Khan Academy is an interesting new concept for education that takes profit from the power of the Net to provide a comprehensive collection of learning aids. Education is the Next big thing, since the evolution and increasing complexity of societies requires a collective effort tho improve human ability to cope, through learning and knowledge sharing. However, traditional institution were built around a book-centric view of learning and still favor spatial concentration into schools and universities. The book-centric education probably is at the roots of a design of learning that is based on sequential steps that need to be administered through formal processes guided by instructors, teachers or professors. Khan is making a bet on an alternative path to learning whereby people can access to close-to-infinte resources whenever they want, at their own pace. And the capital market seems to trust him if we consider that he just got funding for $5 Million (see the story at Khan Academy Snags $5 Million To Blow Up Education).
If education can change so dramatically, what about learning and training within business? When will we stop considering learning as a set of contents and focus on learning as the complement to day-by-day working? When will we devise systems that pop-up onto monitors, smartphones, tablets whenever employees desire to learn on the basis of what they are doing?