Sal Khan: No Reason To Waste Resources on Textbooks With Online Tools Available

Founder of Kahn Academy says online service now helps 12 million students a month.

Educators and advocates have tried for decades to harness the power of technology and connectivity to help kids learn. Someone who’s used online learning to benefit the brick-and-mortar classroom is Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy and author of “The One World Schoolhouse”.

Khan was scheduled to speak at this week’s Mackinac Policy Conference, but he cancelled the appearance.

He speaks with Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson, however, about how improvements in technology in education are a necessity in building up the workforce of the future. He says online tools like Khan Academy can replace traditional methods of teaching, which can save districts money.

“I would say tomorrow, if we’re talking about a math textbook, there’s no reason why anyone should buy that,” says Khan. “Those resources could now be put to other things. And we all know there’s plenty of places to put those resources that could benefit the teachers and the students much, much more.”

To hear the full conversation, click on the audio link above.

Author