Update: Restart the practice activity you’re working on— introducing the “Start over” link!

THANK YOU. This is a life saver. 

Super helpful, thank you for the good work KA staff 

Perhaps the button should not become active until at least one question is answered incorrectly?   To avoid accidental restarts. 

Thank you, but I'm not sure why this took 5 years to implement. I've physically punched myself because a probability question is looking for ".50" not "50" and I had to restart the 30 minute unit test. Anyone who has spent any time on KA knows how much frustration is caused by this poor early design decision. I'm glad the KA team is finally adding this but you guys should listen to your users more seriously instead of developing assumption-based UX opinions.

Thank you it helps 

I've already asked for this with the support feature, but would you please add an

"are you sure you want to start over?"  message when you've pressed the button?

I can't count how many times I've been at the last question, only to accidentally start over!

Highly disheartening when that happens.

It helps a lot but i am still on a coarse challenge and i got the second problem wrong. I really need it on the coarse challenge.

Hi G. Tarun!

We are aiming for a global release by early 2023 but will keep you posted if that changes :) 

Thanks for asking and the enthusiasm as always! 

G Tarun - I would agree with your concern about restarting upon making a mistake if making a mistake was not "punished", but mistakes ARE punished. When you make a mistake on a unit test, for example, rather than simply not increasing mastery, it subtracts mastery. That tends to do two interrelated things: it establishes an expectation of perfection and creates a perception that mistakes are failures rather than opportunities to learn - neither of which is conducive to learning. This is especially frustrating to high achieving students (who frequently have never learned to cope with academic struggle) and students like me with disabilities (who tend to make more mistakes than others) - particularly when the error was a simple mistake instead of a lack of mastery. While Khan Academy does many things well, their approach to assessment and establishing mastery, while I assume well-intentioned, has always been highly problematic and often contrary to well-established tenets of cognitive and behavioral science. Adding a "restart" button is a positive step, but it is the instructional equivalent of a band-aid that leaves the underlying conditions (in this case, the expectation of perfection and the perception of mistake as failure) unaddressed. After all, if students perceived mistakes simply as opportunities to learn, why would there be any desire to restart upon making a mistake? Khan Academy could achieve this with relatively minor modifications, and I sincerely hope they do. It would require focusing on the qualitative aspects of learning and assessment that most assessment makers ardently avoid because they make data messier and claims more subjective (to the student), though, so I am not optimistic. In the meantime, I'll celebrate the arrival of the "reset" button as a way of reducing the consequences of my mistakes.

G. Tarun - Assuming your concern is still that students will disengage whenever they make a mistake, moving the option to the end would likely make no difference. I expect many students would continue doing as they do today - knowing that they have to take the test over anyway, stop trying and just input random answers to get to the end. A better solution for addressing your concern would be to only require students to redo the questions that they missed. That would incentivize continued effort and reduce (but not eliminate) the consequences for mistakes. This still, though, leaves an expectation of perfection (rather than learning) and punishes mistakes (rather than rewarding persistence).

I think my use of 'qualitative aspects' was not as clear as I had hoped (a common consequence of my autism, I'm afraid). The issues I've mentioned are grounded in epistemology rather than pedagogy, so pedagogical solutions like gamification or a "retake" button can, at best, treat the symptoms. Meaningfully addressing the issues would require modifying the assumptions that underlie, among other things, the design and use of assessments. For example, Khan Academy's current mastery structure requires accepting all of the following assumptions (and countless more) as true.

• Our assessment items (questions) accurately measure student mastery of the concepts we want them to learn
• The results (scores) of our assessments accurately reflect students' actual ability related to a particular concept
• Anyone who has mastered a particular concept would be able to correctly respond to every assessment item we have created to measure that concept
• Anyone who responds incorrectly to an assessment item we created has not mastered the concept we created the item to measure.
• Responses are purely binary - that is, they show either that someone knows the concept or does not know the concept.

