To be honest, I was pretty skeptical when folks started telling me to talk to Dan “Mathworlds” Meyer about education technology, given that he’s so closely involved. He developed a much-admired math program called Desmos. He works at Amplify. He gives talks at ASU+GSV!
But it didn’t take long for Meyer to convince me that he’s more aware than most of the perils of ineffective edtech on kids and schools — and might even be relieved that parents have finally raised the alarm enough to win media attention.
“A lot of the systems surrounding kids have not been doing a good job of filtering out lousy ideas, which has led to a lot of ‘sickness’ inside that system,” says Meyer in this new interview. “Kids are using tools that don’t work, that are cognitively de-skilling them. And then these parent communities have said, ‘Okay, this is not working.’”
“We have not, as an industry, had a perspective on what works and what doesn’t,” says Meyer, who describes the current backlash as a belated immune response.
And the mainstream media — Meyer praises the Times’ Natasha Singer and EdWeek’s research center — has only recently brought sufficient attention to concerns that he, Ben Riley, and Audrey Watters have been writing about for years.
“I’d love to see those outlets be ahead of the curve and not behind the curve,” says Meyer. “But I’m glad that they’re they’re somewhere on the curve right now.”
Watch the interview or read the transcript above (or on YouTube). Listen to the conversation on Spotify or Apple. Follow Dan at @ddmeyer, subscribe to Mathworlds, or check out his pre-2021 blog, DY/DAN.
Previously from The Grade
The case for i-Ready (with Ty Holmes)
Why so many parents hate AI right now (with NYT opinion writer Jessica Grose)
How one reporter latched onto the edtech backlash (with NBC’s Tyler Kingkade)
In defense of education technology (with former EdSurge editor Tony Wan)
Why are schools awash in YouTube? (with the WSJ’s Shalini Ramachandran)
Education, technology, & the media (roundup of previous coverage)
