* Once you sign up with this speaker you will receive an email in the next 48 hours introducing you to them. Please work out a suitable time for them to visit your classroom. Sessions starting at 9 am is for morning visits and sessions starting at 1 pm are for afternoon visits.

Daniel grew up in the small northern town of Hornepayne, and now works remotely as a Senior Software Developer for Workiva which develops software being used by the majority of the Fortune 500 companies.

He started teaching himself how to code at the age of 15, and attended Algoma University where he received his Bachelor's of Computer Science with a Specialization in Games Technology, where he also worked as a Teaching Assistant giving presentations and assisting students one on one.

In his spare time, he's volunteered with the organization Canada Learning Code where he helped teach kids how to write code with Scratch.

Presentation:

The presentation would give a brief overview of himself and his career, and the path he took to get there.

He would love to do some sort of hands-on activity, but it would vary depending on the ages involved and can be discussed via email upon sign up.

Potential activity ideas:

Programming MicroBits with Scratch
These are small handheld computers used for teaching programming, Daniel does own two for students to see and interact with but microbit.org does have a free simulator everyone could use.

"Code a person"

A simple task would be chosen for groups of students to try and solve by writing instructions for a peer to follow (much like how code is instructions for the computer to follow). Tasks to complete could be as simple as walk to X spot in the classroom where the instructions students come up with would be along the lines of "take 5 steps forward, turn left, walk 3 steps forward". More complicated tasks could be putting on a jacket, or drawing a star, and although these are "simple" tasks, if the person is following the instructions literally then unintended actions often happen (just like computer bugs) causing students to have to make changes to their instructions (code) and try again.

Company: Workiva

Position: Senior Software Developer

Area of Expertise: Software Development, web development, game design.

Technology Requirements: Depending on the activity this can vary from laptop access for students to paper and pencils for writing instructions.