Watching my kids play World of Warcraft in 2005, I had a moment of clarity about video games and learning. At root WoW is a Learning Management System (LMS) with Orcs and dragons in the presentation layer. But grokking that potential and translating it into improved outcomes in school is…
Open Educational Resources (OER) are here to stay. Publishing, despite the rumors, is not dead. The real question is not “if” but “how” these two options will co-exist in the instructional materials market. A starting point is sorting out where each type of resource makes the most sense. For me…
In January 2001 as the dot com boom burst online education site wwwrrr.com went out of business overnight, literally. Coverage tended to focus on the employees – who ultimately filed a class action lawsuit for back pay and 401k contributions. Lost in that ugly coverage was the blunt reality for teachers and…
“During the gold rush its a good time to be in the pick and shovel business.” Mark Twain There are large amounts of capital flowing into the education publishing market today. It appears we are experiencing a small gold rush as savvy technology investors bet that the digital transition in education will yield significant returns to those doing…
Frank has a great post over on Geekwire that does a great job of explaining why Dumbo Drops of tech don’t work in schools. The question he didn’t completely address is why do people keep making this mistake? One explanation is that a massive initiative that “attacks” a “problem” is…
Vicki Bigham and I did a show with Larry Jacobs on Education Talk Radio this morning about EdNET. We had some fun bantering about the conference and trends in the industry. I got a chance to brag on the Packers and shared that I own an actual stinking badge (see…
I’m jazzed to report that I started as Filament Games’ new CEO this week. I consider Filament the global leader in crafting learning games with an emphasis on the classroom. Over the past eight years Filament has worked with more than 40 organizations, built over 50 learning games, and won…
The Common Core Standards are causing a lot of angst across the world of education. Fortunately Brandt Redd is here to help. Over at Of That he lays it all out in a lucid and well linked overview “The Common Core State Standards – For My Concerned Friends.” He cuts through…
Last Tuesday the Secretary of Education said “I think we should be moving from print to digital absolutely as fast as we can over the next couple of years. Textbooks should be obsolete.” He was clear that he sees the digital transformation in schools as a “critical game changer” for…
iPads in the classroom are all the rage in the education publishing market – somedays the oxygen for discussing anything but learning tablets has been sucked out of the room. As we move beyond the giggling crush stage there are a couple of points to consider that might give publishers…