Author Archives: karen mahon

About karen mahon

i am a behavior and learning scientist. i hold an ed.d. in educational psychology and am trained as an instructional designer. i have spent more than 15 years working in education and instructional software design.

In Education Technology, ‘Creation or Content’ is the Wrong Question

Posted on April 10, 2017 by karen mahon

In education technology circles, and particularly as it relates to use of iPads and apps, I’ve sure heard a lot of discussion about creation versus content. I’ve been thinking about it and wanted to chime in from a learning sciences … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Technology | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

A Stranger in a Strange Land (with apologies to Robert Heinlein)

Posted on June 13, 2016 by karen mahon

Originally posted on Behavior Analysis and Technology:
I had a really interesting discussion today with a kids’ learning app developer. She was upset because her app, which got rave reviews from a number of other review sites, had received a…

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

A critique of PBL and the ‘new’ pedagogies

Posted on December 22, 2014 by karen mahon

This is a wonderful post about evidence-based instruction and the “new” pedagogies. I encourage anyone who want to structure their instruction around student performance data (not to be confused with high stakes assessment data) to read this. Don’t be sucked … Continue reading →

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What Now

Posted on November 12, 2014 by karen mahon

Thought I’d share this recent guest blog post that I wrote for EdTech Digest. App integration in the classroom is a challenge for so many teachers…hope this helps! EdTech Digest 5 questions for integrating apps in the classroom. GUEST COLUMN … Continue reading →

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Creating a Content Strategy for Mobile Devices in the Classroom

Posted on July 25, 2014 by karen mahon

I feel so fortunate to have been asked by the Center on Innovations in Learning (CIL), at Temple University, to prepare a classroom guide for content strategy and mobile devices. As most of you know, this has been a long-time passion … Continue reading →

Posted in Implementation, Professional Development, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

3-Minute Video Explaining the Common Core

Posted on July 21, 2014 by karen mahon

I really enjoyed this simple (and, I thought, elegant) explanation of why the Common Core State Standards are important! See what you think….

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Who is Education’s Customer?

Posted on June 13, 2014 by karen mahon

Today I attended a session about the relationships between business and education. The session was put on by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, a non-profit group that does really good work in my state to improve education on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Assessment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Who are these people who are against learning facts?

Posted on May 12, 2014 by karen mahon

This post is simply outstanding…Harry Webb captures the precise problem with new kinds of “progressive” education. Many of the comments are also fantastic, so take the time to check those out as well.

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inBloom & Net Neutrality: I’ve Got the Blues

Posted on April 24, 2014 by karen mahon

Two things happened in the news this week that have me really bummed out. The first is that inBloom announced that it is winding down. The purpose of inBloom was to be a data repository for student data; a resource … Continue reading →

Posted in Parenting, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Educators Are Worried About the Wrong Thing With “Big Data”

Posted on April 9, 2014 by karen mahon

It seems that we are awash in data in education, especially edtech, lately. I’m a big data junkie, so I find it tremendously exciting. With the advances in technology we have the opportunity to collect real-time performance data at a … Continue reading →

Posted in Instructional Design, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments