 He attended Portage High School, graduating in 1990, then going on to study at the Western College Program at Miami University.He received a B.Phil in Interdisciplinary Studies in 1994 from Miami University, and earned a Ph.D in education in 2004 from Indiana University.He taught at the Knoxville Montessori School and the McGuffey Foundation School between 1994–1996; later he became Research Manager of the Games-to-Teach Project at MIT.