I have always been interested in the social sciences, because history is really a conversation about our future.

Awakening student's curiosity about the way the world works is as important as ever. Today's global knowledge based economy is rapidly changing, yet stubborn problems in society (such as inequality, mass-violence, war, & poverty) remain. Asking questions about weighty problems, and engaging students in investigations has a huge power to increase student literacy and achievement.

Historians ask questions about authentic issues in the world today. Effective history teachers involve their students in the same questions, looking not for definitive answers, but rather for more questions. In the process, we prepare our students to be literate, global citizens who can solve difficult problems.

Personal Interests

• American History. The internet represents an unprecedented opportunity for historians of America. There are millions of pieces of evidence available within archival systems available for students. I have done most of my work on collecting and linking these documents to significant questions about the nature of growth and change in the United States.
• World History. When I grew up, "World History" was just a title for what really was Euro-centric "Western Civ"— the whole discipline of World History was really only emerging in academia: looking for "Big History" patterns of interaction and change between world zones. It is exciting to be in the midst of how this new discipline will leave a stamp on how we view an increasingly complex and interconnected world.
• Economics. My interest in this probably dates from the extensive involvement I had in the business world. But it has grown as I've studied history and look at the contemporary situation. For example, 95% of people living in the United States in 1800 were farmers— practically none of the jobs that exist for students today existed then, and even now many jobs are disappearing and being replaced by new ones that we have not even anticipated. This is exciting stuff!
• Sociology. My undergraduate major was sociology, so you could say this was my first love! But then and now, my interests were in such macro areas as race, and class, and micro topics such as groups and interaction patterns. These in turn tie in very nicely with history and economics.

As I transitioned in the mid 1990s from a business-focused career to “something else” I started fiddling with web pages.

Starting with basic pages that I could publish old memoirs of youth, I discovered the new maching language of HTML— which is really another language that tell a display how to render the elements of a page. The early implementation of HTML specifications by competing browsers (IE, Netscape, Opera) was shoddy at best. Pages were slow loading anyway on dialup connections. Most people did not yet own a personal computer. Nobody imagined that the internet would eventually be available on a device that you carried in your pocket.

Twenty years later, we are merely in the next phase of web connectivity. There are many new tyes of complementary languages, along with viral social media, and the ability to build apps that unleash HTML5.

Twenty years later, the number of websites has , and they've gotten better in quality. Students need to develop more “web-savvy” skills through experimenting with digital content creation and electronic publishing. High Schools need to leverage student interest (they really are glued to their device screens, right?) and move them from simplistic use to something more advanced!

I've long been fascinated with organizing information and deriving some meaningful use for the insights that can be gained.

Whether it's using historical sales patterns for weather and past sales in order to properly stage snowblowers for a chain of 100 stores, or using excel sheets to keep track of student performance, their are a wealth of electronic tools that students and teachers can use to find information.

It is said that Erasmus (1466-1536) was the last man to know everything there was to know (in his age), this is because he stood on the edge of the information age. Very few people had the leisure time to be as bookish as Erasmus, then and now. As humans have increasingly specialized in their working world, the subset of knowledge they need for the job has shrunk, while knowledge of the world has grown exponentially.

That's the problem: too much to know, not enough time to greatly expand, and the amount of information available to us is dense and difficult to crack. Students in the digital age need to know how to search for and filter information.

As I have grown in technical expertise in web design, I've had to grow in the creating User Interface modules that use SQL to hook databases into responsive, dynamic pages.

Traditional classroom, chalk & paper-systems will soon be extinct. So also will traditional face-to-face public education settings.

School systems are not going fast enough towards what will replace the old. To be competitive, we must have a long-term master plan to prepare systems and teachers, so that when the technology wave really does crash to shore, we won't get swamped.

When I first started teaching, most teachers thought a technology laden classroom had a projector, and some still thought that a projector was an overhead model that used printed acetate sheets.

The speed by which teachers and schools have typically moved is glacial compared to the speed by which the actual technology curve is moving. Changes happen with lightening speed in the business world where changes in systems mean productivity and profit gains. In the internet age, companies must also connect online with their users, or else face rapid extinction.

Why is it that schools move so much more slowly? Perhaps one reason is cost. Schools that are facing crumbling aging infastructure in their physical plant don't always have a clear plan to fully implement a technology curve and plan for it's obsolescence.

Another reason is comfort. Teachers can be stubborn to chnge the methods that were transmitted to them (some going as far back to when they were students!). Sure there are geek teachers in the wilderness vollying back with smartboards, document cameras, and response-clickers. But this has not only been the exception, it will likely continue as technology continues to rapidly evolve. A new generation of teachers brings new ideas, but they may already be behind the private sector.

Comfort also impacts use, and the learning of new technology. I watch with fascination how my three year old grandson navigates around an iPad. And this is often the strongest argument for more tech infusion in a classroom: kids get it, and are usually more comfortable with using devices than their teachers! If today's seven year-old arrives in a few years at the high school door, and does not find a technology rich environment (physical capacity and teacher readiness), is it any wonder why it is difficult to engage them in learning?