About Me
I live at the intersection of education and technology. While the intersection is always busy, not everyone knows how to navigate it. I like to help folks do exactly that.
Who I Am
I’m Ben Wilkoff. I’m an educator, a builder, and a writer. I’ve spent over twenty years working in education — starting in a middle school English classroom and winding my way through district leadership, edtech companies, university programs, and now international higher education.
The through line has always been the same: a deep belief that technology should serve people, that learning is the most powerful form of change, and that showing up consistently to do the work matters more than any single breakthrough.
Lately that daily practice has taken the shape of software. I design and ship native apps end-to-end — for phones, TVs, desktops, and the web — each from one shared codebase, with no servers to run. It's the same conviction as always, just expressed in Swift, Kotlin, and C# instead of a lesson plan.
I own a typewriter and I collect Laserdiscs. I love my three children quite a bit. I create at least one new thing every day. I believe in the power of sustained effort toward important goals.
I was compelled to share my story of creating an artificial separation between technology and pedagogy to defining the connections. I love talking about where I have been, where I am going, and what it takes to frame change for success.
What I Believe
In his own words — convictions drawn directly from twenty years of blog posts.
The Ripe Environment
“I am tired of talking about the tools… What should we really be reaching for? The Ripe Environment. The simultaneous personal and public experience of using all of the tools at the teacher’s disposal to tear down walls, collaborate with each another, and question the traditional role of technology in the classroom.”
The 95 Theses
“Teachers should be the change they want to see in their schools… Teachers should constantly reinvent the wheel to make it ride smoother and faster over any type of terrain imaginable… Teachers should learn.”
Scale is a Seductive Myth
“I believed that by increasing the scale in which I was creating change was directly proportional to my own sense of purpose and happiness… Scale is a seductive myth.”
It’s the Content, Stupid
We use blogs not because they are easy, not because they are more collaborative — simply because they let the content speak for itself. Without content you are nothing. Without great ideas there is no hope for the future.
From the Ripe Environment series.
The Masculinity Detox
Skills & Expertise
Native App Development
Web & Platform
Education & Leadership
The Personal Stuff
I’m a father of three. I collect Laserdiscs (yes, really). I own a typewriter and use it. I live in Colorado. I believe that creating at least one new thing every day — a blog post, a tool, a video, a conversation — is the practice that keeps everything else moving.
I began blogging in 2005, and it became the foundation for everything that followed. I served on the board of InnEdCo (Innovative Education Colorado) from 2013 to 2019 as Programming Chair and VP of the Board of Directors, helping shape one of Colorado’s most important gatherings for innovative educators.
I’ve maintained a family website at whitfordwest.family, run community platforms, and built tools specifically for my own kids (like a university search tool for my middle son’s college search).
The work is the life is the work. It all connects.
Get in Touch
I’m always happy to talk about education, technology, building things, or what it means to learn.