Gratitude and Optimism: A Reflection on Khan Academy’s Approach to AI for Educators
Khan Academy featured a guest post from our Mindful AI for Education team
ChatGPT prompt for image: A minimalist, abstract digital illustration with a subtle textured, speckled background in warm off-white or beige tones. The central focus is a lightbulb being sketched by a pencil, as if the pencil is finishing a line drawing with elegant precision. The lightbulb is composed of many fine, flowing pencil lines, giving it an organic and handcrafted look. The pencil is positioned at the bottom right, completing the drawing with a sweeping, calligraphic flourish—similar to a signature stroke. The overall style is clean and minimal but rich with hand-drawn linework and subtle grain or spray paint-like texture in the negative space. The color palette should remain soft and natural—earthy browns, warm neutrals, or muted graphite tones. No text or letters.
In the offices of Mindful AI for Education (often just random coffee shops), we're constantly experimenting with the latest AI tools to see which ones are worthwhile. It might be unsurprising that while the convergence of AI and education has been a major topic of conversation, there still aren't many pure educational tools powered by AI.
Read our guest post on Khan Academy’s Blog
That makes me anxious because, while ChatGPT and Claude are extremely powerful, I think most teachers want more insight into and control over how these tools are used by students than the general-purpose chatbots typically offer.
Enter Khan Academy. KA's "Khanmigo," their AI tutor, has actually been around for a while now. It is a teacher-focused tool, and those who use Khan Academy's videos for flipped classroom lectures will recognize the intentionality behind these tools for teachers.
Khan Academy's Chief Learning Officer, Kristen DiCerbo, visited our school in April. Dr. DiCerbo addressed a wide range of questions that teachers commonly harbor about AI tools and clarified their company’s goals. To name a few points, she talked about Khan Academy’s theory of action for learners, questions about privacy and security, methodology for developing their tools, and the importance of the teacher-student relationship.
I was given the chance to reflect on that experience for their blog. I hope you'll take a moment to visit the post and read about my experience hearing Dr. DiCerbo speak on their integration of AI.