Angela Okune: This call for participants (received via email on May 29, 2018) to a half-day discussion in San Francisco as part of a regularly occuring "Technology Salon" centers on the question of how Silicon Valley can improve online learning in "emerging economies." The framing of the event...Read more
Angela Okune: This 2016 paper by Ben Williamson traces the emergence of four prototypical ‘silicon startup schools’ as exemplars of a technocratic mode of corporatized education reform. Williamson highlights how these "startup schools" originate in the culture, discourse and ideals of...Read more
Abstract: "Today the halls of Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) and Davos reverberate with optimism that hacking, brainstorming, and crowdsourcing can transform citizenship, development, and education alike. This article examines these claims ethnographically and historically...Read more
Abstract: " From the rising number of hackerspaces to an increase in hardware start-ups, maker culture is envisioned as an enabler of the next industrial revolution—a source of unhindered technological innovation, a revamp of broken economies and educational systems. Drawing from...Read more
Angela Okune: This 2016 brief by the World Bank showcases Bridge International and its education model. The brief states that Bridge is "the first educational organization to address the problem of quality at scale, allowing it to invest heavily in research and technology and to focus...Read more
Page 9 of this World Bank brief showcasing Bridge International emphasizes the shared values between Bridge International (a private for-profit tech start-up) and the IFC. The excerpt from...Read more
Angela Okune: This 2017 article raises important questions about AltSchool and highlights how the tech start-up has been pivoting with its business model. Originally focused on starting up physical schools, it appears they have pivoted to focus on their software and offering software as a...Read more