When teachers view themselves as systems architects, they are able to view potential problems as design challenges. What I Learned from Watching People on a Plane Yesterday, on a flight from Portland to Minneapolis, the flight attendant asked the passengers to check their seats…
This is the first post in a week-long series on makerspaces. I once taught an eighth-grade student who had written four novels online, despite the fact that she had only been learning English for three years. She spent her free time in class looking up…
Schools are designed to be practical but this has a hidden drawback. Innovation is often impractical because it’s unpredictable. So, what if the push toward “practical skills” in school is actually making learning impractical? And what if impractical ideas and skills we ignore are actually…
There’s a common cultural assumption that “kids these days” can’t focus due to screen time. They simply lack the attention span needed to engage in deep work. But what if that’s not entirely true? What if this generation is capable of reaching a state of…
Last night, my son asked if we could make a sketch animation video together. He sat down for 20 minutes and knocked out a script (the one part of the video where I gave no direction). Then he began sketching out various parts of the video….
At first I thought it was a teacher thing. I would ask how someone was doing and they would say, “I’m really busy.” This was often followed by a description of how little sleep they had gotten and how much grading they had done. Teachers…
Brainstorming Is Broken Brainstorming can be fun. You get together and generate a massive list of ideas. Everyone is shouting all over each other. It’s exciting. It’s passionate. But what if it’s not all it’s cracked up to be? That’s a key argument in “Why…
A few months ago, I received a Facebook friend request from a former student. I remembered her as a quiet kid that you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t paying attention. I also remembered her vibrant imagination that came out whenever she wrote her blog posts….
When I was a kid, my brother and I built a “roller coaster” in the backyard with a wagon, some scraps of wood, and tons of pipes. Was it safe? Probably not. Did it ever work properly? Not really. But it didn’t matter. We were…
Right now, I’m sitting on an airplane. I mean, I’m not actually sitting on the airplane. I’m in it. Because, if I were on top of it, I wouldn’t be bored. I’d be terrified. Without access to the interwebz, I have nothing to do. I’ve…
I’m a professor and a maker. Sometimes I make things. Sometimes I make a difference. On a good day, I get to do both.
