CFP Response for Frozen Rails

speaker.md

Dan Reedy

Contact details

• Twitter: @reedy
• Blog: http://reedy.in
• Company: Leysin American School in Switzerland

Speaker bio

Dan is an educational technologist from the USA currently living and working on the side of a mountain in the Swiss Alps at the Leysin American School in Switzerland (LAS). His days consist of developing software and managing the technology used by the students and staff. He also serves as a tech advisor for the LAS Education Research initiative which aims to improve the STEM education for the students at LAS with an emphasis on programming and robotics.

Outside of LAS he is a co-founder for ClimbReport, a social climbing & fitness app. He has presented at both regional and national user groups and helped establish HackSI, a regional hack-a-thon in southern Illinois, USA.

talk.md

Build Your Legacy

• Desired talk duration: 30 minutes

Abstract

As programmers we often say the word “legacy” with disdain. We look back at our legacy code and see a snapshot of our adolescence. We refine, refactor, and rewrite to apply what we’ve learned since we initially solved the problem. If we cannot do this we often look to distance ourselves from “legacy”.

Working in academics and with students specifically I’ve come to have an appreciation for the word legacy. I do not believe I will ever be a programmer that puts a dent in the universe. However, any of the students I see on a regular basis could be, especially if given the opportunity to learn with no limitations. What they learn and go on to create is where I hope to find my legacy.

At LAS we are putting tools and technologies into the hands of the students with just enough guidance to make sure they do not get overwhelmed. Through this presentation we’ll look at some of the resources and tools we're using to introduce programming concepts to excite the students and get more involved.

By the end of this presentation I hope the listener will have considered their legacy outside of a codebase and may even be inspired enough to get involved in helping or starting similar programs.

Notes

I have not given this specific presentation before though I've had many conversations at various conventions, conferences, and workshops around the idea. My work with hack-a-thons and schools is the catalyst for my passion in the subject.

Also, since everyone, not just students, get excited about toys, I will plan to bring and demonstrate some of the things we use and hopefully some of the code the students have created to interact with them. What I bring depends on the venue, but could include a quadracopter, Sphero, or similar products.