Outthink. Outwork. Outlearn.
I’m Nick Burnett—once a teacher, now building tools, writing stories, and challenging how we think about learning.
My story
I’m Nick Burnett. I was a dyslexic, dysgraphic, dyscalculic—or as I like to say, a discombobulated—struggling student, raised by two English teachers. I failed classes, pushed back against my high-performing school, and learned early on that the system wasn’t built for brains like mine.
What saved me wasn’t standardized tests. It was community college.
From there, I earned a degree in Environmental Studies, became a high school history teacher, and in my fourth year, was named District Teacher of the Year. I went on to earn my master’s in Learning Design and Technology—because I didn’t just want to teach in the system, I wanted to fix what was broken in it.
Since then, I’ve built AI tools to support teachers and students, trained educators across the country, and led workshops on how to rethink what learning can be.
Now? I want to change how we see education altogether.
I want education—and critical thinking—to be dangerous again. The good kind of dangerous. The kind that questions everything, lights fires, and actually prepares people to live, build, and think with purpose.
Philosophy
Education should be wild, not standardized. Real learning happens off-trail—through exploration, curiosity, friction, and failure. Learning should be more human, more honest, and a little more dangerous—in the best way possible.
Unique approach
As a former struggling student and an award-winning teacher, I’ve seen both sides of the system. My work blends education, technology, and storytelling with an off-trail mindset. It’s strategic, personal, and challenges the status quo while still delivering real results.
The Mission
OutLearn exists to create and explore tools, methods, and ideas that challenge how we think about education, life, and citizenship. It’s a space for thought, creative disruption, and stepping outside—both mentally and literally. The best thinking happens on trails, in questions, and in the quiet discomfort of rethinking what we take for granted.
Core values
Choose the hard thing that matters.
Break it early, build it better.
Stay curious, not comfortable
The Basecamp
OutLearn is my basecamp for everything that doesn’t fit neatly into one lane—ideas, tools, experiments, photography, and essays from the edge of education, technology, and the natural world. It’s for people who believe learning should be bold, personal, and a little wild.
OutLearn 