Homeschooling
Homeschooling on one income: the practical economics
The math of homeschooling on one income is more workable than people assume and harder than the social-media version suggests. The honest line items, in order.
Homeschooling
Chromebooks vs. iPads in K-12: where each one actually wins
The K-12 device wars settled into a partial truce. Chromebooks dominate by unit count; iPads still win in specific contexts. A guide to mixed deployments.
Udemy vs. Skillshare vs. LinkedIn Learning: where each one wins
Three online course marketplaces serve different audiences and use cases. A practical comparison for picking the right platform for what you actually want to learn.
Topics
EdTech & Classroom Tools
Honest reviews of the apps, platforms, AI tools, and devices teachers are asked to adopt. We assess what genuinely helps students think, what just keeps them busy, and what's heavily marketed without earning its place.
“Chromebooks vs. iPads in K-12: where each one actually wins”
25 posts
Digital Literacy & Media
Reading, writing, and thinking in a media environment that wasn't built in students' interest. We cover information literacy, source evaluation, attention, and what it means to be a careful reader and a credible writer online.
“Teaching media literacy in an algorithm-shaped attention environment”
25 posts
Schools & Policy
What happens to teaching when policy meets practice. We write about school systems, assessment regimes, district decisions, and the quiet politics that shape what's possible inside the classroom.
“The UnCommon Core”
20 posts
Teaching & Pedagogy
How real classrooms work, lesson by lesson. We write about instructional design, classroom practice, and the small craft decisions that shape what students actually learn, separating durable pedagogy from passing fashion.
“The first ten days: what new teachers should actually focus on”
18 posts
Professional Development
Notes on how teachers actually grow. We cover conferences worth attending, PD that doesn't waste a Saturday, and the case for treating educators as career-long learners rather than topped-off skill sets.
“ISTE 2010: Easy…Not Free”
16 posts
Online Learning
MOOCs, course platforms, bootcamps, and the rest of the open-web learning economy. We cover where online courses deliver, where they don't, and how adults are actually picking up new skills outside traditional classrooms.
“Udemy vs. Skillshare vs. LinkedIn Learning: where each one wins”
9 posts
Recent writing
Teaching & Pedagogy
Sunday Caption Contest
Since we’ve decided to blow out our aggregator and start over because there’s too much information swirling around and this blog is doing a horrible job of capturing it, it’s time to play: Sunday Caption Contest.
Schools & Policy
Worse Before it Gets Better
We reflect on growing resistance to social software in schools, new legislation like state-level DOPA efforts, and troubling media coverage of teens online, arguing that meaningful change requires broader cultural understanding of learning in social networks.
Professional Development
The Steep “Unlearning Curve”
One of the most challenging pieces of moving education forward in a systemic way is the “unlearning curve” that teachers and educators have to go through to see new possibilities. This post explores how our ability to publish, connect, and collaborate via the Read/Write Web demands that we unlearn traditional assumptions about expertise, classrooms, curriculum, and literacy, and offers 10 specific ideas we need to unlearn.
Digital Literacy & Media
On Being “Clickable”
Reflecting on what it means to be highly visible and “clickable” online, and why educators and students need to experience networked learning, not just publish content.
Schools & Policy
Dispatches from the Front Lines (Cont.)
So here’s a concept. Teach the kids how to use Google images instead of blocking it so that the elementary school teachers can actually find pictures of doves to supplement their lessons.
Schools & Policy
The “Perfect Storm” for Education
We explore how the Read/Write Web is disrupting traditional models in journalism, music, business, and politics, and ask when similar forces—especially open educational content and changing teacher-learner relationships—will finally trigger a radical re-envisioning of K12 education.
Schools & Policy
Beware the Cell Phone
New York City’s proposed cell phone lockers highlight how schools may be missing an opportunity: instead of banning and charging students to stow phones, we could be teaching them to use mobile devices as learning tools. As mobile social networking grows and phones become powerful platforms worldwide, especially through SMS, schools need to experiment with ways to leverage the devices already in students’ pockets.
Schools & Policy
Dispatches From the Front Lines
This e-mail showed up in our inbox today: A few weeks ago, our school began to block Wikipedia. When we asked why, we were…