Khan Academy, please FIX confusing mistakes in videos

The correction (0:45 - 1:06) also does not appear when the video is watched on YouTube.

yes and also  at 0:02. it is cut off it is supposed to say  2 to the 3rd power but sal only says 2 3rd power. yes it is a minor mistake but it really threw me and a bunch of people off

I completely agree. It's confusing, and when an error that drastic is made (so that half of the calculation is completely wrong), a correction box doesn't suffice.

Evan Lewis

I'm tired of fielding questions from learners who watch in full screen mode and don't see the correction boxes.  I see no reason that Khan Academy couldn't take a little time and actually fix such glaring errors -- you know, video editing is a thing.

I'm tired of reporting mistakes and problems and having nothing happen most of the time.  I've been waiting over 5 months for simple transcript fixes that are still not done.

I'm tired of being told that Khan Academy doesn't have enough staff to fix things, when Khan Academy keeps rolling out content in brand new areas.  Why create new things when you don't have enough staff to fix the existing stuff?

I'm tired of flagging obviously off-topic Questions and seeing them stick around for a week or more because it takes so long for the flagged posts to get reviewed.

I'm taking a break from Khan Academy, because Khan Academy makes it too hard for me to help the learners on here, even though Khan Academy depends on people like me to answer questions.  I feel bad for those I'd been helping in 6th grade math, but I can't keep it up when Khan Academy makes it so difficult.

~ Janice

It's been a year, and no one from KA staff responded in any way.  

Can anyone give me any evidence that KA actually cares?

You can learn from making mistakes. I actually like that KA shows that teachers are not infallible Übermenschen and admit their mistakes. You lead by example: my in‑person classes sometimes start with a corrections section before moving on to a review.

In this particular case I do not find it critical to correct the mistake by remaking this video. I have rewatched it, it is about a method to tackle problems like that, not the result.

Yes, many “questions” are about the same issue. The problem is rather that a) many kids do not read the questions, posting already answered questions, and b) there is a lack of oversight, nobody deletes the duplicates.

Kai Burghardt,

I agree that it's good to show that everyone makes mistakes and how to correct them.

The problem is that many learners watch the video in full-screen mode and don't see the correction.  How is it good to leave the video in a state where many (maybe most) learners never see the correction??

Yeah, I can confirm that both the YT 𝚒𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚎 “full player” as well as the 𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚘 “fallback player” do not show the correction in full screen mode. That’s disappointing.

Meanwhile you can force‐load a subtitle track in the embedded YT player. Maybe this wasn’t possible 15+ years ago, hence the DIY overlay?

If the corrections were a subtitle track, you could just show them. They are displayed in full screen mode.

However, some users rely on CCs, and intermixing CCs and corrections is bad. Unfortunately there are few video players that can show two subtitle tracks simultaneously.

Kai Burghardt,

So, do you agree maybe KA should either actually fix the mistake or at least add something that's visible in full screen mode?

Well, I want to be fair and respectful. I recognize that Khan Academy provides educational materials free of charge thus it is unfair to demand anything without giving in return (unless you happen to be a donor, which most children are not). Therefore my previous post made an implementation suggestion instead of making a big deal out of the mistakes that happened and will happen.

Kai Burghardt,

I'm not upset there was a mistake.  I'm incredibly frustrated that the correction is invisible to many of the learners using the course, so they get confused, and Khan Academy seems to have made no effort in at least 6 years to find a way to make such corrections visible to those using full-screen mode.  

They spent I don't know how many hundreds or thousands of hours building Khan Academy Reimagined that it seems no-one asked for and every comment I've seen from a classroom teacher is that they dislike or are even going to stop using Khan Academy.  They could have used 20 hours to fix a few of the worst video mistakes, or 200 hours to come up with a way to make corrections visible in full-screen mode.

Yes, individuals use the materials for free, but Khan Academy gets millions of dollars in donations that funds their work.  They have about a dozen employees that only work 40 hours per week yet get over $200,000/year (median US income is about $47,000/year). The people working at Khan Academy are paid just like any employee at a for-profit company.

As far as being a donor, I've donated money, I've donated hundreds or thousands of hours of my time (10 years ago making captions for videos, 5 years ago helping with DGPE evaluating JavaScript programs, the last 2 years answering probably thousands of Questions in '6th grade math' and hundreds in the Python course, reporting mistakes & problems in videos & articles).  Even so, I'm not demanding they change it, I'm pointing out the incredible harm caused by them not changing it.
I'm not asking if you demand they change it, I'm asking if you think it's reasonable to expect that an organization that receives many millions of dollars every year in donations and claims to have a goal of a world-class education would actually correct confusing things in a way that the learners will see.

I agree. They should fix the vids. I always watch in full screen mode, or if the vids aren’t playing I go to YouTube, so I almost always miss out on the correction boxes. If I’m actually studying, then I will usually not look at the discussion below, or not scroll far. The only way that I will know about a mistake is if something seems off, or if while I’m looking at the discussion below and see someone talking about it.