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My mother sent me this little bit of inspiration.  Inspiration to focus on what is important, what gives our lives meaning, what we should be thankful for. OPOL What are you going to do today?

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…

I’ve been on a bit of a blogcation since June. It has been a crazy summer both personally and professionally* and something had to give. I’m back. The K12 market has been in full meltdown since last November. Schools are struggling with state finances post stimulus, the Feds are not…

We Are Teachers has a bitter sweet post up about the funny things people say to teachers – with appropriate responses. Here is a sample: The comment: “Johnny NEVER misbehaves/has trouble paying attention/hits other kids/acts out at home. I wonder what you’re doing in the classroom to make that happen.”…

What do you do with 112 degrees of dry Texas heat on a Sunday afternoon? We sheltered in the Alamo Drafthouse for the Harry Potter matinee and brunch. Our 17 year old son Peter was sitting between Leslie and I, his broad shoulders connecting us as a family. The cartoons…

Data visualization is a tough thing to do really well – in fact this is one of the essential 21st Century Skills in extremely short supply today. But the world is slowly becoming a much better place to live and this outstanding video by Hans Rosling shows it clearly and…

Today’s walkabout focuses on a fundamental shift in the instructional materials industry away from the scale economics of the big textbook publishers to the value of niche focused expertise. I believe this is the future of our business. In a world where Home Depot crushes the local hardware store only…

Over the past couple of decades education publishing has been characterized by waves of consolidation into a handful of giant conglomerates. This is a typical pattern in an industry as products commoditize. If products are effectively interchangeable (commodities) competitors gain competitive advantage through industrial scale cost management (economies of scale).…

An understatement – education publishing is changing. Heck, publishing writ large (trade books, music, movies, news, etc.) is shifting in dramatic and unpredictable ways. Textbooks are one of the last little corners of the intellectual property world to enter this new era. Today’s post is a teaser for a longer…

Funny and scary at the same time. J.A. Konrath on the end of print. HT to Bob Carlton