Is 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, EquityCritical Perspectives
Let’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 PerspectivesDon't get me wrong. I love badges, digital badges for learning. And I don't mean just for some hoped-for potential to transform the learning landscape. I mean I love them for what...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, EdtechiFiasco in LA’s Schools: Why Technology Alone Is Never the Answer
The opening sentence to a recent Los Angeles Times article says it all: It took exactly one week for nearly 300 students at Roosevelt High School to hack through security so they could...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Educational PracticeHow Computers Can Impede Spaces of Learning
As a technophile, I’ll be the first to admit it: sometimes computers get in the way of learning.Hopefully that can be something we all agree on, right?I’ve mentioned before that one of...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Educational PracticeIt’s obviously summer because my news alerts are no longer steadily reporting concerns about education, our children’s future, the problems with teachers, etc. Perhaps now, then, is the perfect time to address...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Educational Practice‘Making’ and Education Reform: Learning to Ride the Wave
At this moment in time, on both sides of the Atlantic, digital making and the maker movement is enjoying its time in the sun. A combination of policy concerns, technological developments, learning...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Educational PracticeRemembering Aaron Swartz, Taking Up the Fight
I encountered the Aaron Swartz memorial the other day that helps ‘liberate’ a randomly selected article from JSTOR, as an act of civil disobedience, to commemorate both the legacy that Swartz leaves...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Equity‘Imagine A World Where You Only Have To Go To School Because You Truly Want To’
Lately, I’ve been pleased with the ways digital tools are allowing me to engage and collaborate with the media producers that most challenge my thinking. I had intended to blog about how...
Category: Critical PerspectivesGeorge Couros: Why School Administrators Should Embrace the Social Web
By encouraging administrators to become learner-leaders, to use social media to connect with each other, share best practices and experiment, Canadian school principal George Couros is leading by example, exhortation, and instigation...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Digital CitizenshipThinking about Failure: Ways to Tell New Stories about Public Education
Maybe it's because progress reports at my high school were recently given to students, but lately I've been thinking about the role of failure in schools. The F-word, here and its corresponding...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Educational PracticeTeaching Publishing as a 21st Century Literacy
For years, a common method for teaching writing in elementary and secondary school was the five paragraph essay. Lately this style of essay has fallen out of favor, for a variety of...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Educational PracticeWanted (And Needed): ‘Radical’ Collaborations
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. This insight from Anne Frank is evidenced today all across the world in education and...
Category: Critical PerspectivesIf Technology Is Making Us Stupid, It’s Not Technology’s Fault
There has been growing concern that computers have failed to live up to the promise of improving learning for school kids. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and PBS have all...
Category: Critical Perspectives
