Students prefer School Yourself over Khan Academy and other MOOCs, suggest improvements

A few weeks ago we launched surveys in AlgebraX and GeometryX, asking students what they thought of the courses, how they compared to others, and what improvements they might suggest. So far, more than 400 students have responded.

A sign that we're on the right track was a series of questions on how our courses compare with other massive open online courses (MOOCs), and with Khan Academy, a popular collection of online videos and assessments.

First up, we asked "How do AlgebraX and GeometryX compare with other massive open online courses (MOOCs) you have taken?" Here are the combined responses for the two courses:


A total of 135 students said they had never taken other MOOCs. Among those who had, 106 (39%) said they had little preference between School Yourself and other MOOCs. Among those with a preference, 97% preferred School Yourself to other MOOCs. Holy moly! Now might be a good time for other MOOCs to sit up and take notice: students prefer engaging, interactive, and adaptive content. We'll continue to push the envelope, and hopefully online learning will continue to evolve and improve in the coming years.

Here at School Yourself, we're big fans of Sal Khan and all that his team is doing for millions of learners around the world. But Khan Academy continues to rely on 10-minute videos of Sal speaking and writing, without letting students interact and make sure they're following along. Khan Academy is a great resource, but we think it can be even better if it adopts our methods of content production and student engagement.

So next we asked students "How do AlgebraX and GeometryX compare with Khan Academy?" Again, here are the combined answers for the two courses:


A total of 213 students said they had never tried Khan Academy. But students who had appeared to think more highly of Khan Academy than MOOCs. Approximately 33% of students had little preference between School Yourself and Khan Academy. But among students with a preference, 80% preferred School Yourself to Khan Academy. As with MOOCs, we hope Khan Academy evolves into a more interactive, adaptive experience. With Khan's expansive library and School Yourself's adaptive, engaging style, who knows what's possible?

Here's are a few more stats from the survey:

  • 90% of students would recommend AlgebraX and GeometryX to others.
  • Currently, course grades are based entirely on adaptive quizzes after each topic, with ~100 quizzes in each course. 52% of students said having exams (or a final) would help them learn, 14% said they didn't want exams, and the remaining 34% were neutral. In response to this, our team is looking into adding optional adaptive exams to both AlgebraX and GeometryX. Stay tuned!
  • We asked how the courses could be improved, and here were the most common responses:
    • Students want more lessons on real-world applications of the material. We have a few of these, like using parallel lines and alternate interior angles to estimate the size of the Earth, and how graphs of 2D inequalities are used in machine learning. But including more examples of applications is something we're always thinking about, and we hope to add many more in the near future.
    • Students want more review questions. We're always adding more questions, so we'll see how students feel again in a few months. Some students also asked for more challenge questions, in particular, feeling the courses were too easy overall (77% thought the difficulty was about right, 20% thought they were too easy, and only 3% thought they were too hard). At the moment, the challenge questions are entirely optional for students. If and when edX decides to include grades on certificates, we may look into awarding additional credit to students who master the challenge questions.

Finally, we asked students what other School Yourself courses they'd like to see on edX. Here's what people said:


It looks like our team should get cracking on Algebra II, which won the vote at 82%. Of course, we hope to eventually create courses covering all of these subjects! They all build on one another -- for example, you use trigonometry in physics, and calculus in statistics. The more subjects we add to the School Yourself library, the more paths students can take through the lessons, and the more adaptive and powerful the experience becomes.

30 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to trying more courses. I went through most of the Geometry and Algebra ones before I got distracted with... life. I thought the interactive diagrams really helped visualize and reinforce the material. I may have my daughter try it at some point, and see what she thinks of it. Thanks for all the hard work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! The courses will remain open, for when life settles down. :)

      Let us know what your daughter thinks!

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  2. (Side note.. the first time I made this comment, I had selected "google" but clicked "preview" without being authenticated yet. It refreshed the page, logged me in via google, but wiped out my comment too without showing a preview of it. :/)

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  3. I have a question. When will the topics of series and integrals be uploaded in the calculus section? I really look forward to learning the materials. Also, I like this website because the teacher breaks down the concepts thoroughly. My only issue is that the program designers should add more hints in certain topics. Otherwise great job for those who created School Yourself.

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  4. A best place to learn onine like Khna academy is very good and you may ask any education Question also.

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  5. Well, if it's a contest between School Yourself and Khan Academy, I'd say the one that is STILL DEVELOPING CURRICULUM wins.

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  6. I'm on Geometry and it's been going great so far :D

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  7. I do wish there were more example problems to figure out. Maybe there’s more down the line but I however like it a lot.

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  14. Any chance you guys will continue to work on the curriculum? My ADHD son did Algebra 1 & is now doing Geometry & finds it the best of all the online courses he's tried. He loves the interactive aspect of it, which keep his attention.

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  15. Yes, you are right that studying online using the lectures of Khan Academy is convenient but students cannot rely on that. The education students get from college and school is more suitable. Thanks for sharing this with us. I really appreciate this. Now it's time to avail Logo Design usa for more information.

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  16. well khan academy had a quality once but after it had gain fame they have neglected the platform i remember i use to get help from khan academy to take my online exam but now i would prefer other platforms

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  25. In the dynamic realm of online education, a clear frontrunner has emerged - "School Yourself." Students across the globe are choosing this innovative platform over established giants like Khan Academy and other MOOCs, and for good reason. Join us as we explore why learners are flocking to School Yourself and how the platform can elevate its offerings even further.
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  27. "Fantastic news! Algebra II winning by such a significant margin is a testament to its importance in building a strong foundation for further learning. Excited to see the expansion of the School Yourself library and the opportunities it will provide for students to delve deeper into mathematics and related fields. With each subject added, the potential for a more comprehensive and adaptable learning experience grows, benefitting students immensely. Looking forward to the journey ahead!"
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