Hack Education

(National) Education Politics Via NPR: “In Turkey, Schools Will Stop Teaching Evolution This Fall.” More on Betsy DeVos’ investment in Neurocore in the upgrade/downgrade section below. More on immigration and education in the immigration section below. (State and Local) Education Politics “Daniel Loeb’s Racially Charged Post Could Be Sticking Point...

Charlottesville and UVA Hundreds of white supremacists marched at the University of Virginia campus Friday night, carrying torches and chanting “blood and soil.” On Saturday, the Unite the Right rally met again in the streets of Charlottesville. A counter protester was killed when a white nationalist allegedly ran his car...

(National) Education Politics The AP interviews US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who laments “she didn’t decry racism enough.” Via Politico: “New marching orders from Betsy DeVos’ civil rights chief have the Education Department churning through civil rights complaints. The department has closed more than 1,500 complaints of discrimination at...

(National) Education Politics The New York Times broke the story this week that “Justice Dept. to Take On Affirmative Action in College Admissions.” And by “take on,” that means “investigating and suing universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants.” (It would be pretty great if...

(National) Education Politics “Who Is Betsy DeVos?” asks New York Magazine. “And how did she get to be head of our schools.” “Not An Advocate for Students or the Public Interest” – historian Sherman Dorn on “Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.” Via Politico: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has increased...

Within the past week, two well-known and well-established coding bootcamps have announced they’ll be closing their doors: Dev Bootcamp, owned by Kaplan Inc., and The Iron Yard, owned by the Apollo Education Group (parent company of the University of Phoenix). Two closures might not make a trend… yet. But some...

(National) Education Politics US Secretary of Education spoke to ALEC this week. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a right-wing organization that pens model legislation, including the “Stand Your Ground” gun laws, anti-union legislation, and laws that expand virtual schools. (Here’s a list of education organizations that are members or...

In early June, I gave a keynote at the OEB MidSummit on the history of "personalization.“ I only had 20 minutes, so it’s a partial history at best. But as ”personalized learning" has become one of the most prominent buzzwords in education technology, I think it’s worth investigating its origins...

(National) Education Politics After rolling back for-profit higher ed regulations last week, Betsy DeVos turns her attention to dismantling civil rights as she holds a series of Title IX “listening sessions.” More on the Department of Education’s for-profit university machinations in the for-profit section below. Via Broadly: “Betsy DeVos to...

Beth Holland, a doctoral student at JHU and “EdTech Researcher” at Education Week, sent an email asking some questions about the history of ed-tech. The gist of these: how did ed-tech get from the early, inquiry-based pioneers like Seymour Papert to the crap we see today. Once my response hit...