Hack Education

Congratulations to the European Science Agency, which this week landed the Philae spacecraft on a comet – the first such landing in history. Amazing. But a big thumbs-down to the agency and particularly to Rosetta Project scientist Matt Taylor for the sexist shirt he wore for the occasion. And gee,...

This post first appeared on Educating Modern Learners Why (Not) Wikipedia? A couple of weeks ago, a story made the rounds (and admittedly I included it in the EML newsletter) that perhaps served to confirm some of the worst fears that educators have about Wikipedia: “I accidentally started a Wikipedia...

Here is the transcript from my talk today at NYU, as part of the ECT Colloqium Series. No slides. Because, ugh, slides. Many thanks for the invitation, as coordinated by Sava Saheli Singh. I’m very excited and honored to be here to talk to you today, in part because, obviously,...

This post first appeared on Educating Modern Learners Changing Definitions of Literacy Literacy, defined most simply, is the ability to read and write. But increasingly, we recognize that such a basic definition does not convey the power – economic, political, social, cultural – that comes with literacy (or the lack...

US Midterm Elections Americans voted on Tuesday — or, a small percentage of them did. According to early figures, about 36.6% of the eligible population cast their ballot in this year’s midterm elections, the lowest turnout since 1942 (which was, it’s worth noting, in the middle of the Second World...

Here is the transcript of my talk tonight at Pepperdine University. Many thanks to Linda Polin for inviting me to speak to her students. When people ask me how I ended up becoming an education technology writer, I’m never quite sure how to answer. I don’t have a degree in...

I was asked to be a "guest speaker" for Digital Writing Month. Here's my contribution, my provocation. This first appeared on the DigiWriMo blog and on Hybrid Pedagogy. Ed-tech likes to see itself as a protest movement. I think it's time we start to protest the protest. Thanks to Jesse...

Education Law and Politics The US Department of Education released the latest version of its “gainful employment” rules this week, pleasing nobody. No longer will career training programs be held accountable for their student loan default rates. They’ll just be judged on graduates’ debt-to-earnings ratios. About 1400 programs, mostly at...

This post first appeared on Educating Modern Learners The Growing Global Refugee Crisis Last month, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported that "the number of refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people worldwide has, for the first time in the post-World War II era, exceeded 50 million people.” The number...

Education Law and Politics LAUSD’s new superintendent Ramon Cortines says that construction bonds shouldn’t pay for iPads and Pearson curriculum. Currently, construction bonds are paying for the district’s iPads and Pearson curriculum. So the LAUSD iPad saga continues… Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the head of Chicago Public Schools, says she wants to...