About

About Sheena Vaidyanathan

I currently teach computer science in grades 6-8 in the Los Altos School District, in Los Altos, California. In my role as the district's Computer Science Integration Specialist, I am involved with the STEM program in the district to develop a computer science program for K-8 in all the elementary and junior high schools in the Los Altos School district. I have developed curriculum and conducted professional development to bring computer science to all 4500+ students in the district. I have taught computer science, math, digital art, and visual art in the Los Altos school district during the last 12+ years. I am known as Mrs. V by my students. See more on the Los Altos School District computer science programs here

During the last 3+ years, I also work as the Krause Center for Innovation, Foothill college's Program Director for Computer science Professional Development Programs where I have conducted several Saturday workshops and week long intense computer science courses for educators. See more on the Computer Science Crash Course that I developed and run at Computer science professional development programs at Krause Center for Innovation, Foothill College. I have also conducted professional development workshops for teachers at conferences and at custom PD programs at other school districts.

Prior to my teaching career, I worked for over 10 years in Silicon Valley in technology as a computer scientist and technology entrepreneur. I hold undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Science, a Certificate in Studio Art and the California Single Subject teaching credential in Math.

I have presented on my work at several conferences - ISTE, CSTA, ACSD. See list here. I have written about my work in NPR's MindShift, ISTE's L&L, CSTA Voice and EdSurge. See list of Articles/Publications on my work.

I have been on the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Board of Directors K-8 Representative, an education advisors to Code.org, on the advisory board for the CS K-12 Framework, and on the advisory focus group for the California Computer Science standards.

Why is the site called 'Computers for Creativity'

Try telling someone that your site is sheenavaidyanathan.com !

It is a much simpler name and captures what I want to show my students -that a computer is a creativity tool. I created the 'Computers for Creativity' site as a place to put up student work, and share my teaching experience with other educators.

Both computer programming and digital art allows students to use a computer to create their own content and express their creativity. It also makes learning math and technology relevant. My focus is on the elementary and middle school years, and in getting more girls interested in computing.

I develop all the curriculum for my programs and these programs :

• Provide creative technology education in schools with a focus on computer science, art and creativity.
• Explore the intersection of the worlds of programming, art and math. Learn more about the connections between programming, art and math.
• Use free and open source software whenever possible. See Resources for list.
• Teach students to to create games, interactive art, mathematical art, characters, 3D structures and more.
• Help students learn to use computers to express their creativity. See Student Showcase for samples.

I have been teaching coding for over so many years and hundreds of students ( few thousand...! ) have written their first few lines of code in my classes. Some of my lesson ideas are available in the Resources section of my site. If you use any of these lessons in your class, do send me email and let me know how it was received.