About

Carl Hooker has 14 years of experience in education.  He has been in a variety of positions in both Austin ISD and Eanes ISD, from 1st grade teacher to Virtualization Coordinator.  He’s a father of two girls, Sophia and Lauren, and a wonderful, understanding wife Renee, all of which play a large role in any presentations given or blogs he writes.

He is currently the Director for Instructional Technology in the Eanes Independent School District. He started out as both a 5th grade and then 1st grade teacher in Austin ISD.  He worked for three different schools in that district including Allan Elementary, a low-SES school where he became the Computer lab teacher and Instructional Technology Coordinator.  He worked with kids from pre-k to 5th grade at Allan and even offered free after school courses for neighborhood moms to bring them up to speed on technology advances and close the digital divide.  Eanes ISD recruited him to hold the same position at Forest Trail Elementary.  While at Forest Trail he started many afterschool and summer camps, including the extremely popular “Young Film Makers” camp where 7-11 year olds wrote, starred, and edited their own films. From there he was brought on board with the district’s tech department to head up a project on Virtualizing desktop computers and making the existing machines run faster and last longer. As Director of Instructional Technology, he utilizes his background in both education and technology to bring a unique vision to the district and its programs.  In the short time he’s been in the position, the district has jumped into social media with both a Twitter and Facebook page. They have adopted the Google Apps for Education and started to build a paperless environment with Google Docs.  He’s also expanded a Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) policy from the high school to all district campuses. He’s helped coordinate the Westlake Initiative for Innovation (WIFI) pilot which put 1600 iPads into the hands of high school students.  Currently, he’s working on possibilities of expanding iPads to all students and grade levels throughout the district.

Mr. Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator.  From his start as a teacher to his current district technology leadership, he’s always had one common belief – the kids need to drive their own learning. He realizes the challenges in our current public educational institutions and meets them head on. His unique blend of educational background, technical expertise, and humor make him a successful driving force for this change.  In addition to his presentations and consulting, he also is currently a guest blogger with SchoolCIO.com.

You can follow him on twitter @mrhooker