Khan Academy’s AI Tool for the Classroom: Teacher + Student Edition

Welcome, welcome! We are going to be starting promptly at 3 o'clock, but we're going to start letting our participants come in, so thank you for joining us today. Hello, hello, hello! Thank you all for joining us. We still have some participants coming in, so we're going to start promptly at the top of the hour.

As you are coming in, if you have any questions at any time during our session, you can drop them in a Q&A. We are being joined by some of our Khan Academy team members who will be answering questions in the Q&A, so please feel free at any time to drop any questions that you may have in our Q&A section. We have about one more minute.

All right, it is the top of the hour, and so we are going to get started. We want to welcome all of you here today to join us for our session. The title of our session is Kigo: Khan Academy's AI Tool for the Classroom, the Teacher and Student Edition. My name is Dian Klingman. I am a professional learning specialist here at Khan Academy, and I am also joined by—

Hello, hello everyone! My name is Michelle Marbar, and I too am on the professional learning team at Khan Academy. I hope everybody is having a wonderful Wednesday!

All right, so we're going to get started. Before we dive into our content for today, we want to hear from you, the audience. Using AI to support student learning is a new concept, and there's going to be plenty of time for everyone to learn about all the various tools that are available to you as an educator.

Before we get started, we just want to know from you: How familiar are you with AI and student learning? So there's going to be a poll that's about to pop up, and we just want to know: Are you very familiar? Do you regularly use it in your classrooms? You might be somewhat familiar, having used it a few times. You might be slightly familiar; you know you've heard about it and tried it once or twice, or you're just not familiar at all and you're just here to learn a little bit more about it.

Okay, we're seeing that some people are somewhat familiar. Okay, we have some slightly familiar folks, because we're all learning at this point—so this is new! Thank you for sharing kind of where you are at this point.

For those of you that may not be as familiar, we hope by the end of this session you have a lot of your questions answered that you may have at this time. All right, most of you probably already know Khan Academy as a free resource that includes videos, articles, and exercises. We know that that's true; we are about giving a free education to anyone, anywhere. However, we also now have a paid district partnership that's available for those districts that are looking to get a little bit more support.

So in this paid district partnership, this partnership grants both teachers and students access to K-migo, which is our chatbot, and Kigo provides that in-the-moment personalized support for students when they encounter learning difficulties. Also a part of this paid district partnership come some wraparound services that support both teachers and administrators. We offer robust professional development, and in that professional development, we incorporate practical strategies for incorporating AI into the classrooms.

So this type of wraparound support extends through the whole duration of our partnership together. You also may be wondering what the difference is between K-migo and ChatGPT. By now in the news, I’m pretty sure you've heard of ChatGPT, which is this large language artificial intelligence model. But unlike ChatGPT, Kigo was specifically designed with educators and students in mind.

Some of the things that Kigo does are: Kigo prioritizes safety and data management. Kigo adheres to the privacy and data protection guidelines like FERPA and COPA. Kigo is also a Socratic tutor that is going to guide students when they are stuck on a specific problem. It’s not just going to give them the direct answer; Kigo is also going to provide a comprehensive learning experience for students.

As a teacher or educator, Kigo will also partner with you and support you with co-creating some high-quality lesson plans and assist you with the progress monitoring process. So as you begin to implement Kigo into your learning environment, this is a new tool, and with anything that is new, it’s going to be important that you carefully introduce Kigo to your students.

You want your students to know and understand the clear expectations around using Kigo. We know that as educators, when we set those clear expectations, students are more than likely to meet them because they understand the why behind why this tool is being used in their classroom.

As you begin to carefully introduce this to your students, you want your students to know that their brain is their first supercomputer. Our human brain is designed to create and to think creatively, right? And so AI cannot do that. We want our students to still be those creative thinkers.

When students are stuck on a specific concept in our classes, we already give them some tools to do. What are some things that you can do when you get stuck? You can ask a friend. You can refer back to your notes. You can even use manipulatives, or you probably have anchor charts up in your classrooms for students to reference. If they get stuck, they can even ask you, the teacher. But now you are bringing Kigo into your classrooms to be that additional tool for students to have when they are stuck in their learning.

