Q&A: using Khan Academy for Adult Irish Education
Mayo Adult Educator Sorcha Moran has a background in Software Engineering, but changed careers after studying some post-graduate courses on Adult Education.
She has been working for Mayo/Sligo/Leitrim Education and Training Board as a tutor in Maths and Computers for the past 6 years. At the ETB they currently teach maths to part-time students at FETAC levels 1-5, and she personally teach levels 3-5. She uses a number of approaches in her maths teaching, including Khan Academy.
MATHletes asked Sorcha 5 questions about how she uses Khan Academy in her teaching. Here is what she told us:
1) Where did you learn about Khan Academy?
I was first introduced to Khan Academy when my daughter took part in MATHletes Challenge 2014. I was watching closely what she was doing, and it was clear to me that Khan Academy had a lot to offer my adult learners also.
2) What makes Khan Academy different from other online resources that you use in your teaching?
First of all, Khan Academy has an interface that appeals to all ages. Most of the Maths resources I come across online have a target audience of young children or exam-year adolescents, so they can be very childish or text-book looking. Khan Academy is a resource that is supportive and gives freedom to the learner at the same time, and it facilitates the theories of Adult Learning (Andragogy) very well.
The learner has full control over what they want to learn and when. They can follow a suggested order, or dip in and out of areas that are relevant to them at the time. It covers all levels from Early Math on so learners have the opportunity to fill their own knowledge gaps. Khan Academy has lots of intuitive/experiential learning which I love. It makes the learning of concepts much more concrete. My learners …Read More