Skip to main content

Blog posts

The Ghost Town of San Jose
25 April 2024

The Ghost Town of San Jose

The lyrics of the Specials reverberated through my mind as I went for my first exploratory run around San Jose, and not just because the hotel where I am staying feels like an extra from Ghostbusters. Described on its website as the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose is also one of the most expensive metro areas in the USA. But, having travelled extensively, I feel I can pick up the ‘energy’ of places quite quickly and what struck me forcefully since my arrival yesterday morning is the absence of humanity: shops in downtown San Jose boarded up; my hotel unable to find a vendor to restart its restaurant after the COVID-19 lockdowns; and a city showing physical signs of neglect everywhere. I have also seen how homelessness has become a reality for so many people in the richest country in the world.
Read more
People standing on a beach watching the eclipse
19 April 2024

False promises about ‘AI’ in education

My personal experiences in using AI tools have shown me clearly that, in the right hands, these will enable extraordinary improvements in individual productivity. I’m less persuaded, though, that all the hype and promises about how these same tools are going to transform education systems is warranted, especially given the poor track record of previous technologies in delivering on promises, at least on a large scale, that were made equally enthusiastically when they first came into use. In this blog, I reflect on the phenomenon of AI hype in education and why I think it might be a distraction from what is needed for serious transformation of education systems.
Read more
Kids Collab piloting the Parent Playbox
25 March 2024

Redefining Success: The Social Impact Path of Kids Collab

Kids Collab was founded with a clear mission: to enhance children's physical development and well-being, with a particular focus on fundamental movement skills during their critical preschool years. We started on this journey almost five years ago, and, while our mission has not changed, our solution and methods of delivery certainly have.

Read more
Blog Post 1: Kids Collab's Early Strides into Open Education
23 February 2024

Kids Collab's Early Strides into Open Education

Kids Collab is thrilled to invite you on an incredible journey as we share our story in our upcoming blog series: "Reflections on our pathway to Open Education." 📚✨ In our very first post, "Kids Collab's Early Strides into Open Education," we take you back to where it all began – a friendship forged over a love for sports, travel, and, of course, children! From those early days of dreaming big, to conducting research in Melbourne, Australia, we share the ups and downs that paved the way for Kids Collab.
Read more
Flowers of the Drakensberg
28 March 2022

The rock you focus on is the one you crash into

I am not much of a mountain biker, but one thing I learned very early in my few outings on a mountain bike is that the more you focus on the rocks on your trail the more likely you are to crash into them. The alternative is not to ignore them, but to observe them and then identify the pathway around them – focusing your energy and attention on where you want to go rather than what you want to avoid.

Read more
AI2
29 April 2021

The Growth of Artificial Intelligence in Africa – On diversity and representation

As the world ushers in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) –  which is characterized by increasingly blurred lines between the digital, biological, and physical worlds (Ndung’u and Signé) – technologists are coming to grips with the opportunities of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and the Internet of Things. These and other emerging technologies offer exciting possibilities; in theory, they might allow us to galvanize unprecedented socio-economic change and democratise access to services such as the internet, education, and healthcare. 

Read more
Subscribe to Blog posts