If any of these claims were found to be false, Khan Academy's determination that a student has/ has not mastered a particular concept would be largely if not entirely meaningless. As such, Khan Academy, like all major assessment designers, simply assumes that they are all true. (More precisely, they assume that they are mostly true and that situations in which one or more of the assumptions is found to be false are statistical anomalies that will even out over time.) This allows them to focus only on the result (i.e., the answer to a question) and ignore everything else. Doing so makes the data seem definitive and the inferences drawn from those data seem objective - it also creates the expectation of perfection and perception of mistakes as failures.

The problem, of course, is that students aren't standardized. They are each shaped by a unique combination of experiences, capabilities, beliefs, etc. that influence how they interact with the world. Because of this, students often arrive at the same result for very different reasons which means that the actual implications of the result are inherently messy. For example, if I provide the incorrect response to an algebra word problem because I misinterpreted the prompt (as commonly happens with my disabilities) but solve the problem correctly based on how I interpreted the question, is it fair to say that I don't understand the algebra concept? Alternately, if my friend guides me through solving the problem, is it fair to say that I do understand the concept? What if my answer is wrong because I made an unrelated and careless arithmetic error? A typo? 

As you see, when you start looking into WHY a student provided a particular answer, it provides a much clearer sense of the student's ability, but it makes the distinctions between "mastery" and "non-mastery" a lot fuzzier and more subjective. There are also many other WHYs (e.g., why is a student doing this activity? trying to learn this content? struggling with this skill?) that have bearing on what a particular outcome signifies. These WHYs and the factors that underlie them are what I was referring to when I mentioned the "qualitative aspects of learning and assessment." If you define mastery relative to these WHYs (i.e., in terms of students' own goals, motivations, capabilities, etc.), students are much more likely to buy-into the learning process as beneficial in itself and less likely to seek shortcuts like giving up when they make a mistake.

It is certainly possible to do this, and Prof. Mehta in the article you provided is a relatively good example. (It's worth noting that one of his specializations is epistemology.) This approach is also well known and its effectiveness is widely accepted. In fact, it features prominently in the criteria the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and most states use to evaluate teachers. Unfortunately, in an age where data analytics drives most decisions, things that are ostensibly quantifiable (like getting the 'right' answer) tend to take priority over the qualitative things that make us human. So, while I would love to see Khan Academy buck the trend and set an example for the rest of the education industry, I think their own data analytics are probably telling them it is safer (from a business perspective) to stick with what everyone else is doing. (That's not intended as a slight to Khan Academy, simply an acknowledgment that it is a business and must make the decisions that are most conducive to its continued operation. In a risk-averse industry like education, it is generally best to stick with what is familiar and comfortable even if that is not what is most effective.)

gurushishya hi there! This was actually just released last week. The Start Over link is now only able to be clicked once an answer is submitted incorrectly. Great idea!  

This is a nice feature for when I make a silly mistake, but it also can easily cause a lot of frustration. I've been most of the way through tests & mistakenly click on Start Over instead of a button next to it. The "Start Over" button, at least in unit tests, is placed directly next to the enable / disable drawing button which makes it too easily to click by accident when intending to enable / disable drawing mode. This could be easily avoided if a Confirm Start Over menu pops up after clicking the button, if the Start Over button was moved away from other buttons frequently used, or if the Start Over option was hidden in a drop down menu.

I have the opposite problem as a teacher. I am wishing we had the start over option for the Course Challenge. I have a student who thought she knew 6th grade math. She started the Course Challenge and realized she didn't know her 6th grade math. She stopped the Course Challenge and went to work on 6th grade math. She has been working SO hard on her 6th grade math and has just about completed it. However, when she goes back to the Course Challenge and completes it, she has already missed enough problems that even though she will probably get all the other questions correct, when she finishes the current course challenge, it will bump her percentages down and she will have to go back and re-do lessons she already knows before she can take the Course Challenge again and bump herself up again. Any suggestions or ideas before the Course Challenge start over feature is available ? 

Hi everyone! Wanted to let you know that the Start Over link is now available on the Mobile App with a confirmation button.

We are working on adding the confirmation button to the desktop web experience, as well as adding the Start Over link to Course Challenges. Thank you for your patience as we do so! I have also shared the feedback that teachers would like the ability to turn it on or off for their students. Thank you for voicing your thoughts! 

