Exploration (v.?) Explanation

Khan-Academy style videos are sometimes criticized because they are lecture-based explanations rather than student-centered explorations; of course they're student controlled, but that sounds bad and contrary to Good Modern Pedagogy. The Khan Academy lead developer answers questions on Slashdot: Interviews: Khan Academy Lead Developer Ben Kamens Answers Your Questions - Slashdot

The fundamental belief of Khan Academy is that students should engage with content they need on-demand, at their own pace. We agree that any curriculum that forces all students in a class to follow the same, preordained "watch this video, do this exercise, watch this other video" path isn't using technology in a meaningful way. ...
Our classrooms see varying implementations, but the best of them try hard to help students move at their own pace. Some students might never need to listen to Sal say a word. They can master content by experimenting on their own. Absolutely. Fine. By. Us.
Khan Academy exists to give students the freedom to engage with the content they need while giving teachers immediate feedback about who's working on what and where they need help. We think we can help teachers by making this acquisition of core skills a more personalized, efficient process.
In doing so, we hope to move teachers _up_ the value chain so they can focus on exploration-based learning and targeted coaching with the rest of their class time.
I personally think that'd be a significant advance in learning. And FWIW, we consider anybody who fights for exploration-based learning to be an ally of Khan Academy.

That certainly fits the One World Classroom vision...and it really Just Might Work.


Or then again, maybe not.