Carl Hooker

Carl has been an educator for the past 21 years. He has held a variety of positions in multiple districts, from 1st-grade teacher to Virtualization Coordinator.  He’s a father of three girls,  Sophia, Lauren, and Caroline, and a wonderful, understanding wife Renee,  all of which play a large role in any presentations he gives or blogs  & books he writes.

As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning for the Eanes  Independent School District, he utilized his background in both education  and technology to bring a unique vision to the district and its  programs.  During his time in the position, the district jumped into  social media, adopted the Google Apps for Education and started to build  a paperless environment with Google Docs. He helped spearhead the LEAP  (Learning and Engaging through Access and Personalization) which put 1:1  iPads into the hands of all K-12 students at Eanes.

He is also the “Godfather” of the learning festival called LearnFestATX.  This festival (formerly known as iPadpalooza) features many unique  approaches to engage attendees that a traditional conference doesn’t  provide. His events have grown into a global phenomena over the years  and has inspired spin-off events in other states as well Australia.

From his start as a teacher to district leadership, he’s always had  one common belief – the kids need to drive their own learning. He  realizes the challenges in our current 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. As a speaker and consultant, he brings this background as  well as a wealth of practical tools and ideas that teachers can use in  their classroom tomorrow.

He speaks on a multitude of topics from thoughtful technology  integration with mobile devices to strategies on how to utilize flexible  furniture in the classroom. He also enjoys talking to students and  parents in the community around the topic of digital wellness.

Carl has a 6-part book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset.  All of the  books in  the series are now available for purchase. These books focus on a  different stake-holder and the role they play in a successful mobile  learning initiative .

Aside from his speaking and consulting work, Carl also works as an  influencer and advisor for multiple Ed Tech start-up companies. He’s  also a national advisor for the Future Ready Schools Initiative. He  blogs regularly at his blog HookEDonInnovation.com and guest authors a regular blog on Tech & Learning and has written guest blogs for the Huffington Post and Edutopia.