He also hoped to create a place where people can “connect as human beings and learn from each other.”īut with a user base of over 120 million people, Khan Academy is too big to fulfill that role, losing the “face-to-face” (albeit virtual) aspect. When he initially founded it, Khan envisioned Khan Academy as not just a place for practice or to find educational resources - important as those things are.
The organization now boasts over 3,000 learners like Carl McGrone across more than 100 countries, with hundreds of online tutoring volunteers leading teaching classes and courses.Ĭurrently, those courses focus on math - from pre-algebra to calculus - as well as SAT prep, Indian Exams, and review sessions for AP exams. Where the Academy’s online education offerings focus on pre-recorded lessons, courses, and practice sessions, schoolhouse.world is keyed toward providing real-time feedback via peer tutoring and small group sessions. Schoolhouse.world puts the focus on a different aspect of remote learning than Khan Academy. Khan partnered with Shishir Mehrotra, co-founder and CEO of Coda - and a college friend - to build schoolhouse.world using Coda’s platform. “Couldn’t we build a prototype of a platform where folks who need help in a topic could say they need help? And that other people, high quality vetted tutors, could say, ‘yes, I could run a small group tutoring session on that topic.’” When COVID-19 emerged and school districts began to move to remote learning, the ability to access tutoring - be it peer tutoring, extra time with teachers, or small-group tutoring - became even more difficult. It’s an educational story that would have seemed like science fiction mere decades ago. McGrone never learned algebra before he dropped out of school, but with the encouragement and instruction he is receiving from his teenage tutor, he stands an excellent chance of performing well on his test and receiving that diploma. The two “were able to form a bond and a friendship,” Sal Khan, CEO of schoolhouse.world and creator of the popular online learning resource Khan Academy, tells Big Think. The unlikely duo had connected through schoolhouse.world, a platform that provides free small-group and peer tutoring, linking learners and tutors around the globe. Carl McGrone had dropped out of his rural Mississippi high school decades ago and pursued a job in a poultry processing plant.īut with his retirement looming, McGrone wanted to earn his high school diploma, and in the midst of a global pandemic, he has been able to pursue his goal thanks to online tutoring from a Bay Area teen.
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