Since 1982, Gary Stager has been an internationally recognized educator, speaker, and consultant who 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-1990s, and 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 in “troubled” public schools, launching 1:1 computing in a Korean international school beginning from 1st grade up, media appearances in Peru, and serving as a school STEM 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. Tech & Learning Magazine (June 2010) named him “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 keynoted the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference and major conferences around the world, and 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, the 2007 Grammy Award Winner for Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year. He is a contributor to The Huffington Post, Publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and a Senior STEM and Education Consultant to EDI.
Gary serves on the advisory board of the NSF-funded project BJC4NYC, bringing a rigorous computer science principles course to the largest school system in the U.S. He also maintains the world’s largest archive of text and multimedia by Seymour Papert at The Daily Papert. His areas of expertise include coding in K-12 classrooms, the maker movement, STEM, arts advocacy, early childhood education, 1:1 computing, at-risk learners, and school reform.