MediaLab.org was built by Zach Brewer, a teacher in New York City. His students know him as Mr. Brewer.
A teacher first
Zach has taught in New York City schools since 2005, most of that time in Manhattan. He currently teaches Design to fifth and sixth graders at an independent school. Before that he taught media literacy to kindergarten through fifth graders at a public elementary school, and for thirteen years he was the educational technology specialist at another independent school, where he built a technology program for prekindergarten through fifth grade around students making things: animations, Scratch games, 3D-printed models, robots, and movies. He began as a math teacher at a public school in the Bronx and turned those lessons into Math Art, a book of hands-on math projects.
He holds a master's degree in educational technology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and is a New York State certified teacher in childhood education, educational technology, and computer technology. He has also taught web development to teenagers and adults.
Why MediaLab.org
Off-the-shelf design software is built for general use, so students spend class time working around features their project doesn't need. Tools built for the project a student is actually doing give that time back to designing. That is what Zach set out to build.
Because every MediaLab.org tool shares one platform, students can carry a piece of work from one tool to the next without exporting, converting, or starting over. A hand drawing can become a traced vector outline and then a 3D model; a stop motion or animation can become a scene in a video. Work that travels like this lets students take on more ambitious projects. The tools run on school iPads and laptops with nothing to install, ask a student for a seat number instead of a name, show no ads, and give teachers a clear view of the work.
MediaLab.org is independent. It is built, paid for, and run by Zach himself, and he reads every message sent through the Contact page.
How the site treats student information is spelled out in the Privacy Policy.