By Aviv Weiss, Khan Academy Districts

Each quarter, we sit down with Dr. Kristen DiCerbo, Khan Academy’s Chief Learning Officer, to reflect on what she’s seeing in the field, in the research, and in the data. This time, as the team prepares to launch a reimagined Khan Academy experience to the US, Kristen reflects on the role edtech can play, and can’t, in student engagement.

Aviv Weiss: How are you thinking about motivation and practice when leading the teams working on the reimagined Khan Academy for classrooms? 

Kristen DiCerbo: Whenever someone is learning something new, practice is essential. We see this in sports all the time- basketball players practice endless free throws and baseball players take batting practice before every game. Back in the spring version of this newsletter, I mentioned a study across different academic domains that showed how each practice opportunity on a skill led to a predictable increase in progress toward mastering that skill. Khan Academy is built on the importance of practice; our mastery system shows students’ progress as they engage with our exercises. As we reimagined Khan Academy for classrooms, we maintained this emphasis on practice, but wanted to address the issue of motivation. Because, let’s face it, practice isn’t always fun and exciting.

We re-built some of the basic gamification elements that we know some students really respond to. We created a system of gems that rewards learning behaviors such as leveling up on a skill. But more than focusing on individual achievement, we tied these gems to class level goals and in-class rewards. So, teachers can set a goal for how many gems the class should reach for a given time period. Research shows us that this group collaboration for rewards actually leads to better learning outcomes, particularly for struggling learners, than individual competition. Second, we designed the system so teachers can set in-class rewards, like pajama day or 10 minutes of free time, that are visible in the system. We believe that the rewards available in classrooms can beat anything we can give in the system. We have a saying here that “human high fives beat computer confetti.” In other words, the rewards students get from their peers and their teacher far outweigh anything the system can do in terms of helping students see value in an activity and reward for doing it. 

Aviv: What’s a problem you don’t think good ed tech can solve? And how can ed tech organizations like Khan Academy support districts going through major challenges? 

Kristen: Let’s be clear, there are more problems in schools that ed tech can’t solve than problems that it can. Schools are dealing with everything from truancy problems to designing school bus routes (although I did recently see an AI app intended to help with those bus routes!). That said, I have been thinking a lot lately about creating a culture of learning in schools. 

I was summarizing both what motivates students and the factors that are related to cheating, and they come down to the same things: students’ beliefs in whether they can be successful at something and the value they place on that thing. Instilling these beliefs at a system level is essentially creating a culture where students and teachers believe everyone can learn and they see value in learning. That is a tough job and certainly isn’t going to be done by good ed tech. Building any kind of culture in an organization starts with relationships. Personal connections are the foundations needed to begin to change how people approach problems and think about solutions. Establishing clear expectations only works if people believe in them, and that comes through individual connection. 

I was summarizing both what motivates students and the factors that are related to cheating, and they come down to the same things: students’ beliefs in whether they can be successful at something and the value they place on that thing. Instilling these beliefs at a system level is essentially creating a culture where students and teachers believe everyone can learn and they see value in learning. That is a tough job and certainly isn’t going to be done by good ed tech.

-Dr. Kristen DiCerbo

Ed tech can help. It can be designed to help students experience authentic success. It can help teachers and administrators highlight positive learning behaviors. Those are all important, but secondary to the role of building a culture in the school that aligns everyone in the building toward achievable learning goals. 

Learn more about how Khan Academy partners with districts nationwide to close skill gaps for every student.