Welcome

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

 

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. […]

1 month 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’. […]

3 months 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; […]

11 months ago Education More
 

The biology of fundraising in edtech

The biology of fundraising in edtech land

1 year ago Education More
 

Is edtech a thing yet?

Audience Notes from Edtech Podcast event on Monday 20 June at NESTA I was asked to sit on this panel by the delightful Sophie of Edtech Podcast, who briefed us on what we needed to focus on. Being time limited and a tad verbose, I’m always a bit frustrated as I always have far more […]

1 year ago Education More
 

A pie in the face for leadership?

Getting a pie in the face, is an old comedic tradition, that predates Wikipedia’s entry, claiming it in 1909 with the comedy film Mr Flip. Known as pieing, getting one in the moosh can be hilarious and is a well-known form of protest. Alan Joyce the CEO of Qantas was recently pied, by Tony Overheu […]

1 year ago Uncategorized More
 

Should edtech and other startups spend money on IP?

Trademarks and the protection of intellectual property should be vital to any business, particularly those in tech? Wrong! Over the years I have seen too many businesses blow too much of their scare management and financial resources trying to register various types of IP. A few have managed to get trademarks, but I can’t think […]

2 years ago Education More
 

Science Museum Hackathon

I was part of a team that took part in the recent Science Museum Hackathon. The short story: We thought and acted differently Our idea was disruptive and uncomfortable for the organisers We lost It was fun   What was great (hacked on): That the Science Museum even put on a hackathon The overall winners […]

2 years ago Education More
 

RM should sue the pants off the Victorian government!

A decade of IT failures by Victorian government departments has cost taxpayers in excess of A$2bn. Add to that the costs of cancelling major infrastructure projects, e.g. $1bn damages bill for terminating the A$8bn East West road project, and you have a major Australian state which is a laughing stock in the international business and […]

2 years ago Education More
 

Australia Trumps Brexit

Educational exports are the third largest sector in the Australian economy as the following figures show:   Value $21.8bn [1] in 2016/17 700,000 international students, 300,000 in the higher education sector Strong sector growth at 14% (2014), 15% (2015) and 17% (2016).   Australia’s educational success hasn’t happened overnight and there have been plenty of […]

2 years ago Education More