Khan Academy founder Sal Khan and Brown University President Christina Paxson talk about the vital role of virtual classrooms during the Pandemic how it reveals many of the flaws of our current education system. Moderated by Google's Allan Thygesen.

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Google Zeitgeist is a collection of talks by people who are changing the world. Hear entrepreneurs, CEOs, storytellers, scientists, and dreamers share their visions of how we can shape tomorrow.

As Founder and CEO of the nonprofit Khan Academy, Sal Khan seeks to remove the barriers to education that leave over 600 million children lacking basic math and reading skills. His free, world-class curriculum—available to anyone, anywhere—has made a massive impact, with the academy’s videos reaching over a billion views. In talks, Khan shares how we can revolutionize education with technology, open interaction, and a personalized approach to learning. Recognized for his incredible influence in the field of education, Sal Khan has been profiled by 60 Minutes, featured on the cover of Forbes, and named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. His passion project, the Khan Academy, started humbly when he began tutoring his cousins and a few family friends in math. Soon, word spread, demand grew, and the Khan Academy was born. Today, the platform has more than 62 million registered users across 190 countries, each able to access practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized dashboard to help students learn at their own pace. Boasting a state-of-the-art, adaptive technology, Khan Academy has partnered with world-class institutions such as NASA, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and MIT. The technology has had a reported meaningful impact for students attending top schools such as Stanford, Princeton, and Yale, especially those who are first-generation college students.

Christina Hull Paxson has served as Brown University’s 19th president and professor of economics and public policy since July 1, 2012. Under Paxson’s leadership, Brown has fortified its standing as a leading research university known for its excellence and innovation in undergraduate education, its transformational vision in fueling economic development through community and government partnerships, and its commitment to inclusion and access. Paxson’s ambitious strategic plan for Brown establishes the University at the forefront of higher education in all these areas. She has led the creation and growth of centers and institutes that connect top researchers and scholars to confront critical 21st-century issues in areas spanning neuroscience, environmental and climate studies, economics, international and public policy, humanistic studies, and translating science and technology to find treatments and cures for disease. At the same time, Brown continues to lead in undergraduate education, with Brown students and graduates earning more Fulbright Scholarships than any other university in the U.S. for three consecutive years. Led by Paxson, Brown’s public-private partnerships with government, businesses and industry have anchored the ongoing economic transformation of the formerly depressed Jewelry District in downtown Providence. This includes fueling the development of South Street Landing by moving 400 Brown employees into a former power plant; becoming the lead anchor tenant to enable the opening of the Wexford Innovation Center developed by Wexford Science and Technology; and Brown’s partnership with the University of Rhode Island and two global startup accelerators to create one of the state’s new innovation campuses.