For the past ten years I’ve had anything between 50 to 70 speaking engagements and a 150 travel days each year. From workshops for teachers to high-production keynotes for business conferences events have been my bread and butter. 2020 changed this. I won’t be traveling for at least the rest…

“Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” ― Mary Oliver 2019 went past so quickly. I moved on in someways, moved backwards in others. There was work I would have liked to achieve and life I would have liked to live, but I think I’m…

Love Letters for Computers is a ten part YouTube series intended for primary school educators, covering the basics of computer science. But what makes it a love letter? For the last five years I’ve been traveling around the world and working with primary school teachers from Melbourne to Tokyo…

YLE kolumnit kerättynä yhteen — olkaa hyvä. Fortnite on paikka, ei peli (22.4.2020) Mitä tapahtuu lukutaidolle, kun tietokone ymmärtää tekstiä paremmin kuin puoli miljoonaa suomalaista?(13.11.2019) Digitaalinen aikakausi pakottaa meidät pohtimaan, mitä haluamme muistaa ja mitä unohtaa (17.7.2019). Ruutuaika on osa pidempää leikin jatkumoa (7.5.2019) Scifiä on turha ylenkatsoa, sillä se…

This is the fifth year of going through the past year and probably the hardest one to date. So much happened, and it’s so easy to just list doing-ness (as opposed to other kind of growth). I spent a lot of time thinking about physical spaces, maps, exploration, structures and…

In a recent Cambridge study, a group of British children was shown picture cards, each depicting a common species of plant or wildlife. The researchers also showed the kids a second set of cards, each featuring a species of Pokémon character. Overwhelmingly, the children aged eight and over were better…

I’ve never once worried about my online security. Sure, I could have a clever password strategy, set up VPN, encrypt my hard drive or tweak my browser settings, but as a result I’d create a joyless and pessimistic world-view. And who would want to hack a children’s book author anyways? …

When I first started writing books about technology for kids, I knew almost nothing about pedagogy. For me, computing was magical, charming and imaginative — but the materials teaching it often dull and uninspiring. I enjoyed programming, but mixed Piaget to Papert, didn’t recognise computational thinking from constructivism.

I’ve often thought what would have happened if in the 1960s the founder of Marimekko, Armi Ratia had been interested in programming instead of fashion as way to create a “cultural phenomenon guiding the quality of living”. But an equally interesting question might be how would computers see Marimekko today…