Prior to Minerva, I was Chief Learning Architect at Grockit, where I helped develop the company's core social learning and assessment technologies, designed a system for educational data analysis and learning analytics, and led all research initiatives. In 2011, I developed Grockit Answers to enable productive peer-to-peer learning around educational videos.

In 2010, I created Studio Sketchpad, a website for creative coders to collaboratively author and share interactive animations written in Processing. Seven years after building Sketchpad, the site is still in active use. In addition to serving as a venue for informal collaborative learning, Sketchpad has also been used in over 125 university courses, high school classes, and coding workshops around the world.

I completed my PhD in Computer Science at Brandeis University in 2008. In my dissertation work, I examined the possibilities of motivating learning among peers by incorporating these interactions into a game. This drew on a combination of game theory, system design, and a statistical analysis of data from tens of thousands of kids practicing spelling online. Here's a tough one: accommodation.