The impact of online educational platform on students’ motivation and grades : the case of Khan Academy in the under-resourced communities

Abstract

Even though Azerbaijan is considered a highly educated country from the perspective of schooling years and completed education level, student learning outcomes are underperforming, according to the World Bank. Due to limited resources such as classroom size, access to world-class educational materials, and high-qualified teachers, particularly students from under-resourced communities encounter more challenges during their education life compared to other students who possess these resources. Moreover, online educational platforms play an important role in eliminating learning gaps, particularly in developing countries such as Azerbaijan. In this paper, we describe the implementation and impact of utilizing an online educational platform, the Khan Academy, in one of the under-resourced communities of a developing country. For this, we collaborated with a school in Azerbaijan located in a suburban area. After collecting data through surveys, we applied the association rule mining method. Results from association rule mining concluded that students who studied using the online platform improved their grades and the gamification features of the Khan Academy motivated them. Furthermore, even though it was the first time the school used an online educational platform, almost all students mentioned they would learn with these resources in the future. Our study, thus, contributes to how online educational technologies can positively impact the motivation and learning outcomes of students in under-resourced communities.