Abstract

Salman Khan’s (Khan) unusual initiative of tutoring his cousin in mathematics online using Yahoo Doodle notepad serendipitously resulted in the revolutionary concept of offering free-of-cost online lectures across the world. What began as a casual hobby grew in less than a decade into an online education platform which went on to boast about 10 million students, with about 1000 million views, 5000 courses, and an army of 3,50,000 registered teachers. Khan’s Academy courses were made available in more than 30 global languages, thereby taking the $ 1 trillion global education industry by the storm. This case study elaborates Khan’s disruptive education platform, Khan Academy, which is creating waves in the academic circles.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Appraises innovation as a prime competency of the entrepreneur
• Formulates how innovation (in learning methods) can prove to be disruptive to the sector.
• Infers the 4 Ps of innovation (Product, Process, Position, and Paradigm), which have shaped Khan Academy from a mere tutorial to a potential world school.

Keywords

Khan Academy, Sal Khan, educational videos, Online education, entrepreneurship, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Innovation in Education, Education sector, Disruptive innovation