Peer Review

Khan Academy MCAT Prep - Including Psychology

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Reviewed:: Jun 29, 2014 by Psychology

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Overview:: New in 2015, the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) will include psychology. As part of a comprehensive MCAT Prep collection, the Khan Academy has developed a series of valuable tutorials in the keys areas of psychology. The Khan Academy video tutorials provide brief (5-15 minute) overviews of essential psychology concepts that are covered on the MCAT. While the focus is on MCAT preparation, the videos are equally valuable and relevant as a general psychology resource.
Type of Material:: Presentation [Video tutorials hosted through YouTube]
Recommended Uses:: • The video tutorials would be valuable resources for students preparing for the MCAT exam. In addition, the videos are good supplements for introductory psychology courses (face-to-face or online). Videos are organized by general topic and included on a playlist; within each playlist are three (3) to 12 videos that address the specific topics/concepts/theories/terms relevant to the broader topic. • Students preparing for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE ) Subject Test in Psychology will be provided with a nice overview of the introductory material on that exam as well.
Technical Requirements:: Two reviewers successfully accessed the video tutorials using Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome browsers on a PC running Windows 7. As is the case with YouTube hosted videos, the videos can be viewed directly from the YouTube site, linked to YouTube or embedded using HTML code. All videos include sound, so speakers are required.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The overarching learning goal as presented on the Khan Academy website is to prepare students to take the MCAT exam. Each video tutorial has specific learning goals that align with the topic of focus; videos generally address a narrow aspect/theory/concept relevant to general psychology.
Target Student Population:: The target audience is pre-med students preparing for the MCAT. Students preparing for the GRE Subject Test in psychology, students studying introductory psychology, and AP psychology students also would benefit from these tutorials.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: No prerequisite knowledge is needed.

Content Quality

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Strengths:: • All key areas are covered utilizing examples, with simple animation. The videos are a solid supplement to any introductory textbook and cover the required areas for the MCAT. Categories included are Attention and Language, Biological Basis of Behavior, Cognition, Emotion, Endocrine System and Behavior, Learning, Memory, Normative and Non-Normative Behavior, Physiological and Sociocultural Concepts of Motivation, Self-Identity, Sensory Perception, Sight (Vision), Sleep and Consciousness, Social Psychology, Social Structure, Somatosensation, Sound (Audition), Stress, Taste (gustation) & Smell (olfaction), The Synapse, and Theories of Personality. • The videos are targeted, accurate and provide a clear overview of each topic. • The videos are an integration of audio, pictures and diagrams.
Concerns:: • Even though this is introductory level material, it would be improved by including sources. • The videos are clearly created as topic tutorials, so there is minimal "entertainment" value.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: • The videos : a) are organized by general topic; b) clearly address key issues; c) provide information that is accurate, timely and relevant; d) provide coverage that is broad enough to be relevant in a range of situations. • The videos are clear and well structured; they are relatively short and thus make a strong complement to any good text book. The animation assists with the presentation. • Overall, the videos are professionally produced with good quality.
Concerns:: None.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: • All videos played with a single click and required no downloads. There were no delays in streaming, and the audio quality and video quality were clear. The videos can be utilized via link or embed code. • The videos are organized by category; thus the student reviewing Social Psychology can go through those videos as a group and then shift to the nine (9) videos on Memory, and so on. Or the student can elect to watch just a single video at a time.
Concerns:: All of the videos are grouped together in one large YouTube collection. The user who starts from the main page will need to scroll through a lot of information to find the area of interest. If a video or videos were used for a class, it would be easy to include the direct link for each video or each group of videos; however, the individual student may need to search a bit.

Other Issues and Comments:: The video tutorials are high quality supplements on a wide range of psychology topics. They would a very valuable resource for an online course in introductory psychology.
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