Amazon: My favorite alpha company among Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative
I was thrilled to find out that Knewton made FastCompany’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, along with one of my favorite companies, Amazon. It’s hard to imagine my life without Amazon. I bought a Kindle for everyone close to me, I order hundreds of books every year. I’m …
Generation Flux: Marketing & Product Management
To chronicle the chaotic new reality of our times, Robert Safian at FastCompany recently published an article which identified speed, chaos, and uncertainty as defining qualities of business in the twenty-first century. Some—Safian identifies them as “Generation Flux”—have survived and even thrived in the new economic climate by adopting a …
Generation Flux: Design & data storytelling
Conventional career wisdom encourages delayed gratification, steady commitment to a single career or skill set, and a long and slow climb up a traditional corporate ladder. Traditionally, most cultural, educational, corporate, and political establishments do not support rapid change. Recently, however, the fluctuating pecking order–the swift ascent of giants like …
Technology and the myth of education’s golden past
In Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology, education professors Allan Collins and Richard Halverson tackle the fraught issue of what it means to be an educated person in today’s society: “Deeply embedded in the culture of schooling is the notion that students should read, listen to, and absorb a …
Photoshop Friday: Vintage posters from yesteryear
Here at Knewton, “Photoshop Friday” is a time-honored tradition–one we’re hoping to resurrect in 2012. Recently, I took a dive through my inbox and resurrected these gems: THE FELLOWSHIP OF KNEWTON THE …
Knewton Bookshelf: Proust, Franzen, Seuss, and more
Knewtonians are ravenous readers. From our book club to our book swap, there are a variety of ways to partake in the active literary culture at Knewton. Here’s just a taste of what folks at Knewton have on their shelves these days: 1. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole David Ingber, Master …
The beauty of iterations
Those who work in technology will be familiar with the term, “agile development.” Formally introduced in 2001 through the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, “agile development” is a method that promotes an iterative, flexible, and “time-boxed” approach to product development (as opposed to “waterfall development” which is traditionally associated with …
How to Design an Educational Game, Part 2
Designing an educational game that teaches while it entertains may be a lofty goal, but if you follow the steps in this series, you should be able to make your vision a reality — even if you don’t have a huge budget and a cutting-edge creative team. Along the way, …
How to Design an Educational Game, Part 1
Games, like novels and films, are cultural products that inspire loyal fans and followers. The appeal is clear: games are fictional universes that seduce players into alternate realities. Designing a game that teaches while it entertains may be a lofty goal, but if you follow the steps outlined below, you …
How Adaptive Learning Can Help Students Think About Meaning
The following experience is common to most teachers: a meticulously planned class activity succeeds in capturing student interest for a few minutes, but attention evaporates quickly and afterward no one can remember the point of the lesson. Despite the flashy visualizations, the expensive 3-D models, the age-appropriate allusions (references to …