AI is not meant to replace creative thinking. And so because of that, it's still going to be important that as educators, we continue to establish a very high culture of creative thinking in our classrooms. You also want your students to know and understand that Kigo is going to be there to help them grow. They should understand that this is a tool that's going to help them grow and gain confidence in their studies.

Kigo can also interact with students in other languages other than English. So if you have students that are currently in your classroom and English is not their first language, Kigo can interact with them in their home language. By removing that barrier, this is going to give all students in your classrooms the opportunity to interact and contribute to the classroom in a very meaningful way.

Earlier, you heard me mention that we have our district partnership that includes the robust professional development. Well, as part of our professional development, we do train on what it means to be AI literate. So as you are introducing AI literacy to your students, it's going to be very important that your students understand: One, what is AI? Right? What can it do, and how should it be used? All of this is available through our partnership. If you decide to become one of our partners, we definitely talk about this in our professional learning sessions.

So with that, I am now going to turn it over to Michelle.

Thank you so much, Diana! This is actually my favorite part because I love sharing all of the amazing features that Kigo has to support and enhance learning for your students. So let's just dig right in there.

First, let's see how K-migo can be used within a course. I'm going to go ahead and pull up a course. When I pull that course up, we're going to be able to see how Khan students can use K-migo with that course. When students open up Khan Academy and they select a video or an article, like is on the screen, something that they're working on, they have the ability to include Kigo into their learning journey by clicking on the lower right-hand corner of the screen.

Mine is currently in teacher mode, and when I select that, it's going to give me a list of prompts, such as do I want to write a lesson plan or create warm-up activities for my students. But for today's purposes, I'm going to change it to student mode, turn that teacher mode off, because I have my student hat on. It then provides me another set of pre-populated prompts that are related to the content on the screen, which are specifically designed for students to make that learning more engaging for them.

Students can also ask Kigo questions. I’m going to select a question that most of my students ask me anytime I introduced a new concept to them in class: Why should I learn about this? I'm going to select that, and let's see what Kigo says.

Great question! Knowing how to evaluate expressions with two variables is like a secret decoder ring. It helps you solve real-world problems. For example, if you're baking cookies and the recipe says two cups of flour for every one cup of sugar, that’s an expression with two variables. If you know how many cookies you want to make, you can figure out how much you need!

Do you want to try a problem from the article now? Yeah, let's do that! Yes, please.

All right, awesome! Let's start with the first practice problem from the article. Can you evaluate the expression 6A + 4B?

No, I cannot. As a student, I’m just interacting with K-migo, and K-migo is going to help support me with answering the questions. On the screen now, Kigo can also be used alongside the exercises in Khan Academy. I'm going to go ahead and select one of the exercises, and just like before, K-migo provides me pre-populated prompts related to the content that I'm working on.

Let’s see again: Why should I care about this? I could ask that. Or try a similar example, or help me solve the problem, or I can even ask my own questions.

So first, I’ll do: Why should I care about this? Because I think that's always interesting.

Kigo: What are your goals in life?

All right, Kigo, I want to be a singer.

Kigo: Cool! As a singer, you might need to split profits from a song with others. Very true, this math can help you figure out how much each person gets. Does that make sense?

Absolutely! So now I know why I need to learn it, because I don't want to split all my royalties. I’m going to go into the actual activity. This is what the student sees, and I'm just going to ask it, "What's the answer?" because I don’t feel like figuring this out.

Let's see...

Kigo: I can't give you the answer, but I can help you find it. Let’s start by plugging in the values for G and H into the equation. Can you do that?

No!

Kigo: No worries! We can do this together. Thank you. Let’s replace the G with 10, and H... what do you get?

So with this, K-migo is not going to give students the answer at all. It's going to be a thought partner with them and help them work through the exercises.

