Khan Academy Program in Bangladesh

What is the Khan Academy Program Khan Academy is an educational website that features over 4,000 video tutorials teaching mathematics, history, physics, chemistry, biology, finance, computer science and various other subjects. It also provides practice exercises for students and monitoring tools for teachers. Schools in USA and elsewhere are implementing the program in many class rooms with success. Agami’s Khan Academy Program brings this much acclaimed Khan Academy math videos to students in Bangladesh. Agami’s innovative approach includes translating the videos from English to Bangla, reviewing contents to match with the curriculum in Bangladesh and providing appropriate technology to access these videos in class rooms without internet access. Students can also gain access online at https: //bn.khanacademy.org/ Agami’s collaboration with Khan Academy started in 2011, with the Bangla translation of over 800 Khan Academy math videos. Starting from the 2012 school year, Agami has made Khan Academy videos available to over 2,000 underprivileged students in over 20 schools across Bangladesh in the last two and a half years.

Implementation of Khan Academy Program in Your School Step 1: Get familiar with the video content for selected class level ● ●

Collect a list of videos that covers the national curriculum in Bangladesh for the selected class level Agami can provide this list which matches videos for each chapter in the text book. Watch a few videos to familiarize yourself with the video style, content and relevance with curriculum – videos are available for watching online or Agami can upload the videos on your computer.

We recommend a school visit by Agami to meet with the Principal, Math teachers and IT/Computer teachers. In this visit, Agami team can demonstrate the use of the videos and answer all queries. In addition, we recommend that the Math teachers attend a two day comprehensive workshop offered by Agami.

Step 2: Get the computer lab in your school ready with the necessary technology ●

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Determine how many computers are needed. The minimum number of computers needed vary based on class size, availability of computers during and after class hours, etc. Agami can assist in determining the optimum number based on these information. Each computer should have at least one head phone; alternately the computer can be set up with multiple head phones via a USB connector for group viewing Prepare each computer with the Khan Academy content Prepare an IT support plan including trouble shooting

We recommend two school visits by Agami to facilitate this step. In the first visit Agami team will do an IT audit and recommend if any improvements are needed to get the lab ready – this visit can be combined with the visit mentioned in Step 1. In the second visit the team will install and test Khan Academy content on each computer.

Step 3: Determine when the students will watch the videos. ● ● ●

A combination of regular class hours and outside the class hour use of the computer lab is recommended. When the program is first started, conduct 1 class session per week in the computer lab, where students can watch the videos and teacher is available to assist as needed. Allocate a daily 2 hour slot in the computer lab, when students can watch videos on their own. This should be during times when students do not have regular class such as recess and before or after class. The student can pick a time and day that is convenient for her/him during these daily slots.

Step 4: Introduce the students to videos as a supplementary resource for math ● ● ●

When a new chapter or a chapter topic is introduced in the class, provide the students the titles of the videos that match the chapter/topic. Encourage the students to watch these videos during allocated class session or additional time slot in the computer lab. Monitor if and how often students are watching the videos

Step 5: Distribute exercise sheets to students ● ●

There are two sets of exercise sheets corresponding to each Khan Academy video. Students can do these exercises to practice what they have learned in the video. One set can be used in the class and another at home.

Khan Academy at Alok Shishu Shikkhaloy

Alok students

Alok Shishu Shikkhaloy is located in the Agargaon area. Established in 2004, the school currently provides primary education to over 300 underprivileged children residing in the Agargaon, Mohammadpur, Shyamoli, and Mirpur slum area of Dhaka city. Alok has been an early adopter of Khan Academy in Bangladesh and was the first school to participate in Agami’s Khan Academy pilot program in 2012.

Number of Students in Khan Academy 189 (4 schools in 2012) 456 (4 schools in 2013) 2000 (14 schools in 2014 - till June)

“We believe that the program provided a push towards math studies, as the students were very interested in using the devices and learning in a new way” Teacher

Math Grades in PSC Exam 62%

A+ Students D Students

Results from Alok School

A three year survey of math scores of Alok students in the PSC national exam showed marked improvement after implementing the Khan Academy program. Before Khan Academy program was started the overall result was average with the same percentage of students receiving the highest (A+) and lowest (D) grades in math in 2011. After 1 year of Khan Academy, there was significant improvement in 2012, with percentage of students receiving A+ rising to 36% from 23% and percentage of students receiving D going down to 18% from 23%. In the most recent exams in November 2013 following 2 years of Khan Academy, 62.5% of the grade 5 students at Alok received A+ in math. The school authorities attribute this improvement largely to the implementation of the Khan Academy program.

36%

23%

23%

18% 6%

2011 (pre K)

2013 2012 (Yr 2 of KA) (Yr 1 of KA)

80% students said that problems of a certain chapter are easier to solve after watching video – Survey from participating school in 2012 pilot study 99.3% of the students said they overall liked using the videos – Survey from participating schools in 2013

About Agami “Agami” means Future in Bangla. Agami is an US based education non-profit. Agami and its’ sister organization in Bangladesh, Agami Education Foundation are dedicated to promote education for the underprivileged children in Bangladesh. 43% of the population of Bangladesh is under the age of 19. Agami believes in unfolding the promise of this vast population by giving them access to quality education, through a combination of providing basic educational resources, and bringing innovations in education technology to the classrooms of Bangladesh.

In addition to the Khan Academy Program, Agami’s program portfolio includes the following: • School Program: Our School Program is the core project through which we provide basic support to under-resourced schools across Bangladesh. We partner with selected schools each year, and develop plans to address the schools’ needs through financial and other support. Agami and partner schools share the goal of promoting a school environment that is welcoming and academically enriching for the students and teachers.

• Continued Education Program: This program provides ex-Agami students with financial, academic and mentoring support to pursue higher education after graduating from Agami schools. • Solar Program: Our Solar Program enables students to study longer hours utilizing environment friendly, renewable energy provided by solar lamps. • Science Initiative: In our newest initiative, we are developing a package of science lessons to motivate children towards learning science and link their classroomlearning with day-to-day life. •

Project Locations

Learn more about Agami at www.agami.org Write to us at [email protected]

Visit our office at 143 Lake Circus, Kalabagan, Dhaka 1205, Bangladesh