"My life is about learning, my own and others’.

In the 1960’ and ‘70’s studied history at Stanford University, earning a BA, MA, and PhD. I also studied social theory and played basketball for the Sorbonne in Paris, where I took courses from Claude Levi-Strauss, Jacques Lacan, and Michel Foucault. I then taught history at Dartmouth College and returned to Stanford where I taught classics and began mentoring, starting with Steve Jobs as my first Telemachus.

I have been designing learning games for all ages for over 40 years and, along with lectures and seminars for college students, through them have taught millions of children, middle and high schoolers, and professionals science, mathematics, storytelling, history, and film.

As Co-PI of an ethnographic study of digital youth I helped scholars and teachers learn what kids do online. I edited and published essays, reports, and a new journal on digital media and learning with the MIT Press.

Currently I coach and mentor founders of edTech startups in Europe and Asia, helping them learn to think and speak well and scale startups like Nearpod, enuma, Pink Fong ("Baby Shark"); unicorns like Roblox, Unity, and Coursera; SEL and coding app makers like Better Kids, imagi, and Erase All Kittens." less...