OER
What I’m Up To
The Berkman Center recently asked me to provide an update on my work over recent months. Here it is: Greetings! Sorry for my tardiness. I’ve spent the the last two weeks in Singapore, serving as an Outstanding Educator in Residence with the Academy of Singapore Teachers. It has been an amazing exchange, and incredibly ...
Media Bonanza: Will Free Benefit the Rich
So last Friday I gave a talk at the Berkman Center riffing on my most recent policy quandary: Will Free Benefit the Rich? That is, will the widespread availability of free and open educational resources disproportionately benefit already-advantaged students? Is this a policy problem, or is it actually desirable in the long run? If we ...
Apple’s Ebooks, What Matters More?: Rotating Graphs vs. Textbook Adoption Policy
I’m proud of my fellow educators today for their entirely reasonable reactions to Apple’s education announcement. Richard Byrne as per usual, sums up the vibe well: The iBooks textbooks look very nice and have some interactive elements. But, I can’t help but wonder why Apple choose to make the, “iBooks will make kids’ backpacks lighter” ...
Hack Education on OER and Inequality
Audry Watters at Hack Education has a write up of some of my thoughts on inequality, and it stimulated a lively conversation, mostly hostile to my views. Having Jim Groom respond to my work was quite a treat, even if he calls my arguments silly. And someone even refers to my work is evil–I’m just ...
The Future of Open Educational Resources
I spent two days last week at the Open Education conference in Park City. It’s a community and a movement that has evolved around developing and distributing educational content. It’s right there, in the title, these are folks with an interest in “resources.” For a long time, the group has been primarily interested in making ...
Technology and inequality: One Teacher’s Perspective
I got a lovely note this week from a teacher in Silicon Valley. In it, she remarks on how in her current high-performing, wealthy districts, students are taking the lead in using OER tools to push forwards their education. I’m reposting the note with her permission, though I’ve obscured her name and the districts that ...
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