Some know him as the author of six ISTE books. Others may have attended one of his conference presentations or perhaps know him as a blogger, education consultant or the host of ISTE’s Learning Unleashed podcast. No matter how people cross paths with Carl Hooker, they come away with a heaping helping of edtech.

Hooker, who has been an active ISTE member for more than a decade, has played many roles across his 24-year career in education. From first-grade teacher to district administrator, workshop facilitator, conference developer, and social media network co-founder. On his consulting website he calls himself “technology action hero for hire," and has given himself a few other titles, like “instigator” and “evangelist."

“I should put the phrase ‘professional risk-taker’ on there,” says Hooker, who has lived in Austin, Texas, with his wife and three daughters for the past 29 years. “I like to break things and see how they work. Not everything has an application in education, but for me, I’m willing to explore and try it just to see what it’s like.”

Risk taking has been a common thread throughout Hooker’s career. In 2011, he spearheaded the Learning and Engaging through Access and Personalization (LEAP) program while working as the director of innovation and digital learning for Eanes ISD in greater Austin. The program put iPads into the hands of 8,000 K12 students at a time when 1:1 programs were relatively new. This was the largest edtech rollout in the state of Texas at the time.

Hooker followed this by founding the educational conference iPadpalooza in 2012. The event was designed to bring teachers together to share and learn about iPad use in education. Always the innovator, Hooker and his team took the traditional conference concept and added music, food trucks, a film festival and even a poetry slam, among many other elements typically associated with festivals. The ideology centers on the concept that learning can be fun – even for adults – and that learning should be an experience. The event ran for six consecutive years before Hooker decided to direct his energy elsewhere. Since its inception, iPadpalooza has spawned more than a dozen spin-off conferences.

A snack-sized podcast that draws listeners in

Hooker tends to dive straight in when technology and opportunity come along. He currently hosts three podcasts and says he has a fourth on the way. One of his most popular is ISTE’s Learning Unleashed, which launched in 2020 on the BAM Radio Network. The podcast, which is also available on ISTE’s website, iTunes and Spotify, offers strategies for teaching with edtech along with personal insights from a swath of ISTE book authors. Each podcast is a snack-sized 10-15 minutes in length.

Hooker has hosted the podcast since its inception and says he strives to ask questions from multiple angles in an effort to make the conversations relevant to a wider audience. The variety of education jobs he’s worked over the years has helped guide his interview style.

“I come as a parent, a teacher, an administrator and also an entrepreneur – an edtech start-up person,” says Hooker, who has hosted nearly 60 episodes. “When I’m hearing some of the ideas that they share, I am looking at it through all four of those lenses.”

Hooker says he also strives to make each podcast conversational. Guests don’t script their answers in advance, and that often leads to great responses. This also tends to pique listener interest,” he says.

“A lot of times, that is where the really good content comes from. When they’re not ready for a question and they are like, ‘Wow. That’s a great question! I haven’t thought about how to answer that.’ To me, that’s what draws people in,” he says.

His mantra: Let kids drive their own learning

Ask Hooker what gets him up in the morning and he says “to make education better,” and then follows with what he calls his core mantra: Let kids drive their own learning. The way to do this is to build engagement by tying student passions to instructional standards, he says.

“I want to figure out where the kids are at, what are their mediums, what engages them and then figure out what we can do as educators to continue to make that connection, because if the kids are not engaged, they are not going to learn,” he says.

Much of Hooker’s work ties back to this core mantra. His ISTE book series Mobile Learning Mindset, is a good example. The six-book collection provides district leaders, principals, teachers, IT staff, educational coaches and parents with personalized guidance on how to make a mobile device initiative successful.  

Hooker is quick to acknowledge that teaching is a tough profession – especially for new recruits. A key to success is to find a community early on. Managing a classroom alone can feel extremely isolating. Being the sole edtech coach on campus, the new administrator or even the new superintendent can make a person feel as though they have no peers. This is where personal learning networks are critical, Hooker says.

To answer this call, Hooker recently co-founded K12Leaders.com, a social media network designed to provide educators with a professional space to exchange ideas and offer mutual support.  

“The whole purpose behind the platform is getting people connected – giving them a safe space to connect, take risks, share stories – successes and failures – in a place that’s judgment free,” says Hooker of the network that launched in January and now serves approximately 700 members.

Risk is where the magic happens

In Hooker’s mind, risk is where the magic happens. Creating opportunities to try and fail should be part of the learning process because this is where meaningful learning takes place. The problem is that social media culture is causing educators to be more conservative with what they try in class. The work taking place in classrooms is much more transparent than in the past and this can stymie creativity and innovation across teaching practice. Not only will teachers “stay in their lanes,” as Hooker describes it, students will, too, he says.

This is part of the focus of Hooker’s latest book Ready, Set, Fail!, which explores success that can be achieved by simply trying and failing at something new.

“There is good in trying new things. There is good in taking risks,” Hooker says. “Students won’t take risks unless teachers take risks, but teachers won’t take risks unless leaders take risks. So, walk that walk and model that behavior because the kids are looking to us and the teachers are looking to their leaders.”

His big, hairy, audacious goal

With so many educational accomplishments and roles under the belt, what does someone like Hooker do next? Not only is he working on it, he’s also given it a name. The “BHAG” is Hooker’s big, hairy, audacious goal.

“I’ve been working on this concept of a conference on a cruise ship for a long time. I’m thinking about taking all the best parts of the conference experience – the connections, the collaborations, the conversations – and making that the focus,” says Hooker, who also refers to the project as a voyage for learning. “It’s a big risk. I am putting a lot of my own capital behind it.”

Building on the experiences gained from iPadpalooza, Hooker envisions a cruise with an educational cause that would be free for teachers. Understanding that school districts are unlikely to send teachers on a pleasure cruise, he is exploring vendor involvement that would offer sponsorship. Included in the trip would be a collaboration with local governments of foreign itineraries. The vision is to provide an edtech cruise ship conference and off-board mini conference facilitated by cruise attendees. A stop would be made to establish an edtech or blended learning program in a local school or district as part of the overall set of cruise excursions.

“It’s a crazy goal, but it’s my moonshot before I walk off this earth,” says Hooker, who hopes to launch the event by summer of 2024. “Ask me in two years and hopefully it will have happened, and if not, maybe I will have moved on to something even bigger.”

Paul Wurster is a writer and technical editor based in Oregon.