This post was motivated by a quote (see it below) from an unpublished piece I wrote a few years ago. Individuals who have developed the skills we once taught as a liberal education seems to be exactly what we need in society right now. We could also use educators, law makers, regulators, philanthropists, and other Read More
Fifteen years ago, I was teaching high school courses. I used to give my students “how to write essay questions” advice when they were preparing for exams. Near the end of one seasons, a senior asked me, “How come no one ever told us this?” As a result, I created this file. I wonder if Read More
203: An #edtech Problem No One Talks About This is an excerpt from a chapter I wrote a few years ago (this is not the version that went into the version). It contains what I believe is a problem preventing much progress in using educational technology effectively. The TL;DR version: School leaders are reluctant to Read More
I have been cleaning out old digital files. Here is an interesting piece I found:
This is another post that I wrote after reading old papers written when I was a graduate student… this one from 1999. Our goal for students is typically understanding; we don’t want our students to simply recall, we hope to see in them knowledge of facts and comprehension on concepts. But maybe we don’t. Actually, Read More
Almost all management and leadership teams focus on their work by establishing goals. It is reasoned that decisions and actions in the organization must be directed towards the desired state described by the goals. Just like in all organizations, goals and the actions undertaken to achieve them do exist on several levels. It is important to examine the nature of the Read More
During one week when I was managing IT for a small rural school, I encountered two examples of how educators do not understand the nature of enterprise systems. On Monday, a teacher brought me a sale paper for a local box store retailer (it was early in the holiday gift buying season). She told me she had $300 Read More
Enterprise networks are incredibly sophisticated and complex systems. They combine hardware and network software that must be scaled for hundreds or thousands of users on campus. There are three adjectives that describe every network if it is in a school or any other business: Ensuring a network is all three necessitates expertise in network architecture. Decisions must be made about the hardware and software and configuration necessary to meet Read More
“Is Schoolwork Optional Now?” showed up in my feed recently. It is an article by Lila Shroff that appeared in The Atlantic (in the online version) on April 10, 2026. The article should cause concern for educators. They will read how AI has been used to complete schoolwork. The rationale behind the decision by those Read More
Ethernet is the dominant network technology used in schools (and just about every other organization). When connecting computers and other devices to Ethernet, we use the same protocols and the same devices no matter how many nodes are connected. The devices we use to create computer networks are designed to meet three different classes of networks. One Read More