I spent most of my career in education and technology. I worked at Kaplan, and I was one of the first people trying to bring innovation into for-profit education.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I started my career as a journalist, writing about science and technology for 'Business Week' magazine. Then I decided to make a career shift. I went to graduate school in computer science, and I began developing educational technologies - in particular, technologies to engage children in creative learning experiences.
I taught workshops at universities. I wrote for magazines. This took time and insane amounts of juggling, but it's how I earned a living.
My background was computer science and business school, so eventually I worked my way up where I was running product groups - development, testing, marketing, user education.
Even as a college professor at Carnegie Mellon and Stanford, I saw myself as an entrepreneur, and I went out, took risks, and tried to invent new things, such as participating in the DARPA Grand Challenge and working on self-driving cars.
I had great teachers, great ensembles, and great companies to work with who supported my career.
I actually love technology. I worked for 18 years as systems analyst in technology.
I became interested in educational technologies because I believe that they have the potential to transform how we practice and think about education and learning.
All of my career has been an attempt to educate myself and get paid for it.
I have spent many years working in education and media, from hosting documentaries to being a spokesperson for Discovery Education to revolutionizing youth environmental service through my non-profit, EarthEcho International.
Although I loved working on technology - I've always been a computer geek at heart - my professors encouraged me to get a real-world job working with customers.
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