I am an educational technology specialist, having implemented a successful 1:1 iPad program at the world's first iPad school, Monte Vista Christian School. The success of the implementation was verified by the accreditation visiting team in the spring of 2015. I have traveled the world helping other educators integrate technology, while speaking at various conferences both home and abroad. I have a background in teaching English, Physics, Chemistry, and in Instructional Design, but have branched out in my current job with professional training of teachers, device support systems design, accreditation and strategic planning, digital publishing, and computer science curriculum design. I am highly fluent with multiple digital tools, and I am able to create a plan that helps schools create a digital workflow. Simply put, I leave schools better than how I found them.
In April of 2010, Monte Vista Christian School was the first school in the world to put iPads in the classroom. In June of 2010, I was hired to be the iPad Integration Coordinator. The first three years of our journey are best described in my iBook, which can be found here. They were wild and tumultuous times, but we survived, and the success of our iPad implementation was independently verified by the findings of the accreditation visiting committee in the Spring of 2015. As the implementation progressed, I was also tasked with many other special projects by the Headmaster. Below is a list of some of those projects.
| Project | Accomplishments |
|---|---|
| iPad Implementation | Made the iPad the essential work tool for every student on campus—Monte Vista’s 1:1 began in 2011, a year after trials in selected classrooms. |
| Computer Science Program | Created a realistic and unique Computer Science program: four courses were created. Middle School electives: Introduction to ALICE Programming, Advanced ALICE Programming. High School electives: Microsoft and Javascript Programming, iOS Programming. |
| Accreditation | Author of the final self study sent to the visiting team; Standard VI chair; Strategic Plan chair, Strategic Plan co-author. |
| Consultant | Created an independent consulting business to serve the needs of schools who could not attend Monte Vista conferences: THWhiteConsulting.com. |
| Visiting Trainer/Team Leader | Trained, and led small teams of trainers, focusing on technology integration to various schools, and various countries, such as China, Australia, and New Zealand. |
| Conference Presenter | Presented at all of Monte Vista’s iPad conferences, summer conferences, Education conferences; presented at Alan November’s summer conferences for 2 consecutive years, as well as presentations at FOCUS’s (An SIS provider) first annual conference in Florida, Northern CA’s ACSI Administrator’s conference for 3 consecutive years, and many informal presentations for national and international guests to our campus with questions about the iPad program and technology integration in general. |
| Author | Authored and published 2 iBooks: The First iPad School: An Honest Story, and a programming textbook, App Programming for Apple’s iOS. |
| Community Outreach | Created a student team of tech tutors who visit neighboring schools where my team mentors other students how to use technology (iPads, Chromebooks, etc.) to complete school projects. |
| Certifications | Completed MCCC, the only Moodle certification recognized and certified by the popular open LMS. (Here’s a link to a training resource I created for teachers, as a sample of my work.); completed Project Lead The Way’s Principles of Engineering instructor training; completed Big Nerd Ranch’s iOS Bootcamp for Programmers. |
| School Board | Served on the school board of Los Gatos Christian School 2014-2015, and then from summer 2017 to present. |
I now serve Monte Vista as the Dean of Innovation for our new Headmaster, Dr. Salerno. I will be leading and facilitating new projects, as well as exploring new technological tools for potential future implementation.
If you think you could use my experience in a new project you’re planning, or even if you’re a little new to things like 1:1 implementations or accreditation, then maybe I’m the right person for you in the near future! If so, please contact me, and let’s talk.