[exch]

Have you guys in any way been inspired by Salman Khan's (khanacademy.org) work? Perhaps a cooperation could benefit both of your organizations, and consequently the rest of the world.

Improving education is always a very laudable goal. And even though I see the value of having many parties to chose from, I think in this case a lot more can be achieved by reducing fragmentation of the available tools and sources and having potentially major players join forces.

[dmerfield]

Absolutely, we share many principles with the Khan Academy in our approach to the classroom. We're just trying to solve the problem in a different way.

- David, Co-Founder, Open

[peteforde]

I don't get the sense from the Khan literature that they intend for "normal" teachers to record their own lessons. I could be mistaken?

[exch]

It's not portrayed in that way, no. Khan Academy seeks dedicated movie makers.

Letting the teacher do it instead can have its benefits. Certainly when it comes to teaching a customized or niche curriculum that simply isn't available on a place like khanacademy.org.

However, I do think that having videos recorded by people who excel at that kind of stuff (like Salman himself) also makes a lot of sense. A good voice and a clear way of explaining potentially difficult subjects can not easily be done by everyone.

One would say that a teacher should be able to do it, but talking to a computer screen is a lot different than talking to a classroom. And from my own experiences I know for a fact that not nearly all of them have the charm and capacity to convey a subject in an understandable and inspiring manner.