In a shocking development, recent research has shown that students do better when they feel like they belong at school, they are supported by their teachers and advisors, and they are studying things that actually matter. And yet, much of so-called “student-centered” ed tech does not focus on helping with any of these things.
PEARSONalized Learning
I have been pretty relentless in mocking Knewton CEO Jose Ferriera for his “robot tutor in the sky” description of the company’s adaptive learning product. And I pledge to continue this proud tradition. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. But the truth is that most of the vendors in this space, both startups and traditional […]
Educational Software Patents: A Call to Vendors
A number of people responding to the Chronicle’s article on the Elsevier patent asked me to write something about it. For those of you who haven’t been following ed tech for at least a decade or just haven’t been following e-Literate for that long, the main reason that people who weren’t my mom started reading this […]
Explainer Video on Flipped Class, Learning Analytics, and Adaptive Learning
We boil these three buzz phrases down to basic, common-sense teaching strategies.
Instructurecon 2016: Why This Company is Still Formidable (and Misunderstood)
When I talk to Instructure competitors or critics, I usually hear two complaints about them: They “open wash” or are “fauxpen.” They have no vision. Having attended Instructurecon 2016 a couple of weeks ago, my answer to the first complaint is that the critics don’t understand what Instructure and their customers mean by “openness.” In […]
Personalized Learning Explainer: Teaching to the Back Row
Phil and I are pleased to share our first animated explainer on personalized learning: If it feels like a commercial that could have been produced by a textbook publisher or ed tech vendor, that is entirely intentional. We hope that they will actively promote this video (and the successor that we will be publishing in the […]
Personalized Learning at Law Schools
I recently had the honor of speaking at the CALI (Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) conference. I was invited by one of my early heroes, John Mayer. When I first arrived on the ed tech blogging scene, John was already here, doing stuff. He inspired me. Anyway, you may or may not know that law […]