Bill MacKenty: K-12 Computer Science and Web Application Developer

Time 2020-09-09 03:03:37

Web Name: Bill MacKenty: K-12 Computer Science and Web Application Developer

WebSite: http://www.mackenty.org

ID:40413

Keywords:

Computer,Bill,MacKenty,highschoolcomputerscience,linux,ibcomputerscience,express

Description:

Bill MacKenty My name is Bill MacKenty, and I teach high school computer science at the American School of Warsaw. I grew up on Martha's Vineyard, a beautiful little island off the coast of Massachusetts.As a lifelong geek I enthusiastically share my passion, energy and expertise about programming and computers. There is nothing more satisfying than watching a kid "get it". I've served as a senior leader in educational technology, and worked for many years in educational technology. What really floats my boat is teaching and coding.The very best way to learn computer science is to solve authentic problems at the right level of challenge. There is a joy in solving hard problems. My student have said my classes are "difficult and fun", this is my pedagogical target-space. The best way we can spend time is class is to clarify a concept and then practice the concept. Much learning can be done outside of the classroom. The best assessment reflects authentic engagement with problems; this type of assessment doesn't end with a 1 to a 7, but rather a nuanced view to what extent a student understands computer science. I like nuance. School Administrator Certificate Hunter College, City Univeristy of New York Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and History Franklin Pierce University, New Hamphire I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter. Supporting and guiding colleagues is a tremendously rewarding exerpience. Bringing effective communication, organization and teacher agency into a team is important and meaningful work. I'm still surprised, in an era of high-end graphical video games Dungeons and Dragons carries cachet. But, kids love it, so I keep encouraging it (version 5). I also designed and delivered an after school computer club. We built a simple javascript game, ye olde quivering communist zombies (link here). The online version lags behind the development code, which can be found at this github repository. Designed and deployed a service to support better high school computer science learning. Learning is improved when students are actively reflecting on their progress. Explicit student-centered goals support better understanding. Clear knowledge of the gap between current skill & understanding and desired skill & understanding support stronger learning. Authentic meaningful dialog between peers and teachers improves understanding. Click here to learn more. Continued to grow the computer science program at ASW. Designed and delivered a new course "solving complex problems through programming" for 10th grade students. Substantially added content and learning experiences for students on computersciencewiki.org. All students were exposed to industry-leading tools and practices such as the bootstrap framework, github, professional IDE's, API's, and advanced programming. Designed and deployed the IB Computer Science curriculum (standard and higher level) from scratch. Click here to learn more. Continued to grow the computer science program at ASW. Designed and delivered an additional entry-level course "designing solutions through programming" for 9th grade students. Substantially added content and learning experiences for students on computersciencewiki.org. All students were exposed to industry-leading tools and practices such as the bootstrap framework, professional IDE's, and working on the Linux command line. Designed and built a web application which manages professional development requests. The system emails relevant parties when a request has been created, updated, approved, or returned. Allows tracking and better facilitation of professional development requests. Built the system using Expression Engine and a LAMP stack. External customers of this system were happy with the savings in time. How do we know technology coaches are doing a good job? This isn't a trivial or meangingless question. Because technology is often poorly understood (and managed) in schools, getting this answer right is important. In this project we answered the question "what does a good technology coach know and do". Our school never fully adopted these guidelines but I am very pleased with the collaborative work we did to create this instrument. I think it is a light of clarity in the oft murkey waters of technology in education. I collaboratively led the drive to powerschool, OS X and google applications. Fortunately, I was surrounded by great people with great skills. All three of these changes made our school a better place. Now, new systems do not a better school make. But the effort into managing the "technology-as-service" was well worth it; these systems are supporting student learning.

TAGS:Computer Bill MacKenty highschoolcomputerscience linux ibcomputerscience express

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