What’s the Best Time of Day to Learn?

This piece gets into nitty gritty details, so here’s a quick summary of what lies ahead: Claims you can find on the internet about specific “optimal” time windows for learning are misleading. The efficiency of different learning tasks may “peak” at different times during the day, so even at an individual level, there is no … Continue Reading

Has Udacity Lost Its Way?

I am a big fan of Udacity. I’ve learned a lot from Udacity over the years, having taken several of the company’s courses and Nanodegrees. However, my most recent experience with Udacity was far from ideal. My experience shows how hard it is to maintain quality online courses, particularly in the fast-moving fields that are … Continue Reading

What Really Makes Teaching Online Unique?

Online education is often framed in terms of its potential for scale. But what if we’re thinking about that all wrong? Learners have high expectations in online settings: if something isn’t engaging or isn’t working, they are all too ready to give up or drop out. It takes a lot of work to create excellent … Continue Reading

A Quick and Practical Guide to Self-Paced vs. Synchronous Online Learning

This post is inspired by, and partially based upon, a piece in EdSurge that I wrote with Diana Anthony of Figure Eight Investments. That article compares different modes of online learning in “formal” academic learning settings, especially K-12 education. This article delves into the pros and cons of different modalities for adult learners. The Basics … Continue Reading

The Three Simple Principles of Empiricism

Welcome to my first entry in Enact Academy’s new blog, Empiricism. My goal here is to share a framework for using evidence and reason to design better learning experiences, with a particular focus on online learning.  Many of our mental models of teaching seem to presume the conveyance and delivery of information. Knowledge is passed, … Continue Reading