It was great fun to see XKCD take up the subject of Bayesian probability. That was a good reminder that it’s been a while since I taught my Skillshare class on the subject. And so I have added a new date for a lunch class on December 4th. As per usual, all proceeds go to Pencils of Promise. I have been asked if I am going to teach this class online as opposed to in person. Some day I may do that. But for now I really enjoy being together in a room. There is something very gratifying for me to...

It was great fun to see XKCD take up the subject of Bayesian probability. That was a good reminder that it’s been a while since I taught my Skillshare class on the subject. And so I have added a new date for a lunch class on December 4th. As per usual, all proceeds go to Pencils of Promise. I have been asked if I am going to teach this class online as opposed to in person. Some day I may do that. But for now I really enjoy being together in a room. There is something very gratifying for me to...

One of the reasons that we decided to move to Chelsea was the proximity to the USV office. The other was that our kids can walk to Avenues, a new private school with an ambitious program of building campuses in leading cities around the world. Another distinguishing factor of Avenues has been their embrace of technology which got a good writeup in today’s Wall Street Journal. Our kids each have both an iPad and a MacBook Air from school and use both of them heavily across a variety of classes...

One of the reasons that we decided to move to Chelsea was the proximity to the USV office. The other was that our kids can walk to Avenues, a new private school with an ambitious program of building campuses in leading cities around the world. Another distinguishing factor of Avenues has been their embrace of technology which got a good writeup in today’s Wall Street Journal. Our kids each have both an iPad and a MacBook Air from school and use both of them heavily across a variety of classes...

I was on a panel for the wonderful iMentor organization earlier this week talking about the future of education. Every time I do that these days I emphasize that instead of talking about education we should focus on learning. Because the Internet is revolutionizing where, when and from whom we can learn. Secondary education in particular is where we are beginning to see the first signs of the dramatic shifts to come. Here are just a few examples of the amazing things that are happening. MIT, ...

I was on a panel for the wonderful iMentor organization earlier this week talking about the future of education. Every time I do that these days I emphasize that instead of talking about education we should focus on learning. Because the Internet is revolutionizing where, when and from whom we can learn. Secondary education in particular is where we are beginning to see the first signs of the dramatic shifts to come. Here are just a few examples of the amazing things that are happening. MIT, ...

Last week I had the pleasure of teaching my first Skillshare class. The subject was “Bayesian Probability and a Theory of Life” and is one I am very passionate about. I hope that I was able to convey some of that passion but I can say for sure that I learned a lot: First, the saying that “you don’t understand something until you have taught it a dozen or more times” is definitely true. In preparing for my class and teaching it, I realized that my own grasp of some of the concepts was not as g...

Last week I had the pleasure of teaching my first Skillshare class. The subject was “Bayesian Probability and a Theory of Life” and is one I am very passionate about. I hope that I was able to convey some of that passion but I can say for sure that I learned a lot: First, the saying that “you don’t understand something until you have taught it a dozen or more times” is definitely true. In preparing for my class and teaching it, I realized that my own grasp of some of the concepts was not as g...

Couldn’t resist an attention grabbing headline here after spending yesterday morning with my daughter on the kind of homework that just completely takes the fun out of learning. In geography her class is learning about latitude and longitude. As homework they got a work sheet that made them look up about 15 cities in the US based on Lat/Long and write down the Lat/Long for another 15 based on a map in their social studies book (a ridiculously heavy tome by Pearson). It was an incredibly dull ...

Couldn’t resist an attention grabbing headline here after spending yesterday morning with my daughter on the kind of homework that just completely takes the fun out of learning. In geography her class is learning about latitude and longitude. As homework they got a work sheet that made them look up about 15 cities in the US based on Lat/Long and write down the Lat/Long for another 15 based on a map in their social studies book (a ridiculously heavy tome by Pearson). It was an incredibly dull ...

It is very easy to settle into a set of development tools and routines and get so comfortable in them that one is loathe to try out something new. One proceeds to justify this behavior (to oneself and others) by saying things like “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” or “I want to spend my time on implementing features not learning new tools” - and there is definitely some truth to these arguments, but then again if taken to the extreme we would not have such things as power drills and nail guns ...

It is very easy to settle into a set of development tools and routines and get so comfortable in them that one is loathe to try out something new. One proceeds to justify this behavior (to oneself and others) by saying things like “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” or “I want to spend my time on implementing features not learning new tools” - and there is definitely some truth to these arguments, but then again if taken to the extreme we would not have such things as power drills and nail guns ...

For the end of her 5th grade, my daughter had to complete something called the “capstone project” – meant to be a first original research project. She came up with what I thought was a rather original project: she wanted to look into “how does ESP work?" Her teacher didn’t seem to think so and suggested she find another topic. Katie batted around a few other ideas but it was clear that she wasn’t excited about any of them. I felt pretty strongly that her being excited about the topic was more...

For the end of her 5th grade, my daughter had to complete something called the “capstone project” – meant to be a first original research project. She came up with what I thought was a rather original project: she wanted to look into “how does ESP work?" Her teacher didn’t seem to think so and suggested she find another topic. Katie batted around a few other ideas but it was clear that she wasn’t excited about any of them. I felt pretty strongly that her being excited about the topic was more...

Tonight I am giving a talk at the First NYC Digital Learning Meetup. The event is organized by the folks from Startl, which aims to support and accelerate the development of companies that apply technology to enable learner-centered education. I am very much looking forward to speaking, as “Hacking Education” has been a long-standing interest for me. My talk will be about the incredible opportunities that the web represents for learning and education, but also the challenges faced by startups...

Tonight I am giving a talk at the First NYC Digital Learning Meetup. The event is organized by the folks from Startl, which aims to support and accelerate the development of companies that apply technology to enable learner-centered education. I am very much looking forward to speaking, as “Hacking Education” has been a long-standing interest for me. My talk will be about the incredible opportunities that the web represents for learning and education, but also the challenges faced by startups...

Only a short post today as I was spending most of the morning on the phone with some PR folks in Germany talking about the German National Computer Science Competition (page in German). I participated in and was one of five national winners in one of the early years this competition was held. They called to find out what I thought of it all these years later (this year marks the 30th anniversary of the competition overall). I told them that I had very fond memories and was glad to see this tr...

Only a short post today as I was spending most of the morning on the phone with some PR folks in Germany talking about the German National Computer Science Competition (page in German). I participated in and was one of five national winners in one of the early years this competition was held. They called to find out what I thought of it all these years later (this year marks the 30th anniversary of the competition overall). I told them that I had very fond memories and was glad to see this tr...

Last Friday to Saturday I had the good fortune of being invited to crew on my friend Mark Hansen’s boat Sweet Lorraine (a beautiful J-145) in the 2012 Vineyard race. The course starts near the Stamford Harbor, goes up to the Buzzard’s Bay Light Tower and then returns south of Block Island all the way to Stamford for a total length of about 238 nautical miles. We are the rightmost boat in the picture below, taken shortly after the start. The crew consisted of extremely experienced and successf...

Last Friday to Saturday I had the good fortune of being invited to crew on my friend Mark Hansen’s boat Sweet Lorraine (a beautiful J-145) in the 2012 Vineyard race. The course starts near the Stamford Harbor, goes up to the Buzzard’s Bay Light Tower and then returns south of Block Island all the way to Stamford for a total length of about 238 nautical miles. We are the rightmost boat in the picture below, taken shortly after the start. The crew consisted of extremely experienced and successf...