Real tools for real classrooms: A direct look at the next chapter of Khan Academy.

Audrey, a product manager at Khan Academy, introduces the reimagined Khan Academy experience for the upcoming school year, focusing on teacher and student perspectives. Gintus, another product manager, is present to answer questions. The session is recorded, and a link will be shared afterward. The new experience aims to address feedback that Khan Academy could feel like a chore for students and that teacher tools, while dependable, didn't always align with classroom flow. The redesign combines trusted mastery-based learning with new AI-powered tools to create a clearer, more engaging, and easier-to-use classroom-focused experience. Existing features remain, including current accounts, classes, data, the full content library, mastery-based learning, and its free status. The changes focus on the user experience with a more focused interface and new motivational features. **Teacher Experience:** Upon first login, teachers will encounter a short onboarding to gather details like their school and role. After this, they land on a welcoming, organized teacher dashboard. The left-hand menu provides access to classes, the content library, Kigo teacher tools, and previously created documents. A new Kamigo assistant search bar is prominently featured. From the dashboard, classes are visible via a dropdown or as tiles. New classes can be created by importing from Google Classroom or manually. For manual creation, a new improvement allows teachers to paste entire rosters to bulk-create student accounts, saving time. Within a class, tabs at the top allow switching between views like assignments, students, and reports. The "Students" tab manages rosters, allowing teachers to view, add, or manage student details like names, class assignments, and removals. Before assigning content, teachers select the courses for their class in the "Settings" tab. They can preview and link courses. If a course isn't selected, the full content library can be explored directly from the interface. The new Kamigo assistant significantly changes platform interaction. Instead of navigating menus, teachers can ask for what they need, like "Show me exercises on fractions for fourth grade." Kamigo provides relevant content results, filtering options, and helpful context. This assistant is available in multiple locations. Kigo tools, accessible from the left menu, are AI-powered tools designed to support instruction, offering features like lesson hooks and IEP support, aiming to streamline workflow. These tools will be available to all teachers in the fall. To create an assignment, teachers go to the "Assignments" tab and click "Add Assignment." Options include: 1. **Unit missions:** Students work through an entire unit at their own pace towards mastery. 2. **Content assignment:** Assign specific videos, exercises, or articles. 3. **Writing coach:** Students work on essays with Kigo support. For unit missions, teachers select a course and a unit, set a due date, and choose recipients (whole class, multiple classes, or specific students). Alternatively, content can still be assigned by exploring the library and selecting items. Once created, assignments immediately appear in students' queues. The "Reports" tab offers familiar views: 1. **Activity report:** A snapshot of student performance, including time spent, skills worked on, and mastery progress. Teachers can drill down to individual student skill proficiency. 2. **Skills report:** Zooms in on class-level mastery, showing progress across skills and individual student proficiency levels. 3. **Assignments report:** Tracks completion and scores for assigned work. A new feature on the overview is the "gem challenge" card. As students complete exercises and assignments, they earn gems. Teachers can set a shared class goal (e.g., pizza party), and the card tracks class progress toward it, fostering motivation. **Student Experience:** Students log in using their existing credentials. The first time, they go through a quick, playful onboarding to personalize their experience before landing on their learner dashboard. From the dashboard, students can switch between classes. For each class, they see assigned unit missions and can view all assignments. The right side displays mastery progress (skills achieved proficiency in, skills to work on) and mission progress. Missions are new learning goals made up of lessons and activities, breaking work into manageable steps. At the bottom, students see the class gem challenge progress and their contribution. Clicking "start" or "view all assignments" leads to the learner queue, a more focused view of what to work on next, guided by Kigo. This helps students pace their work, showing daily or weekly missions to avoid overwhelm. When a student clicks into an assignment, the learning experience is familiar: direct access to content (exercise, video, article). During exercises, students receive hints, worked examples, and support. If an answer is wrong, steps are provided to guide them. A "lessons folder" tied to the current assignment offers reference materials (exercises, videos, articles) to help students get unstuck independently. Kamigo acts as a motivational presence on the left, celebrating correct answers and encouraging students when they're stuck. Students track earned gems at the top. Gems are earned by completing assignments and daily/weekly missions. Accumulating gems unlocks hats and accessories to customize Kamigo, providing a fun motivational element. The gem challenge is also visible here. Students can still maintain streaks, further encouraging consistent engagement. This comprehensive redesign aims to enhance both teacher efficiency and student engagement and motivation.