Hey, nice work. My daughters do Khan Academy at home in the mornings for a bit rather than their elementary school math class. They love it.
I wanted to tell you guys a story though, about your UI transition.
I walked in a few months ago to my 8 year old daughter slumped at the desk next to her computer, nonresponsive. When I was like "Oh my God, are you okay?" She told me, with many tears, that she was no longer to obtain I believe they were called "Master" badges in some future subjects, like Geometry.
She had earned one of the Master badges at great effort, and when the UI changed, you guys retired them for more granular badges. Overall, I'd say it was the right decision to make; gaining subject mastery is done on a smaller slice of content now, and feels more achievable.
That said, she was totally devastated that she wouldn't be able to earn those future badges. Oh man, it was tough. She recovered nicely and loves the new interface, but I was thinking what an impact a UI change had, and thinking that a) probably many adults feel the same way with a change, but don't communicate it as well, and b) some sort of way to notify / slowly introduce / help transition kids who use the tool intimately as changes happen would be pretty awesome.
Thanks for all the work! I wish I'd taken some video for your UI guys, she was really bummed, the sort of response you can't get out of a focus group. :)
Right, we retired the four "challenge" badges (I believe they were arithmetic, pre-algebra, algebra, and trig) in favor of the new "topic" badges which replace what was there previously.
I hadn't heard of anyone particularly upset about those badges, but we had many dozens of people who complained about the disappearance of the streak bar. We try our hardest not to hurt users' feelings but sometimes it's unavoidable as we make changes (hopefully for the better!).
I wanted to tell you guys a story though, about your UI transition.
I walked in a few months ago to my 8 year old daughter slumped at the desk next to her computer, nonresponsive. When I was like "Oh my God, are you okay?" She told me, with many tears, that she was no longer to obtain I believe they were called "Master" badges in some future subjects, like Geometry.
She had earned one of the Master badges at great effort, and when the UI changed, you guys retired them for more granular badges. Overall, I'd say it was the right decision to make; gaining subject mastery is done on a smaller slice of content now, and feels more achievable.
That said, she was totally devastated that she wouldn't be able to earn those future badges. Oh man, it was tough. She recovered nicely and loves the new interface, but I was thinking what an impact a UI change had, and thinking that a) probably many adults feel the same way with a change, but don't communicate it as well, and b) some sort of way to notify / slowly introduce / help transition kids who use the tool intimately as changes happen would be pretty awesome.
Thanks for all the work! I wish I'd taken some video for your UI guys, she was really bummed, the sort of response you can't get out of a focus group. :)