Editing Khan

Let’s be clear – I don’t have a problem with most of the content on Khan Academy. Yes, there are mistakes. Yes, there are pedagogical choices that many educators don’t like. I don’t like how it has been sold as the solution to the educational ills of our world, but that isn’t my biggest objection to it.

I sat and watched his series on currency trading not too long ago. Given that his analogies and explanations are correct (which some colleagues have confirmed they are) he does a pretty good job of explaining the concepts in a way that I could understand. I guess that’s the thing that he is known for. I don’t have a problem with this – it’s always good to have good explainers out there.

The biggest issue I have with his videos is that they need an editor.

He repeats himself a lot. He will start explaining something, realize that he needs to back up, and then finishes a sentence that hadn’t really started. He will say something important and then slowly repeat it as he writes each word on the screen.

This is more than just an annoyance. Here’s why:

• One of the major advantages to using video is that it can be good instruction distilled into great instruction. You can plan ahead with the examples you want to use. You can figure out how to say exactly what you need to say and nothing more, and either practice until you get it right, or just edit out the bad takes.
• I have written and read definitions word by word on the board during direct instruction in my classes. I have watched my students faces as I do it. It’s clearly excruciating. Seeing that has forced me to resist the urge to speak as I write during class, and instead write the entire thing out before reading it. Even that doesn’t feel right as part of a solid presentation because I hate being read to, and so do my students. This doesn’t need to happen in videos.
• If the goal of moving direct instruction to videos is to be as efficient as possible and minimize the time students spend sitting and watching rather than interacting with the content, the videos should be as short and efficient as possible. I’m not saying they should be void of personality or emotion. Khan’s conversational style is one of the high points of his material. I’m just saying that the ‘less is more’ principle applies here.

I spent an hour this morning editing one of the videos I watched on currency exchange to show what I mean. The initial length of the video was 12:03, and taking out the parts I mentioned earlier reduced it to 8:15. I think the result respects Khan’s presentation, but makes it a bit tighter and focused on what he is saying. Check it out:

The main reason I haven’t made more videos for my own classes (much to the dismay of my students, who really like them) is my insistence that the videos be efficient and short. I don’t want ten minute videos for my students to watch. I want two minutes of watching, and then two or three minutes of answering questions, discussing with other students, or applying the skills that they learned. My ratio is still about five minutes of editing time for every minute of the final video I make – this is roughly what it took this morning on the Khan Academy video too. This is too long of a process, but it’s a detail on using video that I care too much about to overlook.

What do you think?