So, you've probably been wondering: "Michael5000, have you just been wasting all of your free time playing '
Mini Metro'?" And the answer is, certainly not! I have only played Mini Metro a moderate amount, as it has continued to evolve through builds 10, 11, 12, and -- as of Wednesday evening -- build 13!
No, I've been wasting most of my free time with a computer entertainment (arguably) that is virtuous and improving (arguably)! So improving, in fact, that many educational professionals around the world are, even as we speak, using threats and coercion to
force children to play with it. Which is to say, it's used in schools. My friends, allow me to introduce:
Khan Academy.
Khan Academy aspires to offer a free, complete package for self-paced or guided instruction across the traditional curriculum. It is nowhere near that goal. Stray away from math, and its content is really quite poor. But oh, the math! The math content is just... glorious.
If you were to boil it down to the very essentials, the two main features of the K.A. math emporium are (1) questions and problems, like the above, and (2) videos. The questions and problems are, unlike in most free online educational tools, quite good and well thought out. The nature of math is that you get better with practice, and there are a number of mechanisms built in to keep you chewing away at a skill until you get it right. Of course it is also the nature of math that, if you don't know how to approach a problem, you're screwed. That's where that orange "I'd like a hint" bar comes in very, very handy -- by ladling out hints, the interface will walk you step by step through how to work out your solution.
The most popular feature of K.A. might be the videos, in which avuncular Sal Khan -- literally avuncular, as the whole project apparently got started with him helping his nephews with their math homework -- walks you through the paces with a colorful electronic chalkboard. There's nothing amazing about his delivery, but he is a confident and personable presence, and the young people of my acquaintance (who were the ones who hooked me up with K.A.) tell me that watching Uncle Sal (they don't call him that) do the math really helps them understand what their real-life teacher was going on about.
Aw man, math. How come you said "entertainment"?
Because it's fun! It's structured in a way that will be very familiar to online players of games, with lots of bells and whistles and little rewards. There are points and badges!
And a jaunty cartoon character tips his hat to you when you "level up" on a skill!
But math is haaaaaaaaard......
Are you thinking that math is too tough a subject to ever revisit, now that you are more or less an adult? Well, one of the marvels of K.A. is that it will meet you wherever you are. If you find math really, really challenging, it will start you at the begining:
But it will scale up far enough to give most folks a substantial challenge:
There are a lot of specific skills make up a person's math ability, after all, and K.A. is constantly trying to figure out how to give you an appropriate level of challenge. It maps out skills on a rectangular grid:
That's me. After several weeks of messing around, it's figured out that I've got the really simple stuff under control, and so the top five or six rows are mostly blank -- it hasn't bothered to make me prove that I can do elementary arithmetic. The dark blue boxes represent areas of advanced arithmetic, basic algebra, general geometry, and basic trigonometry. That's what I've been working on to date. The grey areas below correspond to probability and stats, advanced algebra and geometry, and the dreaded calculus. I'll be moved on to those things when I've been proven worthy.
This still doesn't sound like fun
It's really kind of fun! Ask Mrs.5000! I signed her up to use as a test student, and she's nearly as hooked as I am!
You probably want some math homework
Which reminds me, I have been using K.A. not just as a dorky learning tool, but also as a dorky teaching tool. Mostly, I use it with young people whose educational progress I am paid to encourage and enhance. But if you want me to use it on YOU, gentle
reader, just set up a K.A. account, go to your "Coaches" tab, and add this class code:
"SC65SR." And absolutely free, for no charge at all, simply because I like you -- I will assign you math homework.
