by “Some people think outside of the box. Gary is unaware of the box’s existence.” – Futurist, Dr. David Thornburg
Biography
Gary Stager, an internationally recognized educator, speaker and consultant, is the Executive Director of The Constructivist Consortium. Since 1982, Gary has helped learners of all ages on six continents embrace the power of computers as intellectual laboratories and vehicles for self-expression. He led professional development in the world’s first laptop schools (1990), has designed online graduate school programs since the mid-90s, was a collaborator in the MIT Media Lab’s Future of Learning Group and a member of the One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s Learning Team.
When Jean Piaget wanted to better understand how children learn mathematics, he hired Seymour Papert. When Dr. Papert wanted to create a high-tech alternative learning environment for incarcerated at-risk teens, he hired Gary Stager. This work was the basis for Gary’s doctoral dissertation and documented Papert’s most-recent institutional research project.
Gary’s recent work has included teaching and mentoring some of Australia’s “most troubled” public schools, launching 1:1 computing in a Korean International School beginning in the first grade, media appearances in Peru and serving as a school S.T.E.M. Director. He was a Visiting Professor at Pepperdine University and Senior Editor of District Administration Magazine. His advocacy on behalf of creativity, computing and children led to the creation of the Constructivist Consortium and the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute.
In 1999, Converge Magazine named Gary a “shaper of our future and inventor of our destiny.” The National School Boards Association recognized Dr. Stager with the distinction of “20 Leaders to Watch” in 2007. The June 2010 issue of Tech & Learning Magazine named Gary Stager as “one of today’s leaders who are changing the landscape of edtech through innovation and leadership.” CUE presented Gary with its 2012 Technology in Learning Leadership Award. A popular speaker, Dr. Stager was a keynote speaker at the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference and at major conferences around the world. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Melbourne’s Trinity College on several occasions.
Gary was the new media producer for The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project – Simpatíco, 2007 Grammy Award Winner for Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Dr. Stager is also a contributor to The Huffington Post and a Senior S.T.E.M. and Education Consultant to leading school architecture firm, Fielding Nair International. Gary also works with teachers and students as S.T.E.M. Director at The Oaks School in Hollywood, California.
Video Portfolio
“Gary Stager My Hope for School”
Clip from the imagine it!² The Power of Imagination documentary
This is What Learning Looks Like – Strategiest for Hands-on Learning, a conversation with Steve Hargadon
2012 San Mateo Maker Faire.
.
Ten Things to Do with a Laptop – Learning and Powerful Ideas
Keynote Address – ITEC Conference – Des Moines, Iowa – October 2011
Children, Computing and Creativity
Address to KERIS – Seoul, South Korea – October 2011
Gary Stager’s 2011 TEDxNYED Talk
NY, NY – March 2011
Gary Stager Discusses 1:1 Computing with the Omar Dengo Foundation
University of Costa Rica – San José, Costa Rica – June 2011
Gary Stager’s Plenary Address at the Constructionism 2010 Conference
Paris, France – August 2010
Gary Stager Excerpts from NECC ’09 Keynote Debate
June 2009 – Washington D.C.
For more information, go to: http://stager.tv/?p=493
Dr. Stager interviewed by ICT Qatar
Doha, Qatar – Spring 2010
Learning Adventures: Transforming Real and Virtual Learning Environments
NECC 2009 Spotlight Session – Washington, D.C. – June 2009
More information may be found at http://stager.tv/?p=531
Online Publications
- The Daily Papert
- Constructing Modern Knowledge
- Gary Stager’s Blog
- Gary Stager in The Huffington Post
- Gary Stager’s magazine articles
Selected Scholarly Papers
2012 Constructism 2012 Conference (Athens, Greece)
Friends of Papertian Constructionism
2008 Australian Conference on Educational Computing (Canberra, Australia)
- A New Paradigm for Evaluating the Learning Potential of an EdTech Activity
- Learning Adventures: A new approach for transforming real and virtual classroom environments
2007 EuroLogo XI (Bratislava, Slovak Republic)
Towards the Construction of a Language for Describing the Potential of Educational Computing Activities
Australian Conference on Educational Computing (Cairns, Australia)
Has Educational Computing Jumped the Shark?
2005 National Educational Computing Conference (Philadelphia)
Constructive Technology as the Key to Entering the Community of Learners
2005 World Conference on Computers in Education (Stellenbosch, South Africa)
- Towards a Pedagogy of Online Constructionist Learning
- The High Cost of Incrementalism in Educational Computing Implementation
2005 EuroLogo X Conference (Warsaw, Poland)
Papertian Constructionism & the Design of Productive Contexts for Learning
2004 International Conference on Learning Sciences (Santa Monica, California)
Climbing to Understanding: Lessons from an Experimental Learning Environment for Adjudicated Youth co-authored with Seymour Papert and David Cavallo
2003 Proceedings of the 3.1 and 3.3 working groups conference on International federation for information processing: ICT and the teacher of the future – Volume 23 (Melbourne, Australia)
Online Constructionism and the Future of Teacher Education co-authored with Terrence Cannings
1998 NECC ’98: Proceedings of the National Educating Computing Conference (19th, San Diego, CA, June 22-24, 1998)
Online Communities as a Vehicle for Developing Secondary Mathematics Educators co-authored with Terrence Cannings
1996 Independent Association of Registered Teachers of Victoria Monograph (Melbourne, Australia)
Computing and the Internet in Schools: An International Perspective on Developments and Directions
GOOD Magazine Cover Story Fall 2008
School Wars
Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer – Forward 50, co-author of Invent To Learn — Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. He led professional development in the world’s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about Gary here.