Author Archives: Jon Becker

The more things change…

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

  Two recent articles caught my attention. It’s hard to read them together and not shake your head. The First Race to the Top by William Reese, professor of educational policy studies and history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison The testing groundwork was laid in 1837, when a lawyer and legislator in Massachusetts named Horace Mann became [...] Read more »

assessment, Cuban, Ed. Policy, Ed. Tech., education, history, Reese, technology

Exploring the Reggio Approach as a new context for teaching practice

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

The title of this post is also the title of an incredible professional learning opportunity for educators to be hosted by Sabot at Stony Point, a PK-8 independent school in Richmond, VA. The title is actually a little misleading, as the Reggio Approach is not “new.” A recent piece in The Atlantic does a pretty [...] Read more »

Learning, professioonal development, Reggio Emilia, Sabot at Stony Point

(Re)Introducing the Virginia Education Report

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

A while back, my edu-colleague Chad Ratliff asked me if I was interested in joining him in an effort to create a space for “independent” reporting and commentary on educational policy issues in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was a terrific idea, and soon the Virginia Education Report was born. We had lots of grand [...] Read more »

Blogging, community, Ed. Policy, social media, VER

A Critique of Rick Hess’ Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

Rick Hess just released the 2013 version of his Edu-scholar Public Presence Rankings. He claims that these rankings are “…designed to recognize those university-based academics who are contributing most substantially to public debates about K-12 and higher education. The rankings offer a useful, if imperfect, gauge of the public impact edu-scholars had in 2012.” I’m [...] Read more »

communication, data, dissemination, Ed. Research, eduscholars, Hess, higher ed., public presence, research, RHSU, scholarship, social media

Data + both/and

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

Nate Silver has received LOTS of attention in the mainstream media and among those I follow on Twitter. Forget the pre-election bashing of Silver, the post-election range of opinions on Silver’s work is unbelievably dramatic. Either “America’s Chief Wizard Nate Silver Had the Best Election Night of Anybody…” or “Obama’s big win does not mean [...] Read more »

data, decision-making, Leadership, Nate Silver, Obama, research

The Coursera Gift Horse?

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

On multiple occasions, a friend or family member not in the field of education has asked me for my opinion of Khan Academy. Maybe they saw Sal Khan on 60 Minutes or a teacher has introduced my friend or family member to KA. My response usually goes something like this: “I have a few concerns [...] Read more »

Coursera, distance learning, higher ed., MOOC, professioonal development, SNA

Honoring the occasion

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

[NOTE: it may ultimately be that the subtitle of this post is "...or how I am justifying my attendance at the Bammys." If this post sounds defensive, maybe that's where it's coming from. I don't know; you make the call.] One of my mentors once taught me about “honoring the occasion.” I think it was [...] Read more »

awards, Bammys, Blogging, social media

My department’s new media ecosystem

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

The text below is from an email I sent to the department faculty and to all of the doctoral students in the department (we have a Ph.D. program and an Ed.D. program. Combined, there are probably 100 or so active doctoral students across the two programs). By copying that text here, I am hereby inviting [...] Read more »

Blogging, community, facebook, social media, twitter

Modern scholarly communication in education: An Example

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

I’ve written a bit about scholarly communication in education, and our need to modernize our modes and systems (see e.g. THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS…). This post offers an example of modern scholarly communication. At the heart of this “story” is Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Sociology at the University [...] Read more »

AERA, digital, Ed. Research, modern scholarly communication, research, scholarship, social media, Storify, twitter

The child has a hundred languages… but they steal ninety-nine.

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

My son attends a wonderful, progressive PK-8 school. The school is deeply committed to a Reggio Emilia approach to learning. Among the many ways that orientation manifests is through an umbrella project which is “a series of provocations based on an idea that is meant to spark creative thinking and connect students across classrooms and age-levels.” [...] Read more »

100 Languages, Learning, poem, preschool, Reggio Emilia, teaching