There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom
December 12, 2025 at 6:23 PM
There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom
It is breathtaking. Like many things these days it is hard, but necessary, to figure what is a continuity and what is a rupture. EdTech has always been a private sector parasite feeding off the public sector.
The rupture is AI EdTech is experimenting on the rich instead of the poor.
The rupture is AI EdTech is experimenting on the rich instead of the poor.
It is not easy to shock me with the mendacity of EdTech entrepreneurs. But I had to take breaks from these testimonials to what is actually happening inside Alpha Schools.
FOURTH REPORT: Former Alpha School students speak out
“A science experiment that’s been framed as a school” - “pretty much a concentration camp” - “cool the first few months and then it just becomes shit”
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
September 23, 2026 at 6:16 PM
It is breathtaking. Like many things these days it is hard, but necessary, to figure what is a continuity and what is a rupture. EdTech has always been a private sector parasite feeding off the public sector.
The rupture is AI EdTech is experimenting on the rich instead of the poor.
The rupture is AI EdTech is experimenting on the rich instead of the poor.
I’m publishing something tomorrow about Alpha School.
One of the things I focus on is how it is an incubator for EdTech platforms with the ambition to hyperscale.
Alpha may only have a few hundred students nationwide, but its founders are developing MANY extractive EdTech brands.
This is one:
One of the things I focus on is how it is an incubator for EdTech platforms with the ambition to hyperscale.
Alpha may only have a few hundred students nationwide, but its founders are developing MANY extractive EdTech brands.
This is one:
September 27, 2026 at 7:44 PM
I’m publishing something tomorrow about Alpha School.
One of the things I focus on is how it is an incubator for EdTech platforms with the ambition to hyperscale.
Alpha may only have a few hundred students nationwide, but its founders are developing MANY extractive EdTech brands.
This is one:
One of the things I focus on is how it is an incubator for EdTech platforms with the ambition to hyperscale.
Alpha may only have a few hundred students nationwide, but its founders are developing MANY extractive EdTech brands.
This is one:
EdTech: rich kids get humans poor kids get tech
EdTech: you’re welcome
EdTech: you’re welcome
With the caveat that tech exists that is very helpful to students with disabilities and their teachers, the headline here tells the story of AI mania in schools:
AI is being deployed in lieu of what kids need: teachers who have appropriate workloads because the profession can attract enough talent.
AI is being deployed in lieu of what kids need: teachers who have appropriate workloads because the profession can attract enough talent.
Overworked and understaffed: Special ed teachers turn to AI for help
A fast-growing number of special educators nationwide are using AI to create customized education plans. Despite the risks, some research shows it could improve the quality of teachers' work.
www.npr.org
May 21, 2026 at 11:09 AM
EdTech: rich kids get humans poor kids get tech
EdTech: you’re welcome
EdTech: you’re welcome
How many classes today were canceled because a whole suite of EdTech services are built atop AWS?
You know what platform never crashes?
You know what platform never crashes?
October 20, 2025 at 4:19 PM
How many classes today were canceled because a whole suite of EdTech services are built atop AWS?
You know what platform never crashes?
You know what platform never crashes?
tenured faculty stop using edtech challenge 2026
faculty union negotiate no edtech vendors clauses challenge 2026
faculty union negotiate no edtech vendors clauses challenge 2026
Faculty in CA in the 1990s successfully protested mandatory online components of their classes largely on the grounds of IP and labor intensification.
We don’t have to accept this. We can start with abandoning the LMS.
We don’t have to accept this. We can start with abandoning the LMS.
Meet “ASU Atomic,” a subscription platform that claims to offer customized learning modules for fee-paying users. None of the ASU faculty whose course materials were harvested for the module I generated were aware that their image, lectures, lessons, or other teaching materials are being used.
April 25, 2026 at 12:23 PM
tenured faculty stop using edtech challenge 2026
faculty union negotiate no edtech vendors clauses challenge 2026
faculty union negotiate no edtech vendors clauses challenge 2026
my hot edtech take is that proprietary software should not be allowed in classrooms
May 6, 2026 at 2:14 AM
my hot edtech take is that proprietary software should not be allowed in classrooms
This is nothing but a handout. Nobody cares what the curricular implementation looks like, because the sole purpose is lock-in contracts for EdTech companies (all AI companies are EdTech companies now).
It's hard to overstate how impossible this demand is from Purdue's administration to implement these AI requirements by next fall. We are nowhere close to understanding what AI proficiency means or what it looks like in education.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
December 14, 2025 at 3:43 PM
This is nothing but a handout. Nobody cares what the curricular implementation looks like, because the sole purpose is lock-in contracts for EdTech companies (all AI companies are EdTech companies now).
THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
December 30, 2025 at 1:50 AM
THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
edtech might be the worst invention since the machine gun
September 26, 2026 at 1:43 AM
edtech might be the worst invention since the machine gun
apparently Wikipedia has more rigorous standards than every university on the planet, university administrators, edtech enthusiasts, (certainly more than) AI bros, several prominent academic journals, and too many professors and teachers
after much deliberation and giving AI the benefit of the doubt, Wikipedia editors have had enough of AI slop. New policy bans LLM generated content, periodt www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...
Wikipedia Bans AI-Generated Content
“In recent months, more and more administrative reports centered on LLM-related issues, and editors were being overwhelmed.”
www.404media.co
March 27, 2026 at 10:53 AM
apparently Wikipedia has more rigorous standards than every university on the planet, university administrators, edtech enthusiasts, (certainly more than) AI bros, several prominent academic journals, and too many professors and teachers
Schools: we need to ban cell phones.
