A first word

As a simple introduction to Freshman Labs, I’ll paste my About blurb into a post.

I look forward to meeting new people and discussing the issues of the day… and getting this long-running internal commentary out of my head and onto paper. Sometimes it’s like Statler & Waldorf in here. 🙂

From the About page:


 

Hi, I’m Mike Deutsch, a 15+ year veteran in the Tech and Education worlds and a product of (and contributor to) several generations of “oh, this is gonna change everything!” … Over time I’ve learned to take those with a grain of salt, but I remain curious and optimistic and eager to do my part for good technology & learning in the world.

I’m based in Montreal, Canada, and Freshman Labs is a place where I think about, play with, and provoke the fields of Education and Technology from interesting angles.

Among the topics I’m likely to talk about:

  • Pedagogy – how people learn, and how best to teach in order to engender learning; especially of mathematical & technical subjects
  • Schools – curricula, school models, professions, etc. I’ve worked in or alongside K-12 and Higher Ed for many years and think about these a lot.
  • Analytics & Visualization – i.e., how to turn the inner workings (, data, records) of a system into something the eyes & brain can readily understand.
  • Trends and waves that build, pass by, or crash, in Technology & Education.
  • Usability – design and philosophy behind making tools (specifically technological ones) useful and dependable.
  • Business concepts behind or related to Education and Tech.

In other settings you can find me as myself (linkedin@mdeutschmtl); as the founder of The U of Me (www,@theuofme, US college admissions); and as a Startup Dad (www,@startupdads).