This month’s NUN Meetings: Alp Köksal

Alp Köksal, Director of Khan Academy Turkey, was the guest of the NUN meetings this month. He shared his international experience, academic background, his interest in new technologies and social contribution ideals with our students.

Putting the digital transformation in education in the centre of his presentation, he helped students to go on a journey in the history of education at first. Köksal’s presentation focused on the changing perspectives of education from prehistoric times to the present. Köksal pointed out the progress of the technology in the last century and asked the students to think about this issue by emphasizing that the classes in schools are designed with the same logic for centuries.

Köksal stated that although he was not a very successful student, he continued his high school education in the USA because of the stress of university entrance exams and added “I worked so hard in the USA with the motivation of representing my country and I graduated ranking the first”. Alp Köksal shared with our students that they should always work without falling into any sense of intimidation. He said that Khan Academy operates in many countries of the world free of charge, and added that he accompanies them through their journey for this mission.

Köksal, who was selected as one of the most 10 successful youth in Turkey by the International Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs Association (JCI) and awarded with "Services for Humanity and Voluntary Organizations" award by TOYP  in 2017, answered students’ questions after the presentation. Köksal was surprised by by our 5^th grade students’ question “You mention the technological transformation in education but one of the leading names in technological advancements, Steve Jobs’s child receives education in most traditional ways, far away from technology. How do you explain this?”  He said he was very happy to receive such a question. He said that the humans are social creatures and this should not be prevented by technology.

Lastly, Köksal wanted to share a video with the students. After watching the video based on “You can learn everything” theme, Köksal reminded that Albert Einstein and William Shakespeare also learned how to walk and talk in the same way as we did and advised our students to constantly work and never give up.