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

Is 250 sheets of paper a year enough?

After some data gathering last year, we realized we were using a case of paper every 2 weeks in one computer lab (we have 4…

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Naviance

I’ll be teaching parents about Naviance this Thursday.  This is one of those “college information nights” activities.  I’ll be teaching the parents how to use…

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Slashdot:  Looking Back From the 1980s At Computers In Education

This is why I love slashdot.

I’m not sure how many different ways I can say this.  Ed tech really isn’t about the…

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Stunning: One-to-one computing programs only as effective as their teachers

Eschool news writes "One-to-one computing programs only as effective as their teachers".

Do you hear that thumping sound? That is…

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Experiential Learning and Technology

I’m sitting here at work on Monday, February 15th. It’s a federal holiday, yet here I sit, cleaning up my desk, writing, and tending to…

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Ed Tech and Elementary School

Had another interesting question a few days ago.

What is your philosophy around elementary school and technology?

1. I think students aged 6 to…

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Toolkits and tricks

I “do” system administration. From servers to workstations, Windows, OS X, and Linux, I take care of technical issues at my school.  To be honest,…

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Why ROI is hard to measure for school technology

I had an interesting question today: how do you measure ROI on a technology project for learning * ?

The…

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A disagreement on the iPad potential…

I got a nice comment respectfully disagreeing with my point of view about the iPad and education. For reference, the commented post was here,…

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Do you need more money? We need to win this thing!

We are embarking on our first year in the FIRST (more) robotics program at our school.  Because we are a “rookie” team, we…

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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

Scholastic Administrator - 2011

Many thanks to the folks at Scholastic for this great story about computer games and learning (pdf here). I was interviewed for this, and it's always nice for people to ask what you think.

I'm getting my "first year as a tech director" stuff out of the way, and then I plan on aggressively adding games to the learning at my school, and evangelizing games and learning here in Poland. For the curious, I've set up a doorway portal for games and learning here.

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