Welcome

Welcome to the award-winning website of Bill MacKenty - where I discuss technology and education! I'm the Director of Technology at the American School of Warsaw, where I support the effective use of technology in schools and classrooms.

Games work in education

I am especially interested in the use of computer games in learning and teaching. I have successfully used games in my classroom to help students learn. Please click here to see what I've written about games in education, and feel free to explore Balanced Gaming, my consulting business that helps parents, schools, and gamers understand how computer games fit into a balanced life.

Educational Technology

Technology strengthens, deepens, and broadens our learning. Want a hint how to successfully integrate technology into learning? It's not about the what, it is about the how. Click here to learn more....

Expression Engine

Expression Engine is a best-of-class content publishing system. I've used Expression Engine to provide powerful and flexible solutions for my school. Built on the Code Igniter PHP framework, it is an excellent tool for schools.

Text Based Games

Text based gaming has been around since the earliest days of computing. Using only text, players enter in another world, and explore, socialize, achieve and impose in the game world. There is no sound, no flashy graphics, simply text. Click here to learn more.

About

I first realized I was a geek in the 6th grade. My 6th grade math teacher put me in front of a Texas Instruments 99A and 4 days later I was teaching the class how to program. I absolutely love hacking around in OS X and Linux. I have worked with kids and helped others my entire life. I love teaching, and watching a kid “get it” really lights me up. I am very interested in effective education, educational theory, assessment, and learning.

From the Blog

Edward Tufte is a smart guy

I recently attended a conference by Edward Tufte.  The topic was entitled Presenting Data and Information.

The presentation was brilliant, if for nothing else the thinking about charts and visual data. I read Tufte’s essay on powerpoint and agreed with the main points, but now I am thinking more deeply about how to create more effective and intelligent graphs.

Tufte elaborated on some key points. Most of these are his words (I was taking notes during the lecture).

1. The reason we look at evidence is to establish causality
2. our displays should be formatted to demonstrate causality
3. Anything complicated will require diversity: a plurality of evidence
4. “how can I explain ______” should be the driving conversation when thinking about data. It should not be “how can I best use ___ to explain ___.” It should be how can I explain ____”.
5. Links should have meaning. So there should be information about links (visually and textually)
6. Design should be invisible, users should think about rich and luscious content not paucity of design
7. Maximize content reasoning
8. Minimize how long they are thinking about format
9. Anything complicated requires more than a simple explanation

He then went on to carefully explain the 7 principals of effective information design.


1. Show comparisons, differences, and contrasts
2. Demonstrate causality - how is A related to B?
3. Show multivariate evidence - show more than one thing at one time.
4. Integrate evidence. Completely integrate words, numbers, images diagrams
5. Document everything.
6. Content counts most of all
7. Try to show your stuff up front all at once - adjacent in space - look at comparisons


I’ll be surveying our faculty soon, and I hope to create a graphic using these principals.



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About

I am the director of technology at the American School of Warsaw. I am committed to strengthening, deepening and broadening student learning through technology. I honestly believe HOW we teach is far more important than WHAT we use to teach. I am a technology skeptic and a technology evangelist. I am certified school building leader and school district leader in New York State. I love technology, and hacking around - especially in Linux and OS X. I am a text-based gaming aficionado, and I enjoy smoking a pipe now and again. Please feel free to poke around and learn more about me and my views of educational technology.

I do almost everything there is to do in technology and education. My goal is create the conditions for excellence in education through technology. And I'd like to share what I know with the educators in Poland.

Testimonials

Bill is a true pioneer in educational technology who knows his stuff and who has a knack for explaining that stuff without denegrating or belittling his audience. He taxes the audience's attention, not their education or intellect.

Chuc M....

Conference Notes and Press

Baruch College - 2010

Keynote: The Right Circumstances for Games in Education

Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium, New York - August 19 2008
Presentation here (1.8mb PDF file).

Top 10 best ed tech blogs June 2008

M*U*S*H: Online lecture: the advantage of ignorance

Boston Globe: blogging in the classroom

Article here | pdf here (42.5 KB PDF file)

School Library Journal: Games in the classroom

Article here | pdf here (58.8 KB PDF file)

Tech Forum Chicago

eSchool News blog award & roundtable

Games Developer Conference

Hunter College High School: Integrating Technology

2006 Martha's Vineyard Technology Professional Development Day

Introduction to Blogging (4.4 MB PDF file)

2005 MassCUE Annual Technology Conference

This is the blogging presentation in PDF format (about 2.5 MB)
Games in Education (warning, 14 MB file !!!)

Tech Forum New York

Public forum on Video Games, Kids, and Education

Games in Education Conference at E3Expo 2005