2025 – A Year In Review

Why the Future of Education Became the Conversation Some years are defined by activity.Others are defined by attention. In 2025, conversations about the future of education accelerated dramaticallyโ€”not because of a single technology or trend, but because educators, leaders, and institutions are actively searching for clarity in a moment of profound change. Across my blog …

The Map We Need for the Future of Learning

How We Navigate Change โ€” Even When the Road Ahead Is Unclear Introduction: Finding Clarity in the Fog As educators, leaders, and parents, we often find ourselves navigating rapid and unpredictable change. Technology evolves faster than we can adopt it. Expectations shift. Systems transform. The future can feel foggy not because we are unprepared, but …

Finding Success in the Human Performance Equation: Knowledge, Skills, Environment, and Motivation

What makes people thrive? Why do some teams achieve breakthrough results while othersโ€”equally talentedโ€”struggle with frustration, anxiety, or even apathy? The answer is rarely one thing. Human performance is the outcome of several interlocking factors: knowledge, skills, environment, and motivation. The graphic above captures it perfectlyโ€”when all four align, success follows. But when one piece …

What We Get Wrong About Innovation in Schools: 4 Eye-Opening Lessons

Conversations about the future of education are often filled with a mix of excitement and anxiety. With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and constant technological change, it is easy to feel uncertain about how to best prepare studentsโ€”and ourselvesโ€”for what is next. We are flooded with buzzwords, new tools, and competing visions of the …

Choosing Change: Three Cautionary Tales through the Lens of Activity Theory

Innovation is not just about tools. It is about people, communities, and the rules that govern how we live. That is why some innovations thrive while others failโ€”or worse, cause harm. Activity Theory gives us a lens to understand this: every activity system is made up of tools, subjects, rules, community, division of labor, and …

๐Ÿงฉ The Curb-Cut Phenomenon and the Fusion Model: Why Designing for the Few Improves Learning for Everyone

Walk through any city and you will notice the small ramps at every street corner โ€” โ€œcurb cuts.โ€ They were originally created to help wheelchair users move safely from sidewalk to street. What no one predicted was how universally useful they would become. Parents with strollers, travelers with rolling suitcases, delivery workers โ€” everyone benefits.That …

The Five Phases of Innovation: From Spark to Invisible

Innovation does not happen all at once. It follows a journey โ€” one that always begins with an idea, matures through trial and error, and eventually becomes so natural that we hardly notice it. Understanding this journey not only explains the past, it helps us lean into the future with confidence and excitement. Take smartphones. …

Beyond Cheating and Toward Thriving: Preparing Students for a Different Future

The conversation about AI in education has often started with fear. Can students still be trusted to write their own essays? Will detectors catch misconduct? Should we return to blue books and oral exams? These questions matter, but they do not go far enough. If we remain focused only on cheating, we miss the deeper …