solve with real world tasks, collaborate on multi-faceted projects, impact their communities, and wrestle with life's big questions.

These need to be designed and facilitated by live human beings who build relationships with students.

With that being said, platforms like Khan Academy can effectively take over some of our instructional tasks, like differentiating lessons based on student readiness, assessing individual skills, and assigning tasks to fill gaps, so that we can focus our time on planning and implementing those activities that build relationships and engage students at higher levels.

In this episode, I am talking to Khan Academy's founder, Sal Khan, about how the platform has evolved over the years, how their Mastery Learning program works, why they built it, and how teachers and students can get started.

Support for this episode comes from Pear Deck, the tool that helps you supercharge student engagement.

With Pear Deck, you can take any Google slides presentation, add interactive questions or embed websites, and send it to student devices so they can participate in real time while you present.

And now, Pear Deck has teamed up with Google on Be Internet Awesome, a free digital citizenship curriculum that helps kids learn to be safe, more confident explorers online.

Pear Deck educators worked with Google to create interactive presentations that accompany the lessons from Be Internet Awesome.

Each one gives teachers a simple way to introduce a concept related to digital literacy, and because they're editable, they're easy to tailor to your student's grade level.

The basic version of Pear Deck is free, but my listeners can now get a complimentary 60-day trial of Pear Deck Premium with no credit card required.

This will give you access to features like the teacher dashboard, personalized takeaways, and more.

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