Hack Education

This article first appeared on Educating Modern Learners in April 2015 Earlier this year, an article "written by an actual teen" made the rounds on social media. The article promised "A Teenager's View of Social Media," and the author's pronouncements were taken as gospel: "Facebook is dead to us." "Instagram...

Education Politics The US House of Representatives voted to reauthorize/rewrite No Child Left Behind. Via Inside Higher Ed: “Oregon now is poised to follow Tennessee as the second state with a plan on the books to provide free two-year college. And Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives...

Education Politics Governor Jerry Brown signed a law that ends California’s personal exemption for vaccination for school children. Via Inside Higher Ed: “Education Affiliates, a for-profit chain with 50 campuses, has settled with the federal government over false-claim allegations, the U.S. Department of Justice said. The Maryland-based company agreed to...

This post first appeared on Educating Modern Learners Do the stories that we tell about education technology demand we ask more questions? Do they prompt us to rethink what teaching and learning looks like? Or does education technology simply re-inscribe older stories, older practices? And do the stories that we...

This is a version of the talk I gave at ISTE today on a panel titled "Is It Time to Give Up on Computers in Schools?" with Gary Stager, Will Richardson, Martin Levins, David Thornburg, and Wayne D'Orio. It was pretty damn fun. Take one step into that massive shit-show...

Education Politics Texas Governor Greg Abbott has chosen Donna Bahorich to chair the state’s board of education. Bahorich has never sent her children to public school, opting to homeschool her sons. Governor Abbott has signed a bill that decriminalizes truancy in Texas. Senate Bill 277 has passed in California, which...

This post first appeared on aud.life Earlier this week, Edsurge announced a new revenue stream, “A Personal Concierge to Connect Edtech Companies and School Leaders.” I’ve heard rumors that this was coming from several startups who were concerned that this was “pay to play” and that if they wanted to...

I did it! I finished a MOOC. I submitted my final project for “POPX1.1x The Rise of Superheroes and Their Impact On Pop Culture.” I paid for the verified certificate, so – fingers crossed – my project was acceptable. (We had to create a superhero, along with three panels of...

Clearly it’s a research paper perfectly titled for widespread circulation, combining everyone’s favorite early childhood TV show with one of the most overhyped acronyms in ed-tech: “Early Childhood Education by MOOC: Lessons from Sesame Street.” So no surprise, the recent paper by University of Maryland’s Melissa Kearney and Wellesley College’s...

On October 4, 1957 news broke that the Soviet Union had successfully launched the first man-made satellite into space. Sputnik prompted a national panic, not simply over a looming Cold War – the possibility of Soviet spying or bombing, for example – but about the purported failures of the US...