I’m an educational technologist at The Lovett School. My job is fascinating—I’m learning new things all the time. I teach computer science to students from ages 11 to 18, and I teach teachers about technology as well. I’m also involved in keeping the technology on our campus running and fixing problems when they happen.
I came to educational technology without really knowing about the field at all. I found Computer Science as a major in college in a similar way. I knew that CS existed, and had even spent time as a kid programming computers, but for some reason I never put two and two together—even though my dad did (he wasn’t surprised at all when I declared my major in my sophomore year). I originally thought I’d get a PhD but realized that I liked the practical side of programming too much, so I stopped at a Master’s and programmed for three years. That was valuable experience, but eventually I felt pulled back towards education.
I needed to find a way to satisfy the teacher in me, so I taught for a couple years in the Peace Corps (also a valuable experience, and one that couldn’t possibly be summed up in a blog post). When I came back home I had no clue what I was going to do next. Luckily I met somebody at a party who connected me to this job, everything clicked into place, and I’ve been at Lovett for almost five years now. I don’t think there’s any chance of feeling stagnant or unchallenged in such a dynamic and thought-provoking environment.
I will be writing about lots of different things that relate to education and technology in this space. I’d like to be able to connect with other people (educators at all levels and in all subject areas; people who create, use, or follow technology) who can offer perspectives, encouragement, criticism, resources… I feel like I tend to try to do too much on my own, and I really want to get connected to the larger community that I know is there.
So that’s my greeting. More to come soon…
