What is remarkable about Khan Academy is that it was done. It was a huge effort. And it was done from scratch, out of nothing. Not in order to promote some crapware like Silverlight or Flash, but with commitment to teach poor people.
Collecting videos around the net and put it in one page is useless idea. There are plenty of really great courses from MIT, Yale, Berkeley and they were already aggregated on sites like academicearch.
And of course, no one could ever beat 6.001 from MIT ^_^ It is art. Btw, if you like to improve your education in CS courses from MIT are enough. For general education visit Yale. For everything else there is Berkeley. CS69A is a masterpiece.
As one commenter brought up, I think you need to keep in mind who you are targeting. The real brilliance about Khan Academy, in my mind, is that they aren't just another video tutorial repository. They have a sophisticated back-end tracking system that allows teachers and parents to gauge the level of comprehension the students are working at.
The other thing to note about Khan, is that the site is precisely intended for younger students in an effort to give them a solid foundational backing for further study.
Personally, I don't think we need another resource for experienced developers. Experienced developers have a level of understanding that already allows them to be more critical of the tools and resources they choose. If you're truly interested in following the Khan model, you should be focusing on the core fundamentals that are often taken for granted in many of the other resources. That's not to say that you couldn't expand to more advanced topics, but starting at the lowest level and working up would be more beneficial in my eyes.
Anyhow, interested to see what you get up there. Cheers!
Come on, you guys could've at least not done the robot voices on the intro video. A blackboard with some emotinoal statments regarding pointers or even a "reflection" joke would've been more like it. It'd be a neat idea and I'd follow up only if you promise that robotic kittens will not be involved in any of the lectures :-P
Rest assured that no "robotic kittens" are involved in the production of the tutorials. That promo video was my form of working on a limited monetary, manpower and time budget. When you're still a student and the only one working on a project (and more interested in creating the videos than promoting them), you get something of this kind.
That said, the interface and video seem to have been appealing enough for people to sign up en-mass (and for you to call us "you guyS" where in reality it should have been merely "you" ;) )
Now I feel I have to say it: I've started a YouTube Channel inspired by the Khan Academy (in spanish). It's not like Hacker CS, though. I'm targetting only guys who want to program and don't know how to start, not future CS students. In my opinion, that is closer in spirit to the Khan Academy.
I have only C++ right now but there are already 136 videos (and 227 subscribers). And I've gotten some very nice comments, and that makes me very happy.
That's programming. I'm hoping these CS videos are more about data structures, algorithms, theory of computation, introduction to machine learning, language compilation, etc.
That's embarrassing :$ I guess that's what happens when you take ready-made templates from themeforest ;) I'll see if I can fix that... Thanks for pointing it out though.
I'm sorry but you are not the "Khan Academy of CS" until you actually have a product. There is nothing on the site yet. It's an idea, a concept, a theory. I don't like this trend of launching while you haven't developed anything.
What's the targeted difficulty level here? My experience with other Khan Academy videos is that they may be fine for a sophomore or junior year high schooler but their advanced topics are very lacking or generalized. How much CS will actually be taught here? How will it compete with things like Google Code University? http://code.google.com/edu/algorithms/index.html
I'd say undergraduate university education in CS. Most students in fact are only exposed to CS in college, so it'd be the basics they get there. A good review for seniors, an excellent introduction for students from high school, and a quick refresher for programming interviewee candidates.
I'm a huge fan of Khan Academy, so I hope that your site will do the name justice. Now I can't imagine that Khan would have a problem, but you should be careful when relating your site with others like this. Some people might think that you're actually aligned with Khan Academy.
You are right. I've come to realize that the reason the site has garnered the attention it has thus far is mainly due to the comparison to Khan Academy. Otherwise, such services already exist (although one could argue that their execution leaves something to be desired).
The only reason I used Khan Academy in the slogan was to get the idea closer to mind (and to do it with as few words as possible). But the effect has been far more powerful than anticipated.
I'm really wondering now if I should remove any allusion to Khan Academy from the page. What do you think?
The typical "hacker" ethos these days (out with the old, re-invent the wheel, everything taught in college is a waste of time etc) seems to be almost the antithesis of classical computer science, so I'm not sure I get the juxtaposition of the two in the name of the site.
Hopefully this is more about the fundamentals and theory of Computer Science, since there is a lot elsewhere online if you want to learn how to program.
