Creative Tech That Teaches

Creative empowerment through teaching and technology is what gets me excited when it comes to work. Whether it’s teaching in a traditional classroom setting, teaching through developing a fun computer game, teaching by providing a custom designed workshop or one on one training, or teaching through language learning software, my focus is on helping people maximize their potential.

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of some of my work:

Publishing / Educational Software Development

Egyptian Arabic Vocab Clinic® – American University in Cairo Press (2004)
Modern Standard Arabic Vocab Clinic® – American University in Cairo Press (2005)
Modern Standard Arabic Verb Clinic® – American University in Cairo Press (2005)
Developed the content and software from start to finish. From the first idea jotted down on a loose piece of paper during a boring lecture, to developing, debugging, publishing, selling, online marketing, and supporting.

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Game Development
Baalty (My Shop) – A game that teaches entrepreneurialism and small business management for Egyptian youth (Baalty.org). Developed the curriculum and game in cooperation with a group of young entrepreneurs in Aswan, Egypt, as part of a CIDA project (Canadian International Development Agency). A national contest for high score was held in 2008, with finalists competing for laptops donated by RIM (the Canadian company that makes Blackberry handheld devices). Personal enjoyment and satisfaction of this job was fully maxed out.

Baalty Game

Educational Technology
Helped develop and implement professional development for teachers in the Egyptian Ministry of Education via videoconferencing, in a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The program would train over 1000 teachers at a time in 27 centers across Egypt. Pioneered use of electronic media and web-based voting for this program. Huge, chaotic at times, but exciting to have a national level impact.

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Small Business
Have established and run four small businesses (3 in Egypt, 1 in the US). One succeeded wonderfully, one was sold for modest profit, one failed miserably, and one is chugging along. I have a “been there done that” for pretty much every stage of setting up and operating a small business overseas.

Teaching
Have taught first year writing and critical thinking at the American University in Cairo, Legal English to Egyptian judges and prosecutors in the Ministry of Justice, Human rights focused English to students and activists, Business English to classes of private learners. Have taught AP Literature, AP Art History, high school math, computer programming, and US History to my own home schooled teenagers. Have coached high school PE (Physical Education) on a weekly basis as a volunteer. Teaching is awesome, and impossible for me not to do.

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Technology Consulting
Have delivered workshops on website presence and decision-making for embassies, software development and game design for NGO’s, presentation skills for graduate students. Assembled and personally delivered desktop computers way back in the 90s, and provided tech support by phone and visits… if you can survive this you can survive anything!