Now, in addition to students being able to access K-migo when they're working in a course with our paid district partnership, students have access to our K-migo dashboard that is designed to support students in the subjects in Khan Academy as well as other subjects. I’m going to access that dashboard by selecting right here where it says AI activities.

One of the first things I want to do is practice my knowledge. This section allows students to practice and build knowledge in any subject they select. This feature meets students where they are and helps support them as they build confidence in the content that they’re working on.

First, Kigo wants to know what age level I am. I love middle school, so I’m going to select middle school.

Great! Now could you please specify the subject you'd like to be quizzed on? It can be math, science, history, English. How about let's do science?

I'm going to ask Kigo a question that I was assigned for homework. Can you help me with understanding cell parts and functions?

Kigo: Absolutely! We're going to have a blast exploring the world of cells. Let’s dive into the first question.

Question 1: In a cell, where are the genetic materials stored?

Okay, I have no idea. Am I smarter than a seventh grader? Let's see.

Kigo: No worries at all! Let’s think about this together. The genetic material of a cell is like an instruction manual. It's stored in a place.

Kigo is going to help me through the process of learning all about cells. Now I’m going to refresh it again, and this time I'm going to select a subject that's not necessarily in Khan Academy.

How about... I'm a high school student and I'm working on pottery.

Kigo: Fantastic! Pottery it is! Get ready for a whirlwind tour of the world of ceramics. Here comes your first question: What is the process of heating the pottery to a high temperature to make it hard and durable called?

Got me! I have no idea.

Kigo: Kigo is so smart! I love the way Kigo helps build a growth mindset for students and lets them know it's okay that they don't know it right now, but it will work with them through the process.

So it's all of these teachable moments, and the students are learning from this entire process. Now let’s do something else. How about let's go to our debate? I love debating! Maybe it’s because my husband says that I love to argue—not sure!

But in the debate feature, students first want to select their appropriate school age, and when they do that, they're going to get a list of prompts. Notice the prompts are age-appropriate.

For elementary school, the prompts could be: Should students wear school uniforms? Is homework necessary or should it be banned?

If I come over to the middle school list of topics, they’re a little bit more in-depth: Should schools start later in the morning? Should schools offer art and music classes?

I'm going to come over to the high school version, which is a little bit more higher level. It definitely works with the age appropriateness for students.

How about, because we’re working on AI right now, should schools ban students' use of AI to write papers?

I’m a former ELA teacher, so this is definitely one that’s near and dear to my heart. I’m going to select that.

All right! Great choice! Now, which side are you on? Do you think schools should ban students from using AI to write papers, or do you think they shouldn’t?

Kigo wants to know my side of the argument. So I’m going to say, "No, I think they shouldn’t!"

Kigo: All right, you're saying schools shouldn't ban AI for writing papers. I'm all ears, and eyes in my case.

That’s funny! Kigo definitely has a sense of humor! So let’s think of my first argument:

How am I going to say that because you don’t give me the answer; you guide me in the right direction.

Kigo: Ah, clever point! Thank you! You're saying AI can be a guide, not a cheat sheet.

Absolutely! But here's a twist: What if students start relying too much on AI and stop thinking for themselves?

Kigo: It's like using a map so much you forget to explore. Your turn, buddy!

Even though Kigo is a form of AI, it’s still playing the opposite side, so I need to think about what my next argument is going to be. We’re just going to go back and forth.

So I’m going to give another one: How about because I have to write an entire essay on this? I'm writing an argumentative essay for my class, so I believe that AI should be allowed because it helps me stay focused on what I'm writing.

Kigo: Aha! You're saying AI is like a trusty sidekick, helping you stay on track and sparking ideas. But remember: too much of a good thing.

Kigo is going to go back and forth, and I'm able to debate to help me create and look at the other side of the spectrum as well. So I love that debate feature! It's one of my favorites.

Now, another amazing thing that Kigo can do is give students instant feedback in our courses. Students get immediate feedback anytime they answer a question. It will provide that immediate feedback that we know is so important for learning.

