##Empowering every learner: A teacher's guide to Khan Academy as a student

Khan Academy’s student experience combines the centralized Learner Home with Khanmigo, a context-aware AI tutor. Together, these tools foster deep conceptual understanding through structured independent practice, multilingual supports, and built-in safety guardrails. This guide provides a direct overview of student mode operations alongside practical integration strategies.

###Account activation and the learner home

For district partners, students log in seamlessly via Clever or ClassLink. Upon initial login, they verify their details, select their preferred language, and choose a Khanmigo voice.

The Learner Home organizes their workflow:

  • Daily Mission: Displays top-priority teacher assignments. Students click "Start" to begin.
  • Unit Missions: Allows students to work independently toward mastery across a full unit.
  • Progress Tracking: Tracks achievements, daily goals, and cumulative Gems, which students use to unlock accessories for Khanmigo.

###Classroom scenario

At the start of an ELA block, students log into Clever and open Khan Academy. They immediately access their Daily Mission on verbs, transitioning to focused work within two minutes.

Follow the steps with the Student Activation & Learner Home demo.

###Active engagement and productive struggle

The lesson interface keeps learning content front and center. A top-right Lessons menu allows students to open supporting videos or articles in a new tab without losing progress in their active practice session.

Khanmigo operates on the left side of the screen as a context-aware dialogue partner:

  • Scaffolded Hints: Instead of providing answers, Khanmigo asks guiding questions, reviews foundational skills, and prompts students to explain their reasoning.
  • Pre-made Prompts: Students can click action bubbles like "Can you help me start this?", "Ask for help", or "Use simpler words" to steer the dialogue.
  • Targeted Feedback: Khanmigo explains the concept behind correct answers and provides structured reviews for incorrect responses before a student moves forward. Students can also request summaries or formative quizzes on articles and videos.

###Classroom scenario

When a student gets stuck on an Algebra equation, they click "Can you help me start this?". Khanmigo identifies the problem and asks a question to isolate the variable, helping the student find their own calculation error.

**See it in action with the Working through content demo. **

###Multilingual supports

To reduce language barriers while maintaining academic rigor, the platform includes built-in accessibility features:

  • Localized Interface: Changing the site language localizes navigation and enables Khanmigo to communicate in the student's preferred language.
  • Subtitles and Transcripts: Videos support translated subtitles and interactive transcripts, letting students read and hear content simultaneously to build literacy.
  • Visual and Vocabulary Context: Key terms are highlighted in lessons, and Khanmigo provides color-coded steps, graphs, and diagrams to illustrate abstract concepts.
  • Discussion Scaffolds: Teachers can access printable resources, like this Sentence Frame Handout, to support peer dialogue during think-pair-share or written assignments.

###Classroom scenario

A newly arrived English learner updates her site settings to read and converse with Khanmigo in her native language. During a whole-class discussion, she references a displayed sentence frame to share her scientific reasoning confidently.

Check it out with the Leveraging multilingual support features demo.

###Classroom safety and monitoring

Khan Academy includes an automated moderation system to ensure a safe, focused environment:

  • Automated Guardrails: If a student inputs inappropriate text or displays concerning behavior, Khanmigo terminates the conversation and flags the session.
  • Real-Time Alerts: High-severity alerts are immediately sent to administrators, and teachers receive notifications on their dashboard.
  • Summarize Student Chat History: This dashboard tool aggregates student dialogue logs, allowing teachers to quickly check usage patterns, monitor safety flags, and pinpoint widespread conceptual gaps.

###Classroom scenario

During planning, a teacher opens the chat summary tool and notes a flagged conversation where a student tried to use Khanmigo to write a video game story. The teacher conducts a quick check-in to redirect the student.

###Knowledge check

  1. A student is working on a geometry problem and does not know how to begin. What is the productive action?

[[☃ radio 1]]

  1. How does Khanmigo respond if a student directy asks for the answer to an exercise?

[[☃ radio 1]]

  1. Which dashboard tool allows a teacher to effectively monitor AI interactions and view flagged chats across the roster?

[[☃ radio 1]]

What is the primary benefit of changing the site language in account settings?

[[☃ radio 1]]