Hack Education

Education and the Federal Government As of Tuesday: Shutdown. 90% of the 4,225 Department of Education employees have been deemed “non-essential” and furloughed. (Weirdly, 97% of the EPA is “non-essential.” There’ll be no tweets from the department during the shutdown, tweeted @usedgov – the best worst Twitter handle in politics....

Hooray! I have a story in The Atlantic today -- the first piece I've had published there. I'm thrilled. Although I haven't been doing much freelancing recently (because of the book project), I need to pick it up again. I tweeted last night that I'd like to find a place...

I. A curious yet significant event in ed-tech occurred last week. A tome of some importance was released – and no, I don’t mean the publication of either Ron Paul’s or Diane Ravitch’s new book. I’m talking about a 118-slide presentation by Whitney Tilson (PDF). The investor, hedge fund manager,...

Students Outsmart iPad Security Students in Indiana managed to bypass the security on their school-issued iPads within hours of receiving them, reports Education Week. Student in Los Angeles managed to bypass the security on their school-issued iPads within hours of receiving them, reports the LA Times. In both cases, students...

Through today, you can download a Kindle version of Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez’s new book Invent to Learn for free. You should do so. Really, you should buy the book. (Amazon Affiliate link) Hailed as the “bible” for bringing the maker movement into schools, I think Invent to Learn...

The Death of an Adjunct “On Sept. 1, Margaret Mary Vojtko, an adjunct professor who had taught French at Duquesne University for 25 years, passed away at the age of 83,” writes Daniel Kovalik. “She had just been let go from her job as a professor at Duquesne, that she...

Science is Awesome 36 years after it was launched, Voyager I has moved out of the sun’s reach and has entered interstellar space, the first human-made object to do so. I blame our failing schools. Oh. Wait. Science is Awful Pink slime. It’s back in school lunches. Massive Open* Online...

Education is Broken and Someone Should Fix It. (Oh Crap. "The Fix" is Broken Too.) If you were getting bored of the “education is broken” narrative, here’s a new one for you to play around with: the “education technology startup ecosystem is broken.” That might be one moral of the...

Education and The Law The New York State attorney general has filed a civil lawsuit accusing Trump University, Donald Trump’s for-profit business school, of engaging in a number of illegal business practices, calling the “university” an “elaborate bait-and-switch.” Business Insider has more details about the complaint, including the fact that...

For the fourth year in a row, I’ve asked educators to tell me which technology they’re most eager to bring with them into their classrooms this fall. Hardware or software. A new technology, or just something that’s new to their classroom. And here are the results: 2013’s Top 3 Tools...