BA in French Teaching; PhD in Educational Technology; Associate Professor of ICT at University of Kentucky School of Information Science. My CV is available here, you can browse my research here, and my Google Scholar profile here

Supported by digital methods, my research focuses on online social spaces, community practices within these spaces, and the influence of the platforms where they are found. My research is interdisciplinary, exploring spaces associated with teaching and learning, Mormonism, the far right, or even combinations of these themes.

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I sometimes write in French! To only see the French content (which is also available below, alongside English content), please click on [fr] in the site header.

🔗 linkblog: Proctorio subpoenas digital rights group in legal spat with student - The Verge'


Boo on Proctorio.


Every selling point on this cold call email for an ed tech product is a reason that I would never consider using it.

🔗 linkblog: A Network of Fake Test Answer Sites Is Trying to Incriminate Students – The Markup'


Let me get this straight: Invasive surveillance isn’t enough, now companies are creating opportunities to cheat just so they can ding them and take credit for stopping it?

🔗 linkblog: Pluralistic: 16 Feb 2022 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow'


Doctorow tackles the grossest parts of ed tech. It’s a great read.


Just explained something I learned from studying far right spaces in Mormon social media to collaborators on a project studying queer spaces in far right social media, which is not an experience I expected when starting grad school in ed tech.

🔗 linkblog: just finished 'College Prep Software Naviance Is Selling Advertising Access to Millions of Students – The Markup'


Ed tech should not be ad tech.


I wonder how many people right now believe both that university instructors indoctrinate students and that they shouldn’t be allowed to do so online because it wouldn’t be effective.


I got to teach counting in binary today, and it might be one of my favorite things to teach. Not every day you get to deconstruct and reconstruct your students’ understanding of numbers.

🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Amazon Paid for a High School Course. Here’s What They Teach.'


So much ugh. Big Amazon presence here in KY, so wonder when we’ll start to see this.


I was born into the dominant language of research, I’m reasonably fluent in a second language, and there’s still so much literature beyond my reach. Bring back langauge requirements in U.S. doctoral training.


One of my favorite students will always be the undergrad from a few years ago who expressed outrage when I explained that researchers frequently have to sign over the copyright to their own studies.


There are worse times than three days before the start of the semester to realize that you were preparing the wrong modality for a course, but not many!

🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Students Are Learning To Resist Surveillance: Year in Review 2021 | Electronic Frontier Foundation'


Such an important read.

🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Personalized Learning Debates Put Too Much Emphasis on Technology, School Leaders Say'


Lots in here that reminds me of Watters’s comments on personalization.


It breaks my heart to hear from a student explaining they’re going to a funeral and in the same breath asking what documentation they need for it to be officially excused. I know there are bad actors out there, but why do we do this to our students?

🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Report - Sharing Student Data Across Public Sectors: Importance of Community Engagement to Support Responsible and Equitable Use - Center for Democracy and Technology'


Looking forward to reading—and citing—this full report.

🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Automated Proctoring Swept In During Pandemic. It’s Likely to Stick Around, Despite Concerns | EdSurge News'


Glad UK is stepping back from proctoring, but worried about the foothold it’s gained.

🔗 linkblog: just read 'Ed Tech Usage is Up. So Are Parent Privacy Concerns'


Interesting read on an important subject.

🔗 linkblog: just read 'Inequitable Access: An Anti-Competitive Scheme by Textbook Publishers | Electronic Frontier Foundation'


OER forever. This article makes me sad.


One of my data science students just did a t-test to demonstrate that evil-aligned monsters in D&D 5e tend to have lower Armor Class than good-aligned monsters. This course demands a lot of effort, but moments like this make it worth it.


grad student, immediately after entering my office: “Wow, you really like Star Wars, huh?” me: “Yes, but have you also noticed all my cool train magnets?”


Dreamt that despite having a PhD, I had somehow never finished my BA. Had to explain a lot to employer and was trying to transfer to Centre College to make completing the degree earlier.


What if our collective disdain as education researchers for learning styles is the result of an overemphasis on efficacy and improvement and a corresponding undervaluing of accessibility and equity?


Teaching R for the first time, and many students are first-time programmers. I’m reminded of teaching French in terms of how easy it is to take for granted things that aren’t obvious to beginners.


I brought up the federal German elections in class today to make a point about WordPress; I’d say it made sense in context, but I can’t promise that was true for the students!