Khan Academy

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Event of the year

Barb is visiting Khan Academy today to have a “fireside chat” with Sal Khan—she’s so excited! Tune in on Facebook Live, or YouTube at 12:30 pm US Pacific time.

Book of the Month

We’re often asked by people who want to try to get back into math (or just into math, if they haven’t been successful at it before). We unfailingly recommend Khan Academy, not only for math, but for pretty much anything. Salman Khan is one of the world’s greatest teachers, and his upbeat, fun, but always spot on videos are one of the best ways around to get yourself started.  (Of course, there’s plenty of practice opportunities available, too!) You may not be aware that Sal has written a fantastic book about his experiences in starting Khan Academy and his vision for education: The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined. This “big picture” book helps you see where education could–and should—be heading. What’s great about this book is that it isn’t a theoretical tome—it’s a practically useful guide to the future by someone who has already done so much to help us get there.  

We can’t help but ask. Which do you prefer—Sal Khan’s videos with no instructor face shown? Or our LHTL videos that show the instructors?  Feel free to comment in the discussion forum here.

Help Your Child to Learn

The cover article in PTA Magazine this fall is by our very own Barb and Terry—it provides excellent advice on helping your child to learn. If you have a kidlet, you may want to check it out!

A Great Class Central Article on the Competition for MOOC Degrees

Manoel Cortes Mendez has just written another great article on MOOCs for Class Central. Here’s a sense of how the article starts:

“A few months ago, Coursera announced its first Ivy League MOOC-based degree. And a few weeks ago, edX announced seven new MOOC-based degrees, including a master’s degree in computer science from UT Austin, whose residential program is among the best in the US.
And with each announcement, the competition in the online degree market intensifies, compelling universities and course providers to find new ways to make their online degrees attractive to students.
In this article, I explore some of the characteristics that could sway me toward one online degree over another. Some of these characteristics are already part of certain online degrees, while others are uncharted territory.”

Keep reading here!

Do You Have Problems with Outlook?

Barb has struggled for years with trying to keep her Outlook integrated across her various devices.  (She knows, she knows…) Finally, she hired a professional—Lisa of “Call That Girl.”  All problems have vanished at last! If you’re having troubles with Outlook, we can’t recommend Lisa more highly.

Generation Z Is Choosing Trade School over College

Learning involves all types of learning.  As this article suggests, it looks like Gen Z is refusing to incur educational debt and instead opting for vocational learning—not necessarily such a bad trade-off.

Learning a Sport Online

Barb is a preternatural klutz, always in awe of not only sports greats, but also everyday heroes who can make catching a baseball or kicking a soccer ball look easy. Can online learning help?  Here comes the indefatigable Pat Bowden of Online Learning Success with a great article on how online (and in-family!) learning can help you learn a sport no matter what your age.  Enjoy!

Caution with APOE4 results!

Last week, we alluded to a study finding an affiliation between APOE4 and intelligence.  Well, one of our ever-on-the-ball LHTL readers, Jeremy Schwartzentruber, a postdoctoral fellow in human genetics, noted: “…you delved into human genetics, which is my research area, and so I wanted to caution you about passing on links to tenuous studies such as the Alzheimer’s / intelligence report for the APOE4 allele. You may be aware of the general issues surrounding scientific studies with small sample sizes. What you have passed on is almost surely a false association between the APOE4 allele and intelligence. Studies with only around 50 people are ripe for incorrect conclusions like this. I’ll point you to a study with more than 250,000 people which finds no association whatsoever with intelligence at the APOE4 alleles.”  

The issue of small sample size studies is indeed a major issue behind the lack of replicability of many published scientific studies, so we appreciate the correction!

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

• Get the course recommended text, A Mind for Numbers!
• And Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens. Great ideas for parents, too!