Please, PLEASE, PLEASE tell us that it will soon be available in the Khan Academy iPad and Android apps! I stopped using Khan Academy because of the lack of this feature, and I was all set to plan a return by the end of 2022 when I first saw something about this yesterday, but I am mainly just an iPad app user of Khan.

It's really nice to see that the site is getting so many updates, kind of starting to feel like mid-2010s KA - not a bad thing. :)

But to add to the debate, I think it's worth evaluating if the "get n-in-a-row right" style that KA used in the early days would be better than just having a "Start over" button. It's basically the same as having the start over button but automatically starts over when you get a question wrong - which I imagine is what many students are going to be doing now anyways.

I don't know if that would actually be better or worse - which is why I say to evaluate it - but I do think it's something to consider. And of course, the quizzes, tests and everything that doesn't already have the restart button could just stay the same.

I think the core problem is not that starting over is a bad thing, but that once you have the start over button at any time, it makes little logical sense not to use it as soon as you get a question wrong.

Also, please tell the person that redesigned the calculator to fit in with the current design that they have made one person very happy. :)

I see now there's a try again button too.

Hi Grace, 

I think it would be helpful to have some kind of criteria for start-overs, because real mastery learning isn't about getting everything right on the first try. Students learn, they practice, they fail, they try again, and after a few attempts or however much they need, they get it right.

That being said, it's still a lifesaver when you make accidental mistakes (such as mouseslips - or absent-mindedly clicking the "Check" button when you know you've made a mistake and still thinking about the correct answer. My advice for the latter - don't click on wrong answers!).

Thanks,
Linda

This feature has been very helpful as I can start over if I make a mistake, thank you so much! 

p.s. I would also like to thank you for fixing the glitches and giving my friend @StormRider permission to do that experiment, you guys rock 👍🎉😄💪

This is great. Most of my mistakes are because of a slip on the keyboard or missing something in the question as opposed to not knowing what I'm doing and getting the wrong answer.

Hi everyone! Please rest assured that I have escalated all your thoughts and the Product team here is reviewing then. My apologies, I should have clarified that in my last comment! 
Each of these ideas (the confirmation screen, adding the Start Over link to the mobile app, and criteria for Starting Over) have varying levels of technical difficulty, so they are being prioritized as the teams have capacity and as they align with the broader Khan Academy road map. Thank you for your patience and understanding! 

Regina Litman, I hear you and thank you for advocating for our App users! Just a friendly reminder that if you are logged into www.khanacademy.org on the internet on your mobile device, the Start Over link will be there! Just isn't available in the app quite yet :) 

Hey, guys. I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your hard work at improving Khan Academy and making user/learner experience more pleasant and less frustrating, and big thanks to the man, the legend himself, Sal Khan, for his dedication to the cause of making education free and accessible to everyone. Also, this feature really couldn't have come at a better time for me as I'm working to learn and master all math on Khan Academy in order to advance in my new career as a data scientist and hopefully go to college within the next two years. By the way, is there a date for when the 'Start over' link is going to be available for Course Challenges like it is for Exercises and Unit tests?

I have a request if you guys could indulge me for a second. Is it at all in the realm of possibility that you could maybe at some point in the future add an option/feature whereby one can have something like an unofficial certificate showing that one has completed and mastered 100% of a course on KA, ideally along with one's name? Doesn't have to be the sort Coursera and edX offer, necessarily, with identity verification and certificate numbers/URLs or even the option to share the certificate on LinkedIn — could be something as simple as a list of completed/mastered courses featuring prominently on one's own KA profile under one's name where one can take a screencap and add that to one's resume. It wouldn't have to be anything official where KA vouches for anything or assumes any responsibility. What do you think? Is that possible?

Thank you so much,

–Hissane

Hi G. Tarun! Thank you for your comment and suggestion. I've heard of Schoolhouse, and it is fantastic for online peer-to-peer tutoring. However, I don't think employers will view or recognize certifications from Schoolhouse in the same light as they do certifications from Credly, Coursera, or edX (or a name like Khan Academy if KA decides to offer certificates in the future). Also, as far as I know, Schoolhouse doesn't offer ad-hoc course mastery certification, which means I would have to retake the Course Challenge for each course I've already mastered and do it on video, and go through all the trouble of actually becoming an online tutor just for a screenshot, and that's also only possible for certain courses as well (not the Integrated Math 1-3 courses, for example).

