Expanding the U Tech Tips family

What I love about this blog is that we all have different passions. David with his art and video background, Jason with his economics background, and Shaun being a high school counselor gives U Tech Tips a unique spin on education. We’re not always tech, we’re not always education but some how what we do seems to work.

What I love about blogging is that time and distance mean nothing. We all have a passion and that passion is sharing knowledge with others. These guys have been there from the beginning and together we’ve managed to build a pretty good blog….I think anyway.

But as I move on from Shanghai to my new home next year in Bangkok and as more international educators are blogging I wanted to expand the U Tech Tips blog both in what we cover for educators and the different perspectives we bring to education from our different roles within schools.

So with that in mind a couple weeks ago I went out in search of more international bloggers to add to the conversation and reconnect with others like James Linzel a high school science teacher. I’m happy to announce that most of the people I invited decided to join us here. I’m excited as I think we are building the best International blogger round up (If not the best blogger round up period!) there is on the web. Just look at who is joining us:

David Carpenter: I do a biweekly podcast with David called Shifting Our Schools. We’ve been having a lot of fun and some great conversations around learning. David is currently a Humanities and Language Arts teacher at Hsinchu International school in Taiwan. A school that is very progressive in their use of technology in the classroom.

This is Mike Romard’s first year in a technology role. Before moving into the role this year Mike taught 4th and 5th grade at Shanghai American School. What I like about Mike is he is just starting to get into this new wild world of Web 2.0 and I think he’ll bring a very newbie voice to the blog and with an elementary spin. I know his learning curve has been huge this year and he’s even started his own blog called Techtalktoe.

Tod Baker is doing some great stuff at the International School of Tianjin. I’ve been following his blog for awhile and was excited when he decided to join the team. He’s currently a grade five teacher again bringing another elementary voice to U Tech Tips.

Amanda DeCardy is a middle school math teacher turned web geek. Here experience in the middle school and in math I think will add a great deal to our blog (YES! we finally have female voices!). I have watched Amanda take off this year on her use of web tools in her classroom and then starting her own blog as she transitions into her new role as an technology integrator at Shanghai American School next year. Her focus on middle school projects and math will be a great addition to the blog.

While we’re on the new female voices Julie Lindsay will be joining us from time to time as well. Not sure where she finds the time to blog being the Head of Information Technology and E-Learning at Qatar Academy in Doha as well as co-running two of the biggest wiki projects in education. The Flat Classroom Project and the Horizon Project. She’s a thinker and I’m so glad she will be cross posting here as well.

Liz Wargo joins us from time to time showing off how technology is being using in Fitness and Health classes. Liz is currently a Health and Physical Education Teacher at Shanghai American School where she runs the Aquatics Center. She is jumping into this Web 2.0 world with both feed and it’s great to see new voices emerge in different fields in education.

Rounding off our new female voices is Kim Cofino from the International School of Bangkok. She’s a 21st Century Literacy Specialist working in the elementary school. Her projects, thinking and use of technology to enhance literacy is a must read and is why I’m excited she’s decided to join us here as well.

Justin Medved is an amazing thinker and knows how to move a school forward. He sees the big picture and helps to move schools forward in their overall adoption of 21st Century Skills. He has done some amazing thinking along with Dennis Harter at the International School of Bangkok around what it means to be a 21st Century School.

Dennis Harter is the high school Technology and Learning Coordinator at the International School of Bangkok. Along with Justin Medved these two are creating some amazing documents on how to move schools forward in the 21st Century. He has spent his years living and working overseas bringing a very international feel to his writing and life in general.

Clay Burell rounds out our list of new bloggers. I met Clay my first year at Shanghai American School, three years later his blog and name are recognized around the world in educational technology circles. He is a high school English/Social Studies teacher at heart and his writing makes you think deep and hard about what you are doing in your classroom and how learning has changed in this new connected world we live in.

So that’s it! The new faces to U Tech Tips. All of them have blogs of their own that are must reads, and what I am hoping to build here is a one stop blog (if you will). One blog that brings you some of the best voices in the international education world. We are all passionate about our subject areas and are constantly looking for ways to push ourselves to become better. For most of us, blogging is our professional development, we just share our learning with the world.