Online Learning
How to evaluate an online course before you pay for it
The number of online courses has grown faster than the language for evaluating them. A working framework for picking ones that deliver and avoiding ones that don't.
Online Learning
Private student loans: what students should know before signing
Private student loans differ from federal loans in ways that compound over a 20-year repayment. The structural picture, the cosigner trap, and when private loans actually make sense.
Conferences worth your district’s PD budget for 2026-2027
Some education conferences continue to earn their costs. Others have grown thin. An honest read for districts allocating professional development budgets.
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.
“Free alternatives to expensive grade-book and assessment software”
27 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.
“Chronic absenteeism, three years on: what the data actually shows”
21 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.
“Differentiation that doesn’t double your prep time”
19 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.
“Conferences worth your district’s PD budget for 2026-2027”
17 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.
“How to evaluate an online course before you pay for it”
12 posts
Recent writing
Higher Education
Picking a college major when you don’t know what you want
Major selection matters in a few specific fields and matters much less than the cultural anxiety suggests in most. A guide to figuring out which case you are in.
Schools & Policy
Chronic absenteeism, three years on: what the data actually shows
Chronic absenteeism doubled during the pandemic and has not fully recovered. What the current numbers show, why they persist, and which interventions are working.
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.
EdTech & Classroom Tools
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.
Online Learning
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.
Higher Education
Community college transfer pathways that actually work in 2026
Community college as a stepping stone to a four-year school works in some states and breaks in others. The articulation agreements that exist, and the ones that do not.
Digital Literacy & Media
Teaching media literacy in an algorithm-shaped attention environment
The media literacy curriculum most schools use was designed for a search-era internet. The feed era requires different lessons, and the work has gotten harder.
Homeschooling
Outschool, co-ops, and filling the subjects you can’t teach
Long-term homeschoolers do not teach everything themselves. How outsourcing classes, joining co-ops, and finding tutors fits into a sustainable homeschool.