Ask Sal Anything! Homeroom Wednesday, June 24

Hi everyone! Welcome to the homeroom livestream. Today, we're actually just going to have an Ask Me Anything, so any questions you have for me about anything, I encourage you to put below, whether you're watching this on Facebook or YouTube. Put this on the message boards below, and we a few members will look at it and surface questions about anything. So please start doing that.

Now that I've given you a head start on asking questions, I will give my standard announcements: We are not-for-profit. The reason why Khan Academy can even exist is because of philanthropic donations from folks like yourself. So if you're in a position to do so, please think about donating to Khan Academy.

I do want to give a special shout out to several corporations that stepped up, especially as they saw that we were already running at a deficit pre-COVID, and then with COVID, our server costs went up. We were trying to accelerate a whole series of programs. So special thanks to Bank of America, google.org, 18G, Fastly, and Novartis. That help has been a big deal, but we are still running at a deficit. So any support, whether you're a corporation or just an individual at any amount, makes a huge difference. It allows us to reach a lot more folks.

Another series of announcements: I will introduce my colleague Dan that some of y'all have seen before on the livestream. Dan has some announcements as well.

Dan: Hi everyone! I think so. So we have a couple of announcements and reminders for everyone for this week. So today, we just full list. We recognize that summer is different from the regular school year, so we created a playlist of recommended activities covering math, language arts, and creativity.

In the math section, I just want to call out two things: first, Camp Khan, as well as Get Ready for Grade Level courses. So as a reminder, we launched the Get Ready for Grade Level courses this week, and each of those math courses will contain the most important prerequisite skills for that particular grade.

We know you have a limited amount of time, so the intent is really to provide learners with the most efficient way to engage with their upcoming grade level work. Wrapping the Get Ready for Grade Level courses is Camp Khan. So Camp Khan launched this Monday. As a reminder, it's our virtual summer camp that kicked off and will run through the end of August. Camp Khan helps students prepare for math in the fall with those Get Ready for Grade Level courses, and Camp Khan was designed to build habits and mindsets for learning.

We're really intentional about making it fun for the summer. If you want to learn more, there's a parent webinar all about Camp Khan tomorrow at 4 o'clock to 4:30 PST, 7 o'clock Eastern Time. Please join us if you want to learn more.

Sal: So those are the announcements for this week. Thanks, Dan! I'll just doubly underline some of what Dan just mentioned. Obviously, we had Lindsay on on Monday talking about the Get Ready for Grade Level courses. We're really excited about this because in any summer, a lot of students need to fill in gaps to be ready.

This is going to be an extended summer where many more students are going to need that help. So whether you're a student, a parent, or a teacher, this is a great way for students to get ready for grade-level work and ensure they have no Swiss-cheese gaps going into it. Then Camp Khan, as Dan just mentioned, is a great way of making it even more interactive and fun, having a whole layer of programs and activities on top of the Get Ready for Grade Level courses. So definitely check those things out!

With that, I'm happy to take some questions. Six questions have already come in. Let's see.

From YouTube, IAA says: "Hi Sal, do you know how schools expect to open with COVID-19? If they do, how will they do it safely? And if they don't, how can they make sure we're learning? Thank you."

Sal: Well, I think what you're referring to is a very complex issue. We talk to a lot of district superintendents, principals, and teachers, and they are really struggling with it. Even two weeks ago, before COVID-19 started to pick up again, people were thinking that, "Alright, we're going to do some type of socially distant shift-based model for back-to-school."

This would mean half the kids come on Monday and Wednesday, and the other half come on Tuesday and Thursday, or maybe the high school students don’t come to school and do everything virtually, using that space for elementary school students to allow people to socially distance. This is a complex thing that people were thinking about even before the pickup in COVID.

People were also expecting a potential increase in COVID cases, so schools would have to virtualize really fast or go to hybrid learning. Even if you are able to show up, there might be a subset of kids whose families don’t feel comfortable sending them to school, so there must be some virtual model.

What I'm hearing right now—and this is a few days old, it might change based on the epidemiological statistics of how COVID spreads—is that people are definitely focused on the younger students because the child care issues are super difficult for a lot of families. In areas where they can, people are thinking very seriously about outdoor education spaces.

We had Rachel Skipper on yesterday from Khan Lab School, and she and I have been talking a lot about how to leverage outdoor spaces, cordoning off some of the parking lots, and essentially creating hotspots for outdoor learning. The simple answer is that people are still struggling with what can be done from a physical spacing epidemiological point of view, and then once you get that right, the curricular point of view is even more uncertain.

This is where Khan Academy is trying our best to support schools, teachers, parents, and students. As you know, Dan's announcement about the Get Ready for Grade Level course is part of that. It helps ensure that people can use this over the summer to be more prepared for back to school. Even if they don’t use this over the summer, the first couple of weeks of back to school could focus on that Get Ready for Grade Level content.

