Commander King - EdTech Blog

About Me

I'm Jeff! I'm grateful for the many educational opportunities I've been given and wish all students could have equitable access to a quality education. I'm on a journey to figure out ways, both small and large, in which I can make that happen.

Feel free to connect on linkedin or email me at: jeff@commanderking.com.

About This Blog

This blog serves as a space to share some of my thoughts on educational research / pedagogy and how to apply them to create compelling digital learning experiences. As a teacher, I first started learning to program because I wanted to create digital tools that would engage my students in learning. Now as an engineer, I have the ability to actually prototype them and experiment with what might work. I'm designing these prototypes with the intention that if I were to ever return to the classroom, I would actually use them!

Other About Topics

Relevant Education and Tech Background

  • Taught high school chemistry and Chinese at Camden County Technical Schools, a Title 1 vocational high school that primarily served students from Camden, NJ (74% free lunch) - school statistics
  • Started learning to code while I was teaching to build more engaging activities. Ultimately, leveraged what I learned to build a series of lessons for beginner Mandarin learners
  • Currently work as a software engineer at Curriculum Associates, primarily building out reports for educators
  • Also, currently help run the Boston EdTech Meetup, a group that runs edtech related events in the Boston area and whose primary mission is to build a diverse edtech workforce so that we can better meet the needs of all learners

Who's Commander King?

Commander King was the persona I played in my chemistry classes. During my time teaching, I worked to create an immersive learning environment, in which students played the role of scientists who mastered chemical principles to solve important missions and save humanity from the galaxy’s many dangers. I was heavily influenced by Mass Effect, a videogame I was playing at the time that immersed me so heavily in the story and world it built that I was inspired to try to create an experience just as immersive for my students.

I can't say I was completely successful, but I do believe that my students appreciated my efforts and that it played a non-trivial role in engaging students in chemistry. I'll be the first to acknowledge, however, that it may not have been the most efficient way to engage students considering how much effort I put into it. This will likely be the topic of a future blog post.