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Khan Academy is an online education tool. It does not lead into any degree, just into some reasonable capability.
It isn’t perfect, but it is certainly a good start to get you the basics and as a tool to hone your skills for a real-world class.
.. but the problem is.. how do you get the most out of it when it’s all you have/do?
Perhaps this applies elsewhere, but my bias for this writing is with their website.
Philosophies ∞
Envision your goal. Can Khan Academy help you get there? How?
For example, I want to learn more about statistics. Khan Academy has a course on statistics. In order to look at it, it says I need basic algebra skills. They also have algebra, but to learn it, I ought to learn basic mathematics. To learn basic mathematics I need to learn basic schooling.
So yes, Khan Academy can help with this goal. The chain of dependencies is:
- Early Math
- 3rd Grade Math
- 4th Grade Math
- 5th Grade Math
- 6th Grade Math
- 7th Grade Math
- 8th Grade Math
- Arithmetic
- Pre-Algebra
- Algebra
- Algebra Basics
It’s likely you could skip the grades of math, but Methods, below, will give you a hand with “folding” these into your total educational workload.
Methods ∞
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- Do more than one course at a time.
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- Push hard to entirely-complete low-end courses.
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- Use paper. Lots of paper.
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- Know when to take breaks.
Multitask ∞
This is not to say that you should do other things while taking Khan Academy lessons, but to say that you can work on multiple related course-loads simultaneously. Not simultaneously as in flipping between two topics, but pushing on to something a little more advanced while waiting for a more basic “earlier” thing to become available for pursuit.
This is a way of continuing to study something, anything, while the mastery timer counts down.
This is especially useful while pursuing the various grades of mathematics. While working on Early Math, also work on Grade Three.
Don’t work on more than two courses.
You may be so good as to be able to complete two courses and wait for both to cool down, but take a look at them. If there are items which are not yet even practised, then go through those things. If absolutely everything is trivial enough, and you’re only waiting for a mastery challenge because you screwed up a question or two, then proceed into the next course.
Do not forget to Rest! You can do things in a way that makes all the learning not effectively get into your brain.
Push low-end things ∞
Multitask, but don’t skip too far ahead.
Strongly focus on earlier material. Have that earlier material on cooldown, waiting for its timer, before going to the next course.
When a mastery challenge is on cooldown, see if you can pursue items flagged “not yet practised”.
I also highly recommend you go through the lists, and not just the lessons, and review all videos. Get everything “checked off” (listed in blue) and watch all videos. If you are certain that videos are pointless to watch, then you can open them in a new tab and mute them. See marking a video as read. However, completely viewing them counts toward your energy and might get you an achievement here and there. OCD/Completionism will appreciate this.
Be aware that although you think you know an item, some of those videos go over descriptions, ideas and methods which might be new to you. Some things are really quite handy to keep in mind, and are worth learning!
If you’re being given items you have no knowledge of, the video provided on the right will give you just what you need.
Don’t be tempted to really skip ahead. Always entirely complete old courses before moving on to new ones.
Use paper ∞
Yes, use actual Pen and Paper. Paper is cheap. Pens are cheap. You obviously have a computer. You may have a smartphone. You may even have a brain that “knows” things.
Do not use these things.
Use paper, and in the way Khan Academy suggests. Even when these things are time-consuming, “dragging lessons out” is helpful to give your brain more time to let things “sink in”. See Rest, below.
When you do things in your head, you miss learning the basics. When things get more advanced, you won’t have the manual foundation those basics gave you to draw upon. You will be confused about why you “don’t get things”.
Not knowing basics is why getting sick during school and missing out on a bunch of classes will completely ruin some people. They skip ahead to follow the current content and don’t push those missed lessons hard enough to properly catch up.
Rest ∞
Resting isn’t about scheduled breaks. It’s about knowing when “your brain is full”. Resting gives time for your new knowledge to “sink in”. Naps count. Don’t switch to other brain-intensive tasks, do things on auto-pilot.
Force more productive-rest periods by doing more things once you are already rested and “clear-headed”. This means waking up early and doing some lessons, and doing lessons before going to bed.
Maybe lunch is rest for you. Maybe cooking. Maybe cleaning. Study right after these, any any other “automated” activities.
Try to not pursue any other major studies outside of Khan Academy which might conflict within your brain. Studying statistics while studying philosophy might mess you up.
Other lesson resources ∞
There will be times when it is valuable to have multiple tutorial or course resources.
If you are weak on things, Khan Academy may not be giving you enough lessons or variety in lessons. Or perhaps you need a better “choice of voice”, as they say in LibriVox, with another presenter with a different voice, personality, presentation style or visuals.
Other learning resources ∞
There exists the topic of efficient and effective learning.
Speed reading, memory, scheduling, and other related topics all have a lot of opinions and proved methods.
If you are serious, then find these things. Try these things and learn what works for you.
Yes, you can waste your time following your experience and assumptions about what’s good for you and how you work.
