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Connecting Making, Designing and Composing
In her closing keynote at FabLearn a couple years ago, Leah Buechley turned a critical eye on the maker movement. If you don’t know Buechley’s work, she is arguably one of the...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Educational PracticeWhere is the Humanity in the Computer Science Curriculum?
“Let us move from human-centered design to humanity-centered design.” — From the Copenhagen Letter I’ve been struggling to write this post for a long, long time. Every time I see calls for...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Digital LearningDisrupting The Silicon Valley Department of Education
Over the last couple of years, increasing numbers of journalists and researchers have begun to focus on Silicon Valley as the epicenter of education reform. Silicon Valley companies, entrepreneurs, engineers and venture...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, EdtechFighting for Critical Civic Education in Dangerous Times
The actions that Donald Trump has taken during the first weeks of his presidency have struck many Americans as shockingly antithetical to the values upon which our country was purportedly founded. Posts...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, EquityFake News: Not Your Main Problem
This headline may sound shocking, but I truly understand the urgent need to develop digital literacies in response to the fake news phenomenon. But, let me tell you, I live in Egypt,...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Digital CitizenshipCritical Educational Questions for Big Data, Part 2
I started a list of critical questions for big data in education earlier this week. This is a big topic, raising lots of big questions and serious topics and problems for further...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, EdtechCritical Educational Questions for Big Data
Big data has arrived in education. Educational data science, learning analytics, computer adaptive testing, assessment analytics, educational data mining, adaptive learning platforms, new cognitive systems for learning and even educational applications based...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Edtech, New TrendsThe Contradiction of Borderless Technology in a Border-Filled World
As I am slowly making my way through an analysis of the mission statements and strategic technology plans of the United States’ largest K-12 public school districts, one thing is becomingly increasingly...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Digital LearningCursive Writing and the Importance of Teaching Skills
For most of the past decade, I have spent a week each summer reading essays by high schoolers in the Advanced Placement program. In the past few years, I’ve noticed a trend:...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Educational PracticeA recent editorial by Jason Ma in Forbes documents a fascinating array of experiential learning programs. While I am not against experiential learning, it concerned me that Ma made the case for...
Category: Critical PerspectivesThe Flaws of Online Course Testing
A recent New York Times article titled “Online Test-Takers Feel Anti-Cheating Software’s Uneasy Glare” features an interview with a student taking an online course. This part struck me: “a red warning band...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Digital LearningToday’s impending release of the Apple Watch, Apple’s highly-anticipated entry into wearable computing, has prompted a new round of discussion about the company’s design prowess.While the computer-maker’s design chops are universally acknowledged,...
Category: Critical PerspectivesIs the Maker Movement Equitable?
The title of the article from The Atlantic stopped me in my tracks as I was scrolling through my Twitter feed: “Why I am Not a Maker.” I was perplexed. Why would someone...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, EquityLet’s Ban Bans in The Classroom
It’s starting to seem like there is a new ritual being performed at the beginning of each new semester: debating the use of technology in the classroom. In these debates, “technology” almost...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Educational Practice, ResearchThe Technophobe’s Dilemma: Nicholas Carr’s ‘The Glass Cage’
Nicholas Carr is well-known for his work critiquing emerging technologies, particularly his argument that “Google is making us stupid.” In his new book, “The Glass Cage: Automation and Us” (W. W. Norton...
Category: Critical Perspectives
