Taylor Swaak

Taylor Swaak covers technology and innovation at The Chronicle of Higher Education. She is drawn to nuanced stories about how colleges are navigating an increasingly tech-infused world — a world where they're relying on a growing number of ed-tech partners, and working to strike a balance between nurturing AI innovation and protecting their students and campus communities. This interest has sparked accountability reporting on controversial courseware products and tensions with online-program managers. It's also inspired trends pieces on competitive AI hiring sprees and experimentation with AI-detection tools to stymy admissions fraud. She is a staunch supporter of solutions journalism as well, and contributes annually to The Chronicle's robust collection of newsroom reports. She wants readers to be not only informed, but energized, by what she writes. Swaak joined The Chronicle in 2021. She previously wrote for The 74, a nonprofit news outlet, where she spearheaded K-12 coverage of the nation's two largest school districts — NYC Public Schools and L.A. Unified — before documenting D.C. Public Schools' pivot to virtual learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her byline has also appeared in Newsday, Newsweek, The Hartford Courant, and on CNN.com. She earned her bachelor's degree in multi-platform journalism from the University of Maryland, where she got her start as a reporter and editor at The Diamondback. Swaak lives in northern Virginia; you can find her out on the bike trails or scoping out a new coffee shop.