Will Richardson

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The Khan Iceberg

May 30, 2012 By Will Richardson

From USA Today:

Love it or hate it, Khan Academy is part of a looming tech-education iceberg, says Victor Hu, head of education technology and services for Goldman Sachs. He says that from 2002 to 2006, venture capital firms put $300 million into about 50 tech-ed deals; since 2007, $2 billion has gone into 230 deals.

“Technology is doing to education what it’s done to countless other industries: disrupting it,” Hu says. “Where education once was static, bound to a textbook, now it’s moving to a global, interdisciplinary model.”

But even Hu is impressed by Khan’s rapid and improbable success. “To go from making videos for your cousins to promoting a new model for education in a few short years is amazing,” he says. “But it’s also the best thing that can happen to this space. It needs more smart people who care.”

A couple of thoughts.

1. The money that is flowing into the education space is going to dramatically “disrupt” what we do. I agree that we need to be disrupted, but right now, we’re not driving it. The disruptions schools need have little to do with people making big profits. 

2. The model is not changing; this is still delivery. What’s changing is the narrow pipe of delivery that schools currently represent.

3. I am so sick of people suggesting that education is void of “smart people who care.” That’s just BS, and we should never miss the opportunity to call it such. 

We need to change this narrative, people. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: education, khan

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