It would be far more convenient if KA could simply add a current list of mastered/completed courses prominently on one's own KA profile next to one's name, or maybe even show one's level of mastery and score on the Course Challenge test at the top of the page of each KA course where one's name can also be seen in a screencap (instead of at the bottom of the page); that is, if KA can't do unofficial course mastery certificates featuring the name of the course and one's score and username. Of course, the ideal thing would be KA itself (and not any third party) linking to an official certificate with one's name and score upon completion of a course. If KA then decides to go all the way and requires users to retake the Course Challenge on video in order to get the official Khan Academy course mastery certificate for the course showing the total time spent on the course along with the date of completion, I would absolutely, 100% do it and I would be grateful for the opportunity to finally showcase my mastery of KA courses officially.

This is good for some, awful for others. Instead of a global  "Start over", it should be made an option for teachers to turn on/off.

Either give teachers the control to turn this on/off, or get rid of it.

I know my comment probably won't account for much, but I'm finding the course challenges demoralizing. I'm actually being conditioned to be SCARED of taking them. I have to get an A (90%) on course challenges due to my school's criteria, and I have broken down in tears many times because of the course challenge. I can get a maximum of three incorrect before failing, so if I'm halfway through and get those three wrong, I have to continue with the test even though it's totally fruitless. Knowing it'll drag my entire grade down is not a motivator, it's an anxiety-inducing nightmare. I have watched the videos ad nauseam. I have clicked on the "get help" links every single time. The problem is that I will mix up certain questions, then get them wrong even though I know the correct answer. Yes, these are my mistakes, but I'm freaking myself out so badly that I'm second-guessing my answers.

I was explaining to my parents that it feels like giving a dog pets for doing something good, but then kicking them when they do something wrong. The dog starts to get confused about which behaviors are good and which are bad and just becomes scared of everything associated with the person giving feedback. I used to love Khan Academy, but I'm becoming more and more frightened when pushing the blue "Check" button, almost like I'll receive a shock. 

I've read the articles on why you don't want to put a "start over" button on the course challenges, but I'm trying to give feedback on how I (and many others in my honors program) feel about this specific thing. 

Btw, this isn't my official school account. I created this account so I could make mistakes and practice without fear. I'm in ninth grade, and we use Khan Academy and Schoolhouse heavily in my program.

Is there a way to prevent the "Start Over" feature for certain activities such as a Unit Test?  I love using Course Mastery with my students but want them to use the Unit Test as a summative assessment of their learning.  Some have discovered the "Start Over" feature as a way to game the system rather than develop the study skills to prepare for the final assessment of their learning.  So they click on "Start Over" just as soon as they get a question wrong, rather than going through the entire assessment first.  Thanks for your consideration on how to resolve this problem.

I just signed up my son for Khan Academy instead of sending him to a tutoring center.  I assigned him to do the 2nd grade course mastery test to identify where he needs help.  However, the cat jumped on the keyboard and accidentally entered several wrong "answers" in succession.  I don't see any way possible to delete this and restart the challenge.  I've tried removing it and re-adding it through assignments but it keeps bringing us back to the same question in the challenge where he exited.  There is no start over button like you mentioned.  How can I delete and restart please?

wow Regina Litman i was just reading the thread from 6 yrs ago and how u were making really good suggestions there, im surprised you are still active

while whoever is reading this does just that, I would like to bring up another problem to Grace. I am doing the Geometry unit right now, and some of the questions talk about rotating the figure or moving the figure, and in the videos, Sal rotates and moves the figure, however for us users, we don't have that option. We can only imagine it in our heads, and at least for me, that's really tough. Please address this issue ASAP.

Also Grace is it possible to make it so you can still master a skill outside of the unit test? because after you do the unit test and if you miss one question, that skill doesn't get mastered, and to master it you have to do the entire unit test again. Then if you miss another question the same problem happens. Restarting doesn't really help because if you are at the end of the test it's such a pain to do all of the questions again. 

Yes I very agree.