Who: Teacher trainer and materials writer (Inside Out, Straightforward, Evolve); author of Translation and Own-Language Activities (CUP) and 30 Trends in ELT.
What: Started as a 10-part guide to adaptive learning (2014, later an ebook from The Round). It now covers gamification, data, vocabulary apps and generative AI.
Stance: A sceptical insider. Ask what problem a technology solves and what evidence supports it; read vendor and funder claims as marketing; keep teacher judgement central. Not anti-tech.
Why it matters for me: The most relevant critical voice for RS Insight, the RS Learning System, Coursebook-to-Lesson and the homeschool platform.
Processed notes
- AI for Good - read vendor-sponsored AI claims critically
- Adaptive learning - hype vs evidence
- Critical AI literacy is hard to teach
- Does ChatGPT enhance learning - performance is not learning
- Edtech winners and losers - the product matters
- Educational neuroscience mostly confirms psychology - beware seductive details
- Gamification as pointsification
- Metaphors of AI - tool, cultural technology, stochastic parrot
- Solutionism - define the problem before the technology
- Vocabulary apps - reward design outruns learning design
- Word-card apps are a first stage - add generation, elaboration and hints
Next to process
- Deeper pass done (5 posts). Next: Beyond metaphors of AI (Reynoldson 2025).