Empowered to Lead

Question More, Connect More Deeply, Lead with Purpose

Strand Description

Though the challenges facing our classrooms, schools, and profession may be daunting, there exist multiple pathways and opportunities for innovation and achievement. While some may approach problem solving from a posture of logic and others from a place of creativity, we believe the most effective and sustainable solutions emerge from the fusion of computer science and human-centered design. By looking deeply at the essential elements of computational thinking through a lens of empathy and experimentation, participants in this strand will arrive with what troubles them and depart with well-calculated and beautifully imagined possibilities.

Strand Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will:

Participants will learn the basic processes and tools of both of these fields and use them to develop an approach to addressing a problem or opportunity in their own work. We will brainstorm, collaborate, provide feedback and help you revise your design.
Participants will develop essential understanding of the principal components of computational thinking and how to apply those components to a problem of practice in their impact area.
Participants will develop basic understanding of a design thinking mindset and be able to distinguish design thinking from design process.
Participants will be able to synthesize the elements of computational thinking and a design process to prototype possible solutions to a challenge they face in their work.

Strand Leaders

Rebecca Buchanan | Associate professor, Curriculum and Instructor | University of Maine | Orono, Maine

Rebecca.Buchanan@maine.edu

Rebecca Buchanan (she/her) is an associate professor of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction, part of the School and Learning and Teaching at the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development. Dr. Buchanan studies teacher learning, broadly defined. She is interested in the intersection of personal identity, professional development, school reform, literacy and language. She employs qualitative methods and discourse analysis to investigate how teachers learn in and across multiple contexts by connecting their own personal and professional pasts with the present.

Jen Bishop | Library Media Specialist | Scarborough Middle School | Scarborough, MAine

Jennifer.m.Bishop@maine.edu

Jennifer Bishop (she/her) is a Library Media Specialist at Scarborough Middle School with an unconventional path to the profession — her academic roots are in accounting and economics, but a role as an ed tech in 2008 sparked a passion for school libraries that never faded. She went on to earn her teaching credential and her MLIS from the University of North Texas. Jen is driven by collaboration, curiosity, and the belief that the best learning happens when you’re willing to ask questions, tackle problems creatively, and never stop growing.