Matthew Baggetta

After a long and winding road through academia, last year I got married and hung up my grad student cap and joined the folks at Toronto’s edtech start-up Top Hat. My PhD research focused on understanding in theory and practice, how anonymity in digital environments affects consciousness, agency and volition. Using an unbounded array of frameworks (psychology, critical theory, sociology, anthropology, etc) my aim was to analyze digital culture and the experience of being an anonymous internet user to generate new knowledge and understanding about how the internet is transforming our lives locally and globally.

As life happened all around me I began to reevaluate my priorities and ultimately decided to change directions to become an active participant in disrupting and transforming our rapidly outmoded systems or higher ed– rather than continue doctoral research while struggling to find a space within it. I believe that  leveraging the digital environment in classes can be a powerful and positive catalyst for teaching and learning. But integrating digital technology into classrooms comes with challenges and risks as well as rewards. Learning from my own personal experiences growing up online, the years already invested in academic research and the strategies and training of my daily mindfulness practice, I now write for Top Hat’s blog as an advocate for the mindful use of technology.

Thesis work and EdTech articles can be found at www.specktral.wordpress.com
Supervisors: Anne Savage