Audrey Watters

Audrey Watters

Writer and Independent Scholar of Education Technology

Audrey Watters is a writer and independent scholar whose work examines the history, politics, and cultural influence of educational technology. She began writing Hack Education in 2010 and used the site to analyze technology companies, products, policies, and claims about the future of learning. Since 2023, she has continued this work through her newsletter, Second Breakfast. Before becoming a full-time writer, Watters worked as a program manager for the International Society for Technology in Education. Her research challenges the idea that technological change is automatically innovative or beneficial, emphasizing the roles of markets, ideology, labor, and power in shaping education. Her 2021 book, Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Learning, traces the development of automated instruction and shows that many current ideas about personalized learning have deep historical roots. Watters contributes to educational technology by providing the historical and critical context educators need to evaluate new tools, including artificial intelligence, rather than accepting promises of progress without examining their evidence and consequences.

Selected Work

·       Teaching Machines The History of Personalized Learning

·       Hack Education

·       Second Breakfast

Professional Links

·       Professional webpage

·       Curriculum vitae

·       Books

·       Bluesky