Blog
I am much more of a fox than a hedgehog. No, I don’t blog every day, but it’s fair to say that I’m pretty prolific. On this site, you’ll find a boatload of posts on the future of work, higher education, technology, platforms, communication, collaboration, analytics, and other topics. They generally fall into the following buckets: insights, provocations, musings, predictions, and rants. I write more about big ideas than listicles and snackable content. Finally, I inject humor often into my posts and freakin’ despise jargon. Click here to see an interactive word cloud and tree map of my posts’ tags.
What College Professors Can Learn From Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act
His Netflix show takes a unique and informative approach that should make instructors reconsider their methods.
Teaching Highlights From 2018
A look back on two things that made me smile this past year.
Thoughts on Reaching 500 Google Scholar Citations
Reflections on achieving a professional milestone.
Reflections on Carnegie Mellon 25 Years Later
Thoughts on the most important skills and abilities that I picked up at CMU.
Reflections on Supervising More Than 100 Capstone Projects
Thoughts on some of my students’ best work.
The Five Best Books I Read in 2018
The texts that rocked my world this past year.
Chemonics Receives Innovation Award
Recognition for good work never gets old.
Making Class Memorable With a Basketball-Inspired Python Example
A little program to calculate game logs and stimulate student interest.
Having Fun With Python in the Classroom
Using pop-culture references to make potentially boring coding exercises more interesting.
In Defense of Using PowerPoint in the Classroom
When you see horrible slides, blame the Indian, not the arrow.
Four Myths About Slack
Shedding some much-needed light on what the collaboration tool can and can’t do.
The Pros and Cons of Teaching Back-to-Back Sections
Honest reflections on teaching a compressed schedule.
What I’ve Learned From My Student Evaluations
Thoughts on what the data tells me—and what else I’d like to know.
Audiobook of Analytics: The Agile Way Is Now Available
Good news for those of you who like to listen to books.
Thoughts on Teaching Older Students
What do when someone possesses a great deal of professional experience.
Lessons From Slack’s Origins
A pox on you if you think that the idea behind the popular collaboration tool was someone’s master plan.
Thoughts on Slack and Flexibility
The collaboration tool proves that one size need not fit all.
A Preview of Slack For Dummies
A roadmap for book number nine.
The Wild Wild West of Analytics Programs
Pedagogy and definitions around higher ed’s trendy new discipline are anything but consistent.
Contribution in Forthcoming HBR Book on Agile Methods
Some golf applause is in order. 👏
My Five Most Popular Posts From 2019
What resonated with my readers last year.
Visualizing Two NFL Franchises
Dysfunction and stability define Browns and the Patriots, respectively.
Advice for My Dataviz Students
Parting thoughts as they embark on their careers.
Thoughts on Slack, Culture, and Workplace Boundaries
Don’t let one CEO’s toxic behavior poison your view of the tool.
Don’t Be Evil by Rana Foroohar
Has Big Tech become too powerful? Hell yes.
Using Slack in the Classroom: A Case Study
How professors can use the collaboration tool to engage their students