This week, MATHletes visited the Khan Academy headquarters in Mountain View, California, to share learnings with the team about how MATHletes used ‘tournament play’ to generate excitement about Khan Academy. MATHletes sat down with James Tynan, Partnerships and Community lead at Khan Academy to get his thoughts on about what it’s like to work at Khan Academy, how he thinks about digital learning, and how MATHletes Challenge in Ireland is inspiring innovation at Khan Academy!
Huge thanks to Lauren O’Reilly, 5th year student on the Digital Youth Council, for her help on this post.
Interview highlights
…on working at Khan Academy:
“You end up sitting down with these amazing people…like maybe the first employee at Google.”
…on what makes Khan Academy a unique learning experience:
Education has been “informed by the limitations of what’s been possible in the past.What would learning be like if we invented education today?”
“You get instant feedback on whether you’re getting things right or wrong…Khan Academy helps you take control of your own learning”
…on whether online learning is the way forward for all aspects of school:
“in chess, a computer will always beat a human. But a human working together with a computer will beat any human or any computer”
…on what college courses/career prospects he sees for the next generation:
“The next generation will be about combining creativity with technology”
…on why the Mathletes Challenge ties in so well Khan Academy:
“It is about inspiring deep mastery based learning but doing it in a way that is really fun..that is why they tie in so well together.”
Listen to the full interview here
Thanks to Khan Academy for hosting MATHletes for the week and letting us share all the amazing stories from MATHletes students, parents and teachers!