However, K-migo can also give immediate feedback as well. This is the start of my essay, so I’m just going to ask Kigo: Can you give me feedback?

Kigo: Sure thing, partner! You've made some solid points about how AI can help with focus, organization, and idea generation for improvement. Let's try to give specific examples or tell a story to make your argument more convincing. Like, remember that time AI helped me structure my essay on dinosaurs?

Kigo is not telling me how to do it; it's not writing it for me. It's my thought partner, kind of like my trusty sidekick that’s going to help me come up with ideas and thoughts to make the most amazing essay that I possibly can. So I love this feature on Kigo!

Another thing that K-migo can do is support students in their home language. K-migo is designed with multilingual capabilities that support English, Spanish, as well as Portuguese. These features are incredible resources for our EL students because it enables them to ask questions and learn in their home language.

I’m going to select another option. How about... let's chat with a literary character! Now, although Kigo will not translate the initial prompts and speech bubbles when a student selects one of the features, if a student writes to Kigo in their language, Kigo is going to respond to them in the selected language.

So I'm going to type something to Kigo, and let's see.

Kigo: ¡Hola!

It responds in Spanish!

Another way students can change the language for Kigo is at the top of the page; there are these three buttons. Students can select one and pick their preferences, including changing it from English to Portuguese and Spanish as well.

I love that feature! Another thing Kigo can do on the teacher side is—let's say a teacher wants to write a letter home to a parent, but the parent speaks Portuguese. Kigo can ask or the teacher can ask Kigo to translate that letter for the parents in Portuguese or in Spanish. So it's super helpful that way as well.

All right! Another feature that I want to share is, and I think this one—and maybe it's because I'm the mom of older children—I absolutely love this next feature because Kigo offers several tools that focus on postsecondary activities, which are designed to assist students in their transition to higher education as well as career planning.

I could ask Kigo to coach my academic and career growth. I can honestly use that now! Why not? Or again, students can ask Kigo: Let’s navigate college admission and financial aid!

So I’m going to select that.

Great! Here, looking at the prompts, it says: How do I apply for college? What are different types of secondary education available? Or what factors should I consider when picking a college? These are all great questions.

How about something that I know most college students or high school students preparing to go to college like to ask: How can I pay for college?

Kigo: I know that’s something on the minds of students as well as parents. Paying for college can seem daunting!

Absolutely! But there are a few key resources that can help: scholarships, grants, work-study programs, loans, personal savings. Does this answer your question?

Well, you know what? It does not answer my question because I don't know what a grant is. So I’m going to say, “What is a grant?”

I have no idea. I have a cousin named Grant, but that’s the best I can do!

Kigo: A grant is a type of financial aid that you don't have to pay back, the winner! I love that! Grants are often need-based, meaning they're given out based on a family’s financial situation.

It goes through all of the different features! It brings up the FAFSA—I don’t know what that is! So I’m going to ask Kigo, “What is this FAFSA? What is this called?”

Kigo: It stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid!

Oh, okay! Great, great, great! Thank you! That is very, very helpful.

So again, students can use this to help with that postsecondary exploration. You know they have guidance counselors, but realistically, how often are students able to visit a guidance counselor? They can work at home; they can do this. They can sit with a parent. They can go on Kigo and ask questions that will help educate them, as well as their parents!

Now, I know I’ve been talking a lot about all of the great features that Kigo has for students, but I don’t want us to forget about all of the amazing resources that are available for teachers as well. With our paid district partnership, students will be automatically rostered, so teachers have access to—this is one of my favorite things for teachers—it’s called the Class Snapshot.

So I’m going to go ahead and select that.

The Class Snapshot gives teachers a quick overview of how students are performing in class on Khan Academy to help ensure that students are using the program with fidelity and that they’re getting the support that they need that’s necessary for them to be successful.

Once I select that Class Snapshot feature, Kigo is going to ask me which class. I could have multiple classes, so I’m going to select my algebra class.

