Skills4AI

Khanmigo, the AI teaching assistant by Khan Academy

Khan Academy uses a specialised LLM, Kahnmigo, to deliver Socratic tutoring that strengthens critical thinking and independent problem‑solving. Teachers access structured courses, create classes, monitor progress and personalise instruction. The platform offers resources, templates and AI‑driven support to enhance engagement, adapt lessons and improve teaching effectiveness for diverse learners and families.
  • 08/11/2025
  • Case study proposed by Anastasios Giannaros from AKEP.
  • Students of all educational levels
  • Teachers, trainers, Teaching professionals

Nowadays classrooms as learning environment have become very complex learning environments due to the variety of needs and peculiarities students and trainees have (different learning styles, multicultural classes, special needs and supports, etc.), digitalization of learning. Teachers/trainers represents need supports to be able to properly manage this increasing and sensitive complexity: first they need to upskill, by achieving pedagogic and digital skills, second, they have to change/innovate their teaching approach, or, at least to adapt it to this increasing complexity. The special or different needs of each member of the classroom require personalized approach to learning, namely adapting teaching and learning opportunities to every individual, no one left behind.

Furthermore, in both classroom and online learning environments, students often benefit from guided inquiry that promotes deeper understanding and critical thinking. A specialized LLM can simulate the Socratic method, asking probing questions that lead students to explore concepts and find solutions on their own, thus enhancing their learning autonomy, overall agency, problem solving and comprehension.

On learners

  • Improved critical thinking and problem-solving skills
  • Increase autonomy, empowerment, self-confidence and self-esteem.
  • Enhanced engagement and motivation through active learning and creative thinking processes.
  • Greater autonomy, leading to more effective and sustainable educational outcomes
  • Enhanced overall learner-centred and inclusive approach to learning at various education levels
  • Overall boosted approach to problem and project-based learning methodologies

On teachers

  • Enlargement of the teaching options
  • Enlargement of the panel of teaching/training methodologies 
  • Wide variety of open access teaching and training resources
  • Access to learning analytics to monitor the learning progresses of the students/trainees and timely identify gaps and needs of support.

On education providers

  • Increased innovation and readiness of the training offer
  • Maximized opportunities for an inclusive education for all
  • Stronger commitment of the school/institution/organization in gaining the school success for all.
  • Specialized Language Learning Model (LLM) trained for Socratic questioning techniques
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand and generate meaningful questions and responses
  • Machine Learning for personalizing the tutoring experience based on individual learner progress

This technology introduces an innovative approach to tutoring by leveraging AI to simulate the Socratic method, a time-tested educational technique. Unlike traditional tutoring methods that often provide direct answers, the LLM guides learners through questions that stimulate thought, critical thinking and understanding. This promotes a deeper engagement with the material and encourages students to become active participants and co-designers in their learning journey. The personalized nature of the LLM ensures that each student receives tailored guidance and scaffolding, making the learning process more effective, learner-centred and enjoyable, according to the different learning style of everyone.

Computers or mobile phones/tablets with internet access.

The European languages in which Khanmigo is available are English and Spanish only. But the number of countries in which it is made accessible for teachers is expanding: keep up to date.

A teacher trying to subscribe in Greece, France or Italy will have have the following message:

If Khanmigo is free for teachers, payment is required from learners and parents.

The Khan Academy content library and learning platform remain free.

Objectives

  • To employ a specialized LLM to provide Socratic-style tutoring, fostering critical thinking and independent problem-solving skills.
  • To support learners in reaching their learning goals through guided inquiry rather than direct instruction.
  • To enhance the learning experience by promoting active engagement and deeper understanding.
  • To improve the effectiveness of the teaching practices through personalized interventions, plans and stimuli.
  • To monitor the progress and the growth of students/learners in learning and achievements.

Example of implementation

Khan Academy is a resource centre devoted to supporting teacher and students in their activities, respectively.

Regarding teachers and trainers, the platform offers a wide spectrum of activities and resources to improve the teaching practices.

Teachers can find a wide panel of courses

Teachers can find a wide spectrum of courses at various level of proficiency and for any target of students/learners (from primary to higher school). The courses have been structure in learning units, with integrate supporting materials and deepening resources, evaluation tests and proves, etc. The AI assistant Kahnmigo can help in making lessons engaging, more understandable and more effective through specific requests (e.g. sharing of template for personalized training plan, rephasing of texts into more understandable and catchy ways, suggestion of methodologies to make lessons/teaching more effective).

Teachers can create their class

Through the teacher’s dashboard, teachers can create their classrooms, also importing data from Goggle Classroom if in use.

Once created the classroom, teachers can assign topics and tasks to students, monitoring their outcomes and the accuracy of their work. While checking the progresses, they can assign also a score to the various tasks/learning activities, to interact with students, making learning not only tiring but also fanny. The Ai assistant can help teacher/trainers in adapting he various lessons, working as a co-teacher, or, at least as technological partner.

Teachers can find a variety of ressources

The platform offers a set of learning resources for teachers and trainers willing to upskill or simply refresh their knowledge on specific subjects. Most of the freely accessible resources are videos and tutorials, but there is also a section for templates and printables. Moreover, Kahnmigo can help teachers to easily finds needed resources depending on what they are looking for.

Teachers can find a wide panel of tips&tricks

 

Teachers can find a wide panel of engaging resources for parents and families

The platform providers courses, resources and tips and tricks to teachers with the aim of promoting education and to parents and families, especially on specific subjects such as coding. The Ai assistant is freely accessible also for them.

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