Roger Wagner, Creator of HyperStudio and HyperDuino

Multimedia development in K-12 cannot be discussed without including HyperStudio. HyperStudio has a long history in providing teachers and students with the opportunity to develop interactive multimedia. The guest for this session is Roger Wagner--the creator of HyperStudio, HyperDuino, and Makerbits. In this session, Roger discussions Maker Spaces and the Maker Movement. We discuss the role technology plays in Maker Spaces. Roger gives advice for educators interested in getting their students. He ends the session with talking about his lastet professional passion.

You can find Roger on Twitter @RogerWagner

Bio.

Roger Wagner is a visionary who has contributed to the field of educational technology for more than four decades, working as an educator, a software designer, and an inventor. As a teacher, Roger immediately saw the potential of microcomputers.

Roger’s roots date to the early days of microcomputers. He wrote the first book on programming the Apple II in assembly language. He saw the educational potential of hypermedia long before the advent of the web. He developed a hypermedia authoring environment, HyperStudio, that allows nontechnical users to access these capabilities without programming. This work has had a significant influence on the field.  The noted educator Doug Peterson once said,“If you do anything with technology in your classroom, your approach most assuredly has Roger Wagner’s influence all over it.”

Roger’s lifelong goal has been to empower users. As an educational consultant, he has worked with many schools and with numerous teacher education programs. Roger currently serves on the Board of Directors of the California Computer-Using Educators Association. You will find him at educational conferences throughout the year listening intently as he talks with teachers and educators. New features soon appear in the next versions of his software based on those conversations.

Technology and Learning Magazine lists Roger as one of the Top Five Most Influential Technology Gurus, along with Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Seymour Papert. Like these visionaries, his interests are far reaching. He is an avid aviation enthusiast and holds private pilot licenses in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He collects artifacts from the Apollo lunar landing missions.

Roger is a key collaborator on an NTLS project with the Smithsonian. A series of Invention Kits developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian allows students to reconstruct historic inventions. In one sequence, students begin by reconstructing a working model of the Davenport Rotary Motor, patented in 1837. The sequence culminates in reconstruction of a contemporary stepper motor. To support the project, Roger developed an Arduino hypermedia kit. The HyperDuino Kit, as Roger calls it, is used to drive the stepper motor, allowing students to explore the same mechanisms that power today’s 3D printers.

Bonus Image.

Created by H. Green

My daughter wrote an inventor's report on Roger for inventing HyperStudio and HyperDuino. I have included her botttle creation of Roger that went along with the report.