Rationale for Analysis,

In a rapidly changing and developing market, AI technologies are at the forefront of the technological market. Sal Khan and the Khan academy are developing a product in Khanmigo that could revolutionize online education. During and immediately after the pandemic, online learning burst into the scene and advanced in 2 years to what could have taken 50 to achieve. As the pandemic wore on society identified that teachers still played a crucial role in the learning and development of students. With the pandemic in the rearview mirror and students returning to in person learning there is opportunity to review what was learned from the pandemic about online learning. Although content delivery online is simple, the feedback and support that teachers provide in digesting and making sense of that material still required a human touch, until now. Khanmigo looks to act in the educational space in a way that teachers have supported for years. In promoting Khanmigo, Sal Khan references Bloom’s “Two Sigma” study and the way that one to one tutoring improved student performance by two standard deviation in his study (Khan 2023). Khan (2023) is proposing that Khanmigo could be a solution to Bloom’s “Two Sigma Problem”. If, in the past, scaling and economics prevented one-to-one tutoring for students from becoming a reality then Khanmigo may be able to fill that need.

Human Tutoring provides students with the necessary one to one feedback to improve upon their learning that is challenging to provide in a group setting. Teachers are often responsible for more than 20 students in one classroom. Feedback that is timely and actionable is one of the key components to improving student learning. Khanmigo is capable of providing immediate feedback to students while problem solving, writing, or debating. Natasha Singer, an educational tech writer with the New York Times remarks in a recent article on the potential for the AI tutor Khanmigo allow students to better explore new topics on their own, further expanding their knowledge in topics they are studying and provide self paced learners with a tool to support their learning in real time (2023). 

The power of an AI tool that can tutor students while they are completing online schoolwork in real time could change the educational landscape forever. As a teacher and vice-principal at an affluent private school I see firsthand the benefit to students who can afford one to one tutoring and see the power in the Khan Academy (a non-profit organization) providing this service to students all over the world for free.