Also schools: let’s adopt every edtech AI product hawked to us.
Also schools: let’s adopt every edtech AI product hawked to us.
August 15, 2024 at 1:34 AM
Schools: we need to ban cell phones.
Also schools: let’s adopt every edtech AI product hawked to us.
Also schools: let’s adopt every edtech AI product hawked to us.
November 24, 2024 at 6:57 PM
Schools are flooded with edtech. But it's not only sold to them. Emerging "edtech brokers" do intermediary work to build teachers' trust in edtech, synchronize their practices to platforms, and shape teachers' professional identities as pedagogic "innovators".
New paper doi.org/10.1080/0962...
New paper doi.org/10.1080/0962...
‘Enthuse and inspire’: edtech brokers and the affective construction of teacher innovation
Digital technologies interact in different ways with the professionality of teachers to ultimately reshape the most defining features of their job. In this article, we explore how edtech brokers, i...
doi.org
May 7, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Schools are flooded with edtech. But it's not only sold to them. Emerging "edtech brokers" do intermediary work to build teachers' trust in edtech, synchronize their practices to platforms, and shape teachers' professional identities as pedagogic "innovators".
New paper doi.org/10.1080/0962...
New paper doi.org/10.1080/0962...
hi, welcome to the last 20 years of edtech
A genuinely alarming piece in the NYT about how the developers, scientists and assorted techbros behind "AI companions"/"synthetic care" do not even know or understand the potential harms of the tech they're developing but they're too greedy to stop themselves from developing it.
February 13, 2026 at 7:45 PM
hi, welcome to the last 20 years of edtech
We cannot expect accurate renderings of education from a magazine owned by a media conglomerate owned by a private equity firm deeply invested in EdTech.
That is, The New Yorker.
Nor from a magazine owned by a venture capital fund deeply invested in EdTech.
That is, The Atlantic.
That is, The New Yorker.
Nor from a magazine owned by a venture capital fund deeply invested in EdTech.
That is, The Atlantic.
June 9, 2026 at 5:48 PM
We cannot expect accurate renderings of education from a magazine owned by a media conglomerate owned by a private equity firm deeply invested in EdTech.
That is, The New Yorker.
Nor from a magazine owned by a venture capital fund deeply invested in EdTech.
That is, The Atlantic.
That is, The New Yorker.
Nor from a magazine owned by a venture capital fund deeply invested in EdTech.
That is, The Atlantic.
This includes EdTech and AI in Education. #EduSky
no tech company is building any models for the good of society but to generate revenue, benefit shareholders, and to be at the top of the rat race the tech industry has created
7/
7/
January 2, 2025 at 12:52 AM
This includes EdTech and AI in Education. #EduSky
“If you are a researcher looking for stability, respect for your work, and the chance to make a real impact in a place where facts still matter. We would love to hear from you here in Denmark.”
Denmark offers fast-track for U.S. researchers seeking stability in science careers | ETIH EdTech — EdTech Innovation Hub
The Danish Chamber of Commerce invites U.S. researchers to Denmark, offering stability and fast-track support amid growing science funding challenges. Learn more about this global research opportunity...
www.edtechinnovationhub.com
May 8, 2025 at 12:42 PM
“If you are a researcher looking for stability, respect for your work, and the chance to make a real impact in a place where facts still matter. We would love to hear from you here in Denmark.”
"have you tried hiring more teachers"
"no sorry we already spent that budget on dubious edtech nonsense"
"no sorry we already spent that budget on dubious edtech nonsense"
September 21, 2026 at 1:42 AM
"have you tried hiring more teachers"
"no sorry we already spent that budget on dubious edtech nonsense"
"no sorry we already spent that budget on dubious edtech nonsense"
look I'm sorry to x-post but incredible things are happening on the everything app from #edtech #distruptors
December 17, 2025 at 1:20 AM
look I'm sorry to x-post but incredible things are happening on the everything app from #edtech #distruptors
Approaching three quarters of K12 educators are women, and yet the EdTech, testing, and "reform" commentariat is...
March 20, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Approaching three quarters of K12 educators are women, and yet the EdTech, testing, and "reform" commentariat is...
John is absolutely right to see the “infinite patience” for Khan’s failed EdTech creative destruction & the closure of Hampshire as linked.
EdTech has always been dependent on using grades as the foundation for A/B testing, behavioral modification (which they pretend is learning), & tokenization.
EdTech has always been dependent on using grades as the foundation for A/B testing, behavioral modification (which they pretend is learning), & tokenization.
The same week Hampshire College (a place predicated on community between faculty and students) closes, the Khan TED Academy (an institution without faculty) rises. Academic freedom depends on the shape and kind of our institutions. substack.com/inbox/post/1...
The Higher Education We Can Afford
Hampshire College closes and an institute without faculty arises.
substack.com
April 19, 2026 at 5:41 PM
John is absolutely right to see the “infinite patience” for Khan’s failed EdTech creative destruction & the closure of Hampshire as linked.
EdTech has always been dependent on using grades as the foundation for A/B testing, behavioral modification (which they pretend is learning), & tokenization.
EdTech has always been dependent on using grades as the foundation for A/B testing, behavioral modification (which they pretend is learning), & tokenization.