Teaching for Mastery – How Video-Learning is Changing the Face of Education

Ana Vega, PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Resident, University of Maryland Medical Center

In his 2011 TED Talk entitled “Let’s use videos to reinvent education” Salman Khan explores the idea of a global electronic classroom.¹ As an avid user of the Khan Academy videos myself, I was curious to discover the data that has grown to support this method in just a few short years. From a health education perspective, there are numerous examples in the literature regarding the use of video education to improve skills and understanding for both practitioners and patients.^{2, 3, 4} Nonetheless, uptake has lagged in the classroom. Khan has evolved his idea into a well thought-out method that is quite possibly the future of education. He details three main points in his talk related to educational theory and practice.

1.  Video-learning eliminates the one-size-fits-all classrooms.

One of the benefits of video-education, as discussed by Khan, is that learners can engage with material at a personal pace. Whereas the traditional classroom environment requires learners to sit and listen to their professor lecture for hours, videos allow the learner to choose when to pause, play, repeat, forward, speed, or slow down the lecture at their leisure. It provides the opportunity to have an animated, virtual professor that you can control to fit your needs. In the traditional setting, educators labor for hours creating fun and interactive lectures that often miss the mark, simply because all students are not created equal. For instance, take students A, B, and C. In a typical lecture hall, student A may miss a concept presented 30 minutes into the lecture, student B may have difficulty remaining attentive near the end of the lecture, while student C may not recall previous material adequately and be lost from the minute the lecture starts. The professor will inevitably move on to cover all topics that meet predetermined curriculum standards without the ability or time to confront the issues faced by student A, B, C individually. Video-learning eliminates these issues by allowing personalized learning in which a student can move at their own pace, return to previous modules when necessary, and test their knowledge until they master a concept.

One of my favorite quotes from the Khan’s talk is: “Our traditional model penalizes experimentation and failure but does not expect mastery.”¹ This is absolutely true in my experience. My public school education emphasized learning to achieve certain test scores (i.e. to pass state-administered standardized testing) more than learning for mastery. With this system, even high-achieving students suffer as all students become victims of resulting gaps in knowledge. For instance, even for those who consistently scored a 95 in mathematics throughout school, the current system is not designed to revisit the one or two concepts they may have not adequately grasped. The lesson plan must go on! On the other hand, the video-learning model includes interactive quizzes and games tied to every concept at the touch of a button. For this reason alone, whether used as a supplement to classroom education or as a stand-alone system, I believe video-learning will become the future of education.

2.  Video-learning allows for tracking of life-long learning.

A second benefit to video-learning is the ability to track life-long learning. In his TED Talk, Khan jokes that if Isaac Newton had recorded videos on calculus, the Khan Academy wouldn’t have to.¹ The Khan Academy has made an integrated electronic set of tools by which a student can be tracked continuously on material they have covered, mastered, or struggled with. This data goes into building broad “knowledge maps” which are essentially road maps of all things learned in the past (as well as concepts yet to be conquered). As concepts build on each other, the knowledge map gives way to more branches – representing new material that the learner is now ready to undertake. It is pretty revolutionary to think that a student’s learning can now be tracked over a lifetime of education and that one can revisit a concept learned in the past at any point in time.

3.  Video-learning increases access to education.

A final benefit of video-learning is the increased access to education that it creates. Videos uploaded online can be accessed from any computer around the world at any point in time. The Khan Academy provides the same quality of education to a child from the slums of India as to a child from an upper-middle class family in America. Communities in third-world countries that have limited resources to provide education can benefit indefinitely if provided a computer and access to the internet. Additionally, this “online-schooling” creates a global community of learners whereby anyone, anywhere in the world, can become a mentor or tutor to another person. If I want to become a Spanish tutor, for example, I can become a mentor through Khan Academy to a child from France and help him/her learn a new language.

So what does this mean for traditional classroom learning?

Video-learning through software like that developed by Khan Academy can integrate perfectly into the classroom and become a supplement to one-on-one live education. One way this can penetrate the classroom is through the flipped classroom technique. Teachers can assign Khan Academy lectures to their students for homework and students can come to class to work on assignments that would traditionally be considered “homework”. In this way, the passive learning is done at home while application of the material is done in school. This increases the “valuable-time-with-the-teacher-ratio” as teachers would now have more time to interact with students one-on-one, walking around the classroom to help them solve problems and foster their critical thinking skills. In this way, Gagne’s first four events of instruction take place at home and the teacher can focus on more important principles such as providing guidance, practice, and enhancing retention. Furthermore, this method facilitates the instructional system design process by allowing more in-depth analysis and evaluation of learning through the data-tracking tools provided for each individual student.

Video-learning for pharmacy education.

Video-learning can be a wonderful asset to traditional pharmacy education as well. Teachers can implement the flipped-classroom model and provide lectures for students to watch at home. These lectures do not have to be provided by Khan Academy, although they do offer a plethora of information of pharmacology that can be used as a supplement. When students come in to class, they can work on self-assessment questions or patient cases. This would foster independent, self-directed learning and allow time for fun activities to reinforce concepts learned. For instance, patient-care labs can be integrated into regular courses if teachers don’t have to spend time on lecturing. Alternatively, students can be chosen to examine primary literature related to the video modules they watched at home. The professor can then track learning via the Khan Academy software to make sure their students are adequately prepared for the board exam or otherwise individualize remediation.

References:

1.    Khan, S. Let’s use video to reinvent education [video file]; 2011. TED Conferences, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education

2.    Wang V, Cheng Y-T, Liu D. Improving education: just-in-time splinting video. Clin Teach. 2016 Jun;13(3):183–6.

3.    Wieland ML, Nelson J, Palmer T, O’Hara C, Weis JA, Nigon JA, et al. Evaluation of a tuberculosis education video among immigrants and refugees at an adult education center: a community-based participatory approach. J Health Commun. 2013;18(3):343–53.