Somebody else mentioned the format, and I would request that the videos are short and concise. It would also be nice if there were audiobook versions since I could listen to this on the way to and from work, although then you would have to make sure the visual part does not contain information that's not audible.
Some notes from the video I saw on YouTube. Needs better audio quality. Bigger fonts for the computer typing would be nicer, the existing size was just legible. It would be nice to see the diagram and code on screen at the same time rather than switching back and forth. I liked the 5 minute length, that is just long enough.
Poor audio quality noted. I'll be getting myself a better microphone. That particular video (with the computer typing) is in HD and can go up to 720p. But it's very easy to increase the font in notepad++, and I'll be doing that. As to switching back and forth, the diagrams, notes and code will be available for download and so users will be able to follow along on their computers (and maybe even directly from the web app). Thanks for the feedback!
[+] [-] schiptsov|14 years ago|reply
Collecting videos around the net and put it in one page is useless idea. There are plenty of really great courses from MIT, Yale, Berkeley and they were already aggregated on sites like academicearch.
And of course, no one could ever beat 6.001 from MIT ^_^ It is art. Btw, if you like to improve your education in CS courses from MIT are enough. For general education visit Yale. For everything else there is Berkeley. CS69A is a masterpiece.
[+] [-] jhchen|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kunjaan|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] soegaard|14 years ago|reply
So true. It is the completeness that is the most impressing.
[+] [-] Brewer|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] VB6_Foreverr|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] ISeemToBeAVerb|14 years ago|reply
The other thing to note about Khan, is that the site is precisely intended for younger students in an effort to give them a solid foundational backing for further study.
Personally, I don't think we need another resource for experienced developers. Experienced developers have a level of understanding that already allows them to be more critical of the tools and resources they choose. If you're truly interested in following the Khan model, you should be focusing on the core fundamentals that are often taken for granted in many of the other resources. That's not to say that you couldn't expand to more advanced topics, but starting at the lowest level and working up would be more beneficial in my eyes.
Anyhow, interested to see what you get up there. Cheers!
[+] [-] Killah911|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _2ual|14 years ago|reply
That said, the interface and video seem to have been appealing enough for people to sign up en-mass (and for you to call us "you guyS" where in reality it should have been merely "you" ;) )
[+] [-] paufernandez|14 years ago|reply
I have only C++ right now but there are already 136 videos (and 227 subscribers). And I've gotten some very nice comments, and that makes me very happy.
Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/user/paueky
There is a companion site, which shows the dependency graph between videos: http://minidosis.org/C++
[+] [-] JacobIrwin|14 years ago|reply
May take a bit before it has all the resources that can currently be found in the YouTube tutorials, but I can see it getting there in a short time...
This guy has a full range (and a good rep) of CS tutorials: http://www.thenewboston.com/. Maybe you could contact him and collab.
Keep us posted :-)
[+] [-] _2ual|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patrickaljord|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _2ual|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scottjad|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gnuvince|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] covercash|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pbreit|14 years ago|reply
But "already done" comments are usually incorrect and short-sighted.
[+] [-] Thoreandan|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _2ual|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JeremyBanks|14 years ago|reply
It does care about: +#%()
Seems pretty arbitrary.
[+] [-] makthrow|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Locke1689|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _2ual|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] killerswan|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _2ual|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patrickaljord|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Brewer|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _2ual|14 years ago|reply
The only reason I used Khan Academy in the slogan was to get the idea closer to mind (and to do it with as few words as possible). But the effect has been far more powerful than anticipated.
I'm really wondering now if I should remove any allusion to Khan Academy from the page. What do you think?
[+] [-] alatkins|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] antihero|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fredoliveira|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jules|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] hng|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jc-denton|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lhnz|14 years ago|reply
Hopefully this is more about the fundamentals and theory of Computer Science, since there is a lot elsewhere online if you want to learn how to program.
Somebody else mentioned the format, and I would request that the videos are short and concise. It would also be nice if there were audiobook versions since I could listen to this on the way to and from work, although then you would have to make sure the visual part does not contain information that's not audible.
[+] [-] nwhitehead|14 years ago|reply
Some notes from the video I saw on YouTube. Needs better audio quality. Bigger fonts for the computer typing would be nicer, the existing size was just legible. It would be nice to see the diagram and code on screen at the same time rather than switching back and forth. I liked the 5 minute length, that is just long enough.
[+] [-] _2ual|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] duncanj|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pbreit|14 years ago|reply