Higher Ed could be facing new competition — from independent, online educators.

Take the one-man Khan Academy, for example.

Salman Khan creates 10- to 20-minute video lectures on hundreds of topics, everything from stem cells to economics 101 to the French Revolution, and posts them on YouTube.

Khan started making homemade lectures for his faraway cousins. But like any interesting YouTube fare, the videos went viral and attracted thousands of fans. Some even make donations to Khan via PayPal.

The video educator makes it plain that making money isn’t his primary goal: “My single biggest goal is to try and deliver things the way I wish they were delivered to me.”

Khan’s videos feature his own handwritten equations and drawings on a digital sketchpad. And he mostly sticks to the math and engineering lessons he knows best from his days as an M.I.T. student.

Khan doesn’t rehearse before shooting a video and makes mistakes with math problems. He’ll correct himself in the middle of a math problem. Or his “students” let him know about it in the comments section!

“Sometimes when it’s a little rough, it’s going to be a better product than when you overprepare,” says Khan.

One thing’s for sure: Creative educators like Khan are out there beyond the ivory towers of academia. And prospective students are tuning in.

Chime in with your opinion in the comments section.

Tags: Internet, khan academy, math, online learning, salman khan, science, video tutorials, YouTube