We are also working on learning plans. Some of you know that a few months ago, we had learning plans for learning, especially in math, through the end of the school year and the summer. Now, we want to create learning plans for restarting school and throughout the school year. Expect to see those in the next few weeks.

We are also conducting a study on best practices of schools and districts during closures, hoping to create playbooks for hybrid learning models. We're trying to support teachers and districts in this situation, but the simple answer is that very few people really know how this is going to evolve.

It is a little scary because we're only about eight weeks away. Obviously, if COVID keeps increasing, we might see another lockdown scenario in a couple of weeks. We are trying to do our best to help out, but it's going to be tough and uncertain for a lot of folks.

From YouTube, Osama Al-Safi says: "Sal, do you have any plans on improving your site and making new versions of videos with better quality, teaching techniques, or making online paid courses, for example using Zoom?"

Sal: Good question! The simple answer is yes; we're constantly trying to think about improving the site. Khan Academy has over 200 folks, and I know to someone that wants those 200 folks to do a lot. I remind you, we have the budget of a large high school and we're trying to have 107 million registered users with approximately 80-90 million minutes of learning per day during the school year on weekdays.

We're covering a lot, including Khan Academy Kids at the pre-K level which covers math, reading, writing, and social-emotional learning. We keep going all the way to early college and have sciences at the high school and early college level. We're adding English language arts and have test prep too.

We are constantly working on improving various aspects of the site; some are less obvious. Currently, we are doing a major infrastructure overhaul, which won’t change your user experience directly, but hopefully will make the site faster and more reliable. This also will make it easier to develop new features in the future.

On the user experience side, we're thinking about how to make it more engaging and effective. Regarding videos, we have a list of videos we are either redoing or creating for specific topics we feel have gaps.

We have a large content team constantly adding and revising exercises, and a robust engineering and product team working on both the back-end infrastructure and the front-end user experience. We're going to be improving the reports that teachers have been requesting and hope to implement navigational improvements on the site in a few months.

There's a lot we're juggling right now, and I just touched the tip of the iceberg!

From Facebook, Carol Smith-Capper says: "Sal, do you have any recommendations for older students who are supposed to be spending the summer doing internships but have all been canceled?"

Sal: I do have advice, and I don't know how good it is, so take it or leave it. For young people in that situation, there's a ton of opportunity right now to do interesting things that can help a lot of folks. Simple things, like supporting people who live alone, especially elderly individuals who might be feeling isolated due to COVID. You can help them access technology or assist them with groceries while figuring out a safe, socially distanced way to do that.

There are also potentially educators and teachers who could use support as they transition to hybrid models and teach kids over Zoom. You could potentially become a teaching assistant for them.

We have this project called Schoolhouse.world. This is not a Khan Academy project, but it is the notion that Khan Academy allows you to learn at your own pace with practice, feedback, game mechanics, and teacher monitoring. A complete learning experience should involve some form of synchronous live human interaction where you can ask questions.

This notion of Schoolhouse.world—led by Mariah and one of my colleagues from college—is focused on matching tutors with students who need help. Currently, we have more tutors than demand, so honestly, I encourage anyone with questions, especially high school math ones, to check out schoolhouse.world. Whether you want to be a tutor or need tutoring, this is a great opportunity.

You could also start a podcast or an interview series on a topic you're interested in. Many people have more time at home right now; you'll be surprised at how willing folks are to have interesting conversations.

Another idea is recording family histories with relatives. You can get on Zoom with family members all over the country or the world and document your family history. That might not be a traditional internship that pays, but it's a great way to connect and preserve memories.

There are tons of opportunities to focus on whatever topic interests you!

Sal: The admin said: "You make all the subjects very interesting, thanks!"

So Nice of you to say! How did you find your love for a particular subject?"

If your question is how I found a love for all subjects, it’s because I genuinely believe all subjects are interesting. Sometimes, students feel like they have to learn a subject just to get through the test. We need to realize that gaining knowledge is a luxury. Throughout most of human history, people couldn't dedicate years to learning.

We have access to a vast body of human knowledge now. Many smart individuals would have given anything to have access to it. I do think textbooks sometimes fail to show how exciting this knowledge is. My hope is that when I'm making a video, it conveys my enthusiasm.

If you’re asking how I chose my path in life, I found many subjects interesting. When I used to say in college that if there had been a PhD in everything, I would have tried to get it. However, I had a lot of debt and my family wasn’t wealthy, so by 21, I wanted to do something interesting but also develop skills that could help pay off debts.

