Welcome

I am an educational entrepreneur, edtech specialist and investor. The views expressed here are my own and are often blunt and irreverent.

 

I’m getting exercised!

Into my edu Twitter floated today floated reactions to a tweet from @MrHamiltonPE about his school’s “READ AND RIDE room!” (sic) This relates to three studies, one at Russell Jones Elementary in Arkansas (2011) and two from Ward Elementary in North Carolina (2010). These might have faded into deserved obscurity had it not clawed its […]

8 days ago Education More
 

A political pork-barrelled porky?

Labour’s election manifesto promise of free broadband to anyone as an essential ‘to compete in the global economy’, looks like a dated and unfunded copy of an election policy from Australia way back in 2006. The Labor Opposition Leader, Kim Beasley, made a very similar promise, however, it fell to his successor Kevin Rudd, who […]

2 months ago Uncategorized More
 

Another day at the office in the business of education

The business of education is big, varied, international and the toughest segment is probably K12. I have invested in several edtech startups as well as having founded and sold a couple of my own, so I have some experience with raising money and being pitched to.   Just because it’s education doesn’t mean it’s all […]

3 months ago Education More
 

SEEK and you will find (out)

Most people in edtech have no idea that an Australian company, SEEK, has been making waves in the world of MOOCs. To understand the educational significance of what at first glance appears to be a successful listed Australian recruitment business you need to look beyond the headlines.  The backstory – SEEK rescued Australian education business IDP […]

5 months ago Education More
 

Who I’d like to hear from (& it’s not the usual suspects)

After another London edtech week I’m feeling rather sanguine about ever attending an edtech event ever again. Of course I will but I’m going have 3 criteria: I want to hear from people who have something new to say (edtech is so often an echo chamber) I will try not to ask a question or […]

7 months ago 1 Education More
 

DfE’s new EdTech Leadership group & how to prevent groundhog day

Recently I saw a tweet from Professor Peter Twinning about the DfE’s new EdTech Leadership Group (also known variously as the EdTech Expert Group). I have met several people on the list and had the pleasure of chatting briefly to Caroline Wright at BESA’s recent event to launch the DfE’s new EdTech Innovation Fund. Some […]

7 months ago Education, Uncategorized More
 

My thoughts about the DfE’s new £4.6m EdTech Innovation Fund

A few weeks ago I attended the BESA event to explain the new DfE Edtech strategy. So popular was the announcement, BESA had to find a new venue. Ironically the same venue as my first-ever meeting, almost 20 years ago, when I was working for what was then called the Department for Education and Skills […]

7 months ago 2 Education More
 

Edtech & ethics

People may make many incorrect assumptions – the existence of Big Foot, the infallibility of their lottery ‘system’, and always trust officials like police, politicians and priests. In my world you have to be a skeptical optimist, meaning that you should never assume that the words ethics and edtech should appear in the same sentence. […]

10 months ago Education More
 

The remarkable story of Chickens Not So Little

The organising intellectual model of The Guardian’s education coverage seems to take any press release claiming there’s a problem in education and interpret it through the lens of the ancient fairy tale Chicken Little. The one where the acorn falls on the back of Henny Penny and she creates panic crying, ‘The sky is falling’. […]

1 year ago Education More
 

Recruitment & discrimination in edtech

I recently attended a ‘Recruitment and Retention’ event hosted by Sophie Bailey of the Edtech Podcast. Three speakers gave their take on the issues: Jamie Brooker, co-founder of Kahoot @jamiebrooker on how to build a successful edtech startup; Dr Kristen Weatherby from UCL/IOE’s educate programme @KWresearch on the challenges of recruiting teachers for edtech projects; […]

1 year ago Education More