Man in a blue suit and polka-dot shirt stands smiling in front of a staircase. He has short dark hair, glasses, and a beard. The setting appears to be indoors, with blurred background details.

Alec Patton

Editor of High Tech High Unboxed
“I love sharing stories about the work that students and teachers do together.”

Alec is the editor of High Tech High Unboxed, which is the place where High Tech High shares what it knows, thinks and dreams of. Specifically, it’s an online collection of podcasts, videos, and articles, and a semi-annual hard-copy journal.

Alec taught humanities for five years, first at High Tech High North County, then at High Tech High Chula Vista. As part of the projects Alec has designed, his students have produced podcasts about California’s state Propositions and plays about wrongfully convicted inmates. One year, students designed and ran a simulation in which audience members took on the roles of Syrian citizens forced to leave and seek refuge in another country. In partnership with biology teacher Matt Leader, Alec led 45 11th graders who became the first large group ever to walk the entire San Dieguito Coast-to-Crest trail, a total of 72 miles.

You can learn more about Alec’s projects on his Digital Portfolio, here. Prior to joining High Tech High, Alec worked at the Innovation Unit in London, England, where he wrote Work that Matters: The Teacher’s Guide to Project-based Learning. Alec first became interested in project-based learning when he was doing his Ph.D. at the University of Sheffield, and designed a program that trained undergraduates to record and transcribe oral history interviews for the British Library’s Theatre Archive Project.

publications

The image displays the phrase powered by in lowercase blue text, followed by unboxed, with un inside a blue rectangular box, symbolizing innovation in online education degree programs.
Skip to content