I graduated in 1998 with a master's degree in computer science. It was a great time for that field. I often tell everyone that when you're young, you should choose the best-informed decision you can—it doesn’t have to be perfect.

What matters is the energy and attitude you bring to your path, whatever it is. My first job was as a product manager at Oracle, and one of my bosses told me to aim to make each day better than the last.

In my experience, it’s essential to pursue your passions and stay curious. Don’t define yourself entirely by your work; our society tends to relate personal identity to work roles. This can create strange stresses. Just remember: finding meaning can occur in many aspects of life, not just your job.

Sal: Let's see. A good question here! Rylan Rate says, "I've used Calculus for five years, and I have to say thank you. What is going to be your next update? What courses are part of the website are you most proud of?"

Thank you so much! As we've discussed, expect the Get Ready for Grade Level courses to update soon. We're constantly iterating and tweaking all of the content across the site. There are teacher tools that will be updated soon in time for back-to-school.

We have plans aimed at improving navigation around course mastery that are about six months away, so don’t hold me to it since there’s a lot going on. The big areas include more subjects that we want to improve upon.

From YouTube, Suhana Anaya says: "I forget math but practiced before, and it's hard to remember again. What should I do to never forget them?"

Sal: Well, my best advice, backed by research, relates to spaced repetition, which Khan Academy tries to implement. When you learn something, there’s a forgetting curve; your likelihood of retaining information diminishes over time. But if you review that material after some time, the probability that you remember goes back up.

So, my best advice is to keep a consistent practice—like 15-20 minutes a day, three to five days a week. Make math a habit, much like brushing your teeth. This will help ensure that those skills don’t atrophy.

We have mastery challenges that encourage spaced repetition, and it's crucial to understand why math works instead of just memorizing formulas. Connecting the dots in mathematics is especially beneficial as you progress.

The idea is that all of math is interconnected. The more you see this, the more intuitive advanced skills can become.

From Facebook, Rudra No Mundial says: "How do you deal with social media negativity?"

Sal: A good question! I’ve mentioned in this forum before that I practice meditation, which I liken to "Rain-X for the mind." It helps in responding to negativity effectively.

When someone criticizes you—especially on social media—you can easily get defensive. When you meditate, you recognize that you are not just your ego, which allows you to let go of negativity more swiftly. What they say doesn't define you.

While we often receive positive feedback at Khan Academy, we do occasionally receive critiques or angry emails, and it's essential to remind ourselves that this is often not about you personally but more about their perceptions.

Bottom line: Meditate, try not to take criticism too seriously, and recognize that what folks say doesn’t define who you are.

Sal: From Facebook, Michelle Marie Moussaoui asks: "Any advice on how to help kids with math anxiety?"

Sal: I'm not a psychologist, but from what I’ve seen, there’s power in building a habit. As students practice on Khan Academy regularly, they begin to gain confidence. During summer, without the pressure of assignments or exams, they can relax and engage with math more freely.

Encourage them to start at early learning or review basics first to build confidence and fill gaps. Along with this, practice meditation or mindfulness techniques to reduce anxiety.

Remind them about a growth mindset. Stress that it isn’t about right or wrong answers but the effort they put in and the resilience they develop from mistakes.

There's a lot of good questions here! Susana Garcia Dominguez says: "What are some of your favorite movies?"

Sal: In a previous AMA, I mentioned I’m not usually a fan of bloody movies. However, "The Godfather" is one of the top movies of all time. "Gandhi" is a personal favorite too; I used to organize an annual viewing of it in college.

Of course, I love "Star Wars," but recently it feels like they’ve been recycling themes. Despite that, "Star Wars" remains one of my all-time favorite movies.

"The Matrix" surprised me. When it came out in 1998, I had low expectations but was blown away. It raises profound questions about reality and perception.

Sal: Rubik's Nerd from YouTube asks: "Can you please explain advanced quadratics?"

Well, this probably isn't the right place for an explanation, but we have a lot of content on advanced quadratics on Khan Academy. Check out the algebra 2 section for solving quadratic equations, factoring quadratics, etc. You’ll find plenty of videos and exercises on this topic.

We are almost out of time!

Sal: An interesting question from YouTube comes from Mehran Ararat: "What's your opinion about IQ, intelligence quotient?"

I'm skeptical of IQ. Tests measure capability based on specific logic puzzles at the moment you take them. However, one can practice these puzzles and potentially raise their IQ score, which shows the test’s limitations.

I believe that intelligence comes in many forms. While some may shine in logic puzzles, others may excel in emotional intelligence, creativity, or public speaking, for example.

Although I’ve been lucky enough to excel in tests, I'm suspicious of the potential of IQ tests as a sole measure of intelligence.

We're out of time! Thank you all for joining. This has been super fun, and I hope to do this again soon!