Khan Academy:

https://www.khanacademy.org/welcome

Advantages:

• Clearly displayed information

• Intuitive site with a clear layout and structure, information is broken down and categorized to individual levels.

• Avatar style icon will engage younger learners

• Colorful site isn’t repetitive, colours are varied

Disadvantages:

• Can appear repetitive

• Could be confusing if varying methods are used to derive an answer

• The user needs to be computer literate in order to maximize the output of the learning tool

Engaging:

• The site is engaging, it allows you to watch videos, and detail explanations with breakdowns of how the math’s is worked out.

• There are math’s exercises to gauge understanding, which can be completed and marked.

Retention:

• This tool would be great if used in parallel with math’s being taught in a school environment. The digital tool could be used to improve or reiterate understanding and boost confidence.

• The fact that the learning style is slightly different to the one being taught in school, it could pick up and reiterate points missed by the student whilst in lesson.

• There would be little to no distraction while learning in this way. Khan academy provides a one on one learning experience.

YouTube

www.youtube.com

Advantages:

• Ease of access

• Straight forward

• Multiple sources available

• No sign in required

Disadvantages:

• Not all videos are provided by reputable sources and therefore can be unreliable

• Vast array of different techniques can be confusing

• Not test to be able to gauge understanding and competency

• Multiple distractions from adverts and other suggested videos

Engaging:

• Videos can be engaging if filmed correctly

• The videos that contain humor can encourage the learner

Retention:

• If multiple videos are watched then information can easily be forgotten

• With other distractions on the site information might be forgotten

In evaluation both of these tools are effective in their own right. From a personal perspective, each learner will have individual requirements that can be satisfied from either tool. In terms of my individual learning I prefer the Khan academy for its simple explanations and minimal distractions. Personally a clear website with multiple resources for each topic, such as videos, examples and test questions is perfect. This is what Khan academy has to offer.

As I progress through my engineering qualifications, I am starting to come up against more complicated maths. I have used both Khan academy and You Tube to further my understanding of trigonometry . I found the broad resources available to me on Khan academy extremely helpful and after using these resources my competence and confidence grew. The fact that I was able to learn techniques through videos available and then practice these techniques on the test papers extremely helpful.

In the first year of my studies, one of the topics I had to cover was materials. You Tube was an excellent resource. I was able to look at material properties and how they behave in different conditions. The fact that differing scenarios were available to me really helped my understanding.