Audrey Watters

Audrey Watters is a journalist and independent scholar recognized for her critical analysis of education technology. Watters explores the intersection of education, technology, and power, applying academic rigor and accessible writing to a field often characterized by uncritical enthusiasm. She has held roles as a graduate student, college instructor, and program manager for an education technology nonprofit before transitioning to a career as a freelance writer.

Watters is the creator of the blog "Hack Education" and is known for her skepticism of Silicon Valley's approaches to schooling. Her writing has appeared in The Baffler, The Atlantic, Vice, Hybrid Pedagogy, Inside Higher Ed, School Library Journal, and other publications. Watters focuses on helping readers understand the complexities of education technology, challenging narratives that portray technological innovation as inherently beneficial to learners.

She has delivered keynotes and presentations on education technology internationally and is the author of several books, including "The Monsters of Education Technology," "The Revenge of the Monsters of Education Technology," "The Curse of the Monsters of Education Technology," "The Monsters of Education Technology 4," and "Claim Your Domain." "The Monsters of Education Technology" compiles talks on topics such as teaching machines, convivial tools, edtech narratives, and information justice.

Watters is also the author of "Teaching Machines" (MIT Press), which examines the pre-history of personalized learning. In this book, she provides a history of predigital educational technology, exploring innovations from Sidney Pressey's mechanized positive-reinforcement devices to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist teaching machines. Watters demonstrates how concepts like bite-sized content and individualized instruction influenced both textbook publishers and early advocates for computerized learning.

She was a recipient of the Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship at Columbia University. Watters has also examined the parallels between Silicon Valley's promotion of AI-enhanced schools and Cold War-era visions of the high-tech classroom, arguing that these narratives often recycle longstanding ideas about replacing teachers with technology. She is the author of the "Second Breakfast" newsletter, where she continues to provide historically informed perspectives on education and technology.