By Menachem Wecker
A fifth-grade teacher in the Clovis Unified School District in Fresno, Calif., by day, Derek Walter started writing about iPhone applications for several technology websites three years ago. Last February, he launched TheAppPlanet.
“I am fascinated by the ways mobile apps have changed our lifestyles and interaction with information,” said Mr. Walter, M.A. ’06.
Mr. Walter, who studied educational technology at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, had been making more and more connections with developers who wanted him to review their applications through his freelance writing.
“I felt there was a need for a site that had quality writing and thoughtful coverage of mobile applications,” he said.
He knew of several sites that ask developers to pay for reviews, which he says instantly kills their credibility, so he does not accept payment for reviews of mobile, web and desktop applications.
“Imagine if Microsoft paid the New York Times for a review of the newest Xbox. It would make it difficult to believe the review was unbiased,” he said.
According to Mr. Walter, TheAppPlanet’s traffic has been growing steadily. “Last month, I had 2,000 views and am already off to a strong start with 1,600 hits so far in May,” he said.
Some of his most popular posts have been about The New York Times accidentally posting a pornography service phone number instead of its subscription line and about Google Maps’ image of Osama bin Laden’s compound.
“My focus right now is on growing the site’s readership,” he said. “With more readers and higher web traffic come greater opportunities for advertising and monetization.”
He plans to expand the site by bringing interns aboard in the summer and fall. “That should enhance our coverage even further,” he said.
In addition to running TheAppPlanet and teaching in the Clovis district, Mr. Walter is an adjunct professor in the University of Phoenix’s School of Education.
Before coming to GW, he studied journalism and mass communication at California State University-Fresno, where he edited the daily student paper, The Daily Collegian, from 1998 to 1999.
Mr. Walter’s updates have appeared in GW Magazine, the Colonial Cable and the (now defunct) GW Politics Central page, and he wrote a guest column in the April 2008 newsletter of GW’s Educational Technology Leadership Student Organization.
“To be engaged in education today means grappling with and understanding the role of technology in how we think and learn,” he wrote on the ETLSO site. “My master’s degree … equipped me to be a leader in these areas; both on my campus and as I expand my career to other venues.”
At GW, he met new colleagues, had great discussions – both virtual and real time – and “moved toward being an expert in this challenging and growing field of educational technology,” Mr. Walter wrote in the newsletter. “I feel I have been well prepared to be a leader as a proud GW alumnus.”
He told GW Today that he still feels the same way three years later.
“I have always been very interested in technology and how it impacts knowledge, so the GW program was a perfect match,” he said.