Why an EdTechBlog?
Well, this is a slightly complicated question for me to answer. The first reason behind starting a blog is that my Tech Director (Bill MacKenty) really thinks it would be a good idea for me to increase my online presence and share what I have learned over the years with a wider audience. I have never been one to stand up on a soapbox and tell people what they should do or what they should know. I guess that I am just a little modest that way - perhaps it's the Canadian way, eh? I can blame Bill for pushing/encouraging me to start blogging . . . so here I am . . . kicking and screaming?!?
The second reason comes from my readings about blogging and reflecting on my own professional practice. One tidbit of advice that I have read numerous times is that you should start a blog for yourself and not for others. This started me thinking and reconsidering a number of times about whether I should start my own blog or not. After a few starts and stops and starts all over again, here I am. I am really writing this for myself as a reflection on my career in educational technology, what I have learned along the way, the things that I am currently working on at my school, and the things that I want to work on in the future. If someone else chooses to read it and can learn something from me, well, that's the whole point about sharing isn't it?
As I write this, I am in the middle of my 23rd year as an educator, with the last 14 of them living and working overseas with my family in tow. I started out teaching computer science and IT classes (with a few math classes thrown in) back in Vancouver, Canada. After 9 years working in the same public high school, we decided to go overseas and teach internationally. I never thought at the time that I would spend more time living/working overseas than I had already in Canada, but we are well past that point and intend "to stay out" for a lot longer as well. Over the years, I have taught tech in one form or another from grades 6-12, within the Canadian, American, Turkish, IGCSE, IB MYP, IB DP and AP programs. Nowadays, I no longer have any classes and instead have the challenging role of Tech Coach which means working with the entire HS faculty and student body as well as managing our 1:1 Laptop Program. As I have had a leadership/coach/mentor/integrator role in some capacity at every school that I have worked in, Bill has been suggesting that I start a blog to write down my thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions without answers, and other musings. So I guess that this is for him in some way as well as for myself - thanks Bill for pushing me . . . over the cliff and into the Blogosphere!
And Why SNiCK?
Well, there's the obvious point that this is my name (my first initial is "S" where I go by my middle name Nick), and sadly, I could not use Nick.Kwan for my account as it was taken a long time ago. So I went with SNick.Kwan for my account and everything else has followed suit.
So I got to thinking that I needed a catchy title for this blog and I could not come up with anything that really stuck in my mind. Then I started playing with the letters in my name and how I could pull some kind of meaning out of them, which led to the formula shown above. Being the geek that I am, I kinda like it . . . what do you think?
Addendum
I recently changed the name of this blog from SNiCK-EdTechBlog to what you see now . . . SNiCK-TechXcursion as I was never very comfortable with the EdTech part. I wanted something catchier like Lucy Gray's "High Techpectations". After searching around and finding numerous websites, blogs and even companies who are using Techpectations, Techpedite, Techsploration and Techceptional, I finally settled on TechXcursions. I think this merged-word describes my world travels in international schools, as well as my exploration and work in educational technology. If you are reading this, I hope you find something enlightening, interesting or at least humorous . . . and remember this is all Bill's fault!
Well, this is a slightly complicated question for me to answer. The first reason behind starting a blog is that my Tech Director (Bill MacKenty) really thinks it would be a good idea for me to increase my online presence and share what I have learned over the years with a wider audience. I have never been one to stand up on a soapbox and tell people what they should do or what they should know. I guess that I am just a little modest that way - perhaps it's the Canadian way, eh? I can blame Bill for pushing/encouraging me to start blogging . . . so here I am . . . kicking and screaming?!?
 |
| Practising some self-reflection |
As I write this, I am in the middle of my 23rd year as an educator, with the last 14 of them living and working overseas with my family in tow. I started out teaching computer science and IT classes (with a few math classes thrown in) back in Vancouver, Canada. After 9 years working in the same public high school, we decided to go overseas and teach internationally. I never thought at the time that I would spend more time living/working overseas than I had already in Canada, but we are well past that point and intend "to stay out" for a lot longer as well. Over the years, I have taught tech in one form or another from grades 6-12, within the Canadian, American, Turkish, IGCSE, IB MYP, IB DP and AP programs. Nowadays, I no longer have any classes and instead have the challenging role of Tech Coach which means working with the entire HS faculty and student body as well as managing our 1:1 Laptop Program. As I have had a leadership/coach/mentor/integrator role in some capacity at every school that I have worked in, Bill has been suggesting that I start a blog to write down my thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions without answers, and other musings. So I guess that this is for him in some way as well as for myself - thanks Bill for pushing me . . . over the cliff and into the Blogosphere!
And Why SNiCK?
Well, there's the obvious point that this is my name (my first initial is "S" where I go by my middle name Nick), and sadly, I could not use Nick.Kwan for my account as it was taken a long time ago. So I went with SNick.Kwan for my account and everything else has followed suit.
So I got to thinking that I needed a catchy title for this blog and I could not come up with anything that really stuck in my mind. Then I started playing with the letters in my name and how I could pull some kind of meaning out of them, which led to the formula shown above. Being the geek that I am, I kinda like it . . . what do you think?
Addendum
I recently changed the name of this blog from SNiCK-EdTechBlog to what you see now . . . SNiCK-TechXcursion as I was never very comfortable with the EdTech part. I wanted something catchier like Lucy Gray's "High Techpectations". After searching around and finding numerous websites, blogs and even companies who are using Techpectations, Techpedite, Techsploration and Techceptional, I finally settled on TechXcursions. I think this merged-word describes my world travels in international schools, as well as my exploration and work in educational technology. If you are reading this, I hope you find something enlightening, interesting or at least humorous . . . and remember this is all Bill's fault!
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