All right, once I select that, Kigo is going to give me lots of great information about how my students are performing. It just gives me a high-level overview of their performance for the last seven days, and it's going to highlight areas such as: recent activity. What have my students been doing this week? Are they on track to hit their course mastery goals? Have they completed any assignments? What assignments are they working on?

And what skills are they working on? How’s their skill development going? It's also going to provide me these links that give me direct access to the reports that I’m getting from Khan Academy.

I can always select that, and it'll take me directly to these specific reports. Now at the bottom, it’s going to give me prompts that will help me learn about what my students are doing. I can find out what student should I celebrate with the work that they’ve done last week?

Who needs a check-in? It lets me know what students are struggling, gives me a list of students who are 25% or more towards their mastery goal. I need to know who’s progressing and who’s not!

Then this one I think is my favorite because we all know the importance of small group instruction or skill-based group instruction, but we don’t necessarily have the time to create those groups. Kigo does it instantly for me!

So I can group my class by their recommendations. When I select that, Kigo, again, remember, my students are automatically rostered, so Kigo has access to my students, and it’s going to group them for me based on a course that I’m working on.

So I can use all of these different features with Kigo. I can ask Kigo about a specific student, so I have my students over here. I can ask Kigo, “Can you create a report for Amanda?”

Let’s see!

Kigo: Absolutely! Let’s take a look. Here’s Amanda's progress, and again, it's going to show me how Amanda's done in the last seven weeks.

Let’s say I had to go to a parent-teacher conference; I can just bring this with me. But wait, Amanda's mom speaks Spanish!

Kigo: Can you translate this to Spanish?

Let’s see! And it’ll translate it for Spanish for me! So although Amanda's mom doesn’t speak English, I can keep Amanda's mom informed of her progress on how she's doing in my course.

So, lots of great features! It’s super, super cool! So when teachers incorporate Kigo into the classroom, it's like a teaching assistant—it’s the teaching assistant I’ve always wanted! And it’s an absolute game changer for teachers as well as students.

I’m going to pass this back to Deana.

Thank you so much for your time and letting me share all of these incredible features today!

Well, thank you, Michelle! And so with everything that we've talked about, you're probably trying to think about how teaching and learning is going to adapt as AI becomes prevalent.

One of the things we do want to highlight with you is that it's going to be very important that you establish guidelines for plagiarism and clearly communicate that to students. Students should understand that original work is going to be important, and if they do use AI, they need to cite the sources.

They should also understand that they should only use AI if the assignment allows it or it's required to use it. As part of our paid district partnership, you can receive support around planning and sharing what those guidelines would be so that you can share them with all of your stakeholders.

With AI being new and as well as with Kigo, there is so much to learn! On behalf of Khan Academy, we want to share a couple of resources with you. So on our Khan Academy website, you are going to find Khan for Educators, which is a teacher support course that includes a unit on Kigo and has some videos on there as well.

Then we also have a short but powerful AI education course located in our course library that we encourage you to check out as well, and we are going to share the links to both of those in a follow-up email after this presentation.

So from moving barriers to supporting student learning, imagine your students getting that in-the-moment support and feedback, especially during those times when you are busy with your other teacher tasks!

Kigo provides that, as Michelle just highlighted. If you want to be able to track your students’ progress and have data at your fingertips to share with your students and your parents—and if you are a classroom teacher, even with your administrators—when you become a paid district partner, Kigo and Khan Academy have you covered in that area as well.

The only thing left to do is just try it out! There’s a link that you see on the screen, but don't try to write it down because it's going to be emailed to you after this presentation.

So please be on the lookout for a follow-up email that's going to have links to some resources as well as the recording of this presentation.

With that, we thank you so, so much for joining us today, and we hope you have a great rest of your day as well as a great rest of your week!

So take care and feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Thank you so much! Have a great day, everybody! Thank you! Thank you so much! Happy learning! Have fun with Kigo!

All right! Take care, everyone! Have a wonderful Wednesday! Happy Hump Day! See you later!