Digital Learning Bits and Bytes Podcast- San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools

In this episode, the Digital Learning Services team sits down with the inspirational Dee Lanier, keynote speaker, creator of Solve In Time , and author of Demarginalizing Design . Fresh off our county-wide "EduZen" workshop, we reflect on how educators can leverage AI tools to find balance and reduce stress, rather than adding to the digital noise. Dee breaks down how his gamified Solve...

In this episode of Bits and Bites, we sit down with Rachael Mann, a powerhouse in the world of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and the visionary founder of EdFuture. As the author of the essential guide Pack Your Bags for an AI-Driven Future , Rachael joins us to unpack how educators and leaders can stay grounded while navigating the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. For more Digital Lea...

In this episode, host Jessica Boucher sits down with Melanie Janzen, Curriculum Coordinator with the SBCSS Math Department. Together, they explore how educators can transform math instruction to ensure ALL students have access to meaningful and rigorous mathematical experiences.  Grounded in the 2023 Mathematics Framework, the conversation unpacks the Skill/Will Matrix, asset-based pedagogy, and f...

In the first episode for 2025-26, the SBCSS Digital Learning team: Sonal Patel, Omar Shepherd, Jessica Boucher, and Tonya Coates, share their excitement and strategic vision for advancing equitable educational technology across San Bernardino County. The conversation highlights key initiatives including AI literacy, blended learning, eSports expansion, and design thinking in computer science educa...

AI Literacy: Ethics and AI: This session will be with Joshua Maples, a High School ELA educator who challenges us to think about important topics related to AI ethics. Sonal Patel, Tonya Coats, and Joshua Maples discuss the implications of AI-generated text for plagiarism detection in education. Joshua shares his experiences with AI tools like ChatGPT and Class Companion, highlighting both the ben...

Brenda Dougan, a secondary mathematics coach at Fontana Unified School District, shared her journey from wanting to be a pediatrician to becoming a math teacher. She emphasized the importance of blended learning in math, using tools like Quizizz, EdPuzzle, and Nearpod to engage students. Dougan highlighted the challenges of planning and grouping students heterogeneously but stressed the benefits o...

Zoom meeting with Dr. Christina Pierce. The discussion focused on the Alta Loma School District's computer science (CS) education initiatives, driven by the Educator Workforce Investment Grant. Dr. Christina Pierce highlighted the integration of CS into the curriculum, starting with sixth graders moving to junior highs and expanding to seventh and eighth grades. The district also offers CS en...

Omar, Dana, Devin and Yusuf discussed the potential of AI to enhance personalized learning experiences for students, with a focus on empowering educators and schools to learn about AI through hands-on projects. They highlighted ethical considerations and professional learning required for responsible AI use in education, emphasizing the importance of understanding AI capabilities, data privacy, an...

We'd like to welcome our special guest, Dr. Heidi Baynes from Riverside County Office of Education. Dr. Baynes specializes in the integration of technology into classroom instruction, and is a strong advocate for computer science, education and the CS for All movement. Her experience in K 12 public education includes online blended and traditional classroom models, where she has taught multip...

Michael Arrington is a behavior strategist and consultant with 20 years of experience as a motivational and keynote speaker. He is also the founder of MEA training and Program Development LLC, which supports adolescents aging out of foster care. In addition to his work, he frequently serves as an educational consultant on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. Registration for DigCit Week Webi...

We have a very special Esports episode today. SBCSS and our department Digital Learning Services have been passionate about growing and expanding Esports programs within San Bernardino County. Esports is a great way to help students connect to school through something they enjoy doing, and are passionate about, not to mention the opportunities eSports now provides with CTE scholarships, and job op...

We'd like to begin by introducing our very special guest, Dr. Roy Rogers principal at South Ridge Middle School and Lauren Freeman, who is an extraordinary educator for history, social science, and she's a yearbook and IB coordinator. We're just so pleased to have them both here today.  They're here to share information about how to use Chat GPT, which is a language model devel...

We are very excited to introduce our awesome guests for this episode. Katie Henry, head of partnerships for North America from Microbit Educational Foundation, Alinda Beiter from Melva Davis Middle School in Adelanto School District and Dominique Conerly from Kelley Elementary School in Rialto. They came today to our changing the world bit by bit with microbit workshop to help engage other teacher...

Sue Thotz and Leticia Citizen from Equity in Action CA,  a group of educators who are working to diversify conference spaces in Southern California. For more Digital Learning Services information text DLS news  to 22828 or find us on Twitter @sbcss_edtech Music by ItsWatR from Pixabay - Wataboi Flavour

We'd like to introduce our special guests Lauren Tyler, who is the Curriculum Program Specialist in Ed Tech, and Jamal Boyce, who is the Chief Technology Officer for Colton Joint Unified School District. They're here to share with us their current CS initiatives and their plans for CSEd Week, which begins on December 5 For more Digital Learning Services information text DLS news  to 2282...

Krist Ott,  is a curriculum coordinator with San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools in the ESS Department which is our Educational Support Services Department. Krista is here to share information with us about her expertise in Universal Design for Learning, and how she uses technology to enhance the work she's doing to support educators within the county with implementation of the UD...

We 'd like to begin by introducing our special guests. Dr. Emily Thomforde, computer science coordinator for the California Department of Education, and Omar Shepherd curriculum specialists, stem and career education for the Orange County Office of Education. They will be speaking with us today about our CSforAll script workshop. For more Digital Learning Services information text DLS news  t...

We'd like to begin by introducing our special guests Shehzad Bhojani. He is the program manager for Alliance for Education. And he's here today to share  information about the new cyber watchdog game.  For more Digital Learning Services information text DLS news  to 22828 or find us on Twitter @sbcss_edtech Music by ItsWatR from Pixabay - Wataboi Flavour

Darren is heading into his eighth year in his role, and his focus is on the integration of technology into teaching and learning. He provides professional development for teachers, instructional aides and administration and is an advocate for computer science throughout his K-8 school district. He has presented multiple times at the National CUE conference and fall CUE conference, collaborated mul...

Today we would like to welcome Nyree Clark to the bits and bytes podcast. Nyree Clark is an ed tech curriculum program specialist for Colton Joint Unified School District. She's also a founding co- member of hashtag equity in action CA, and was appointed to the instructional coaches advisory board for future ready schools organization. She is passionate about culturally responsive teaching ed...

Welcome Robert Ruff, elementary educator, and Shandrica Williams, program specialists, both from San Bernardino City Unified School District, they will be speaking to us today about their experience with micro bit, which is a physical computing device that can be used in all academic areas, in alignment with our state's newly adopted computer science standards. For more Digital Learning Servi...

Meet the hosts of the Bits and Bytes Podcast and learn what the podcast is all about. For more Digital Learning Services information text DLS news  to 22828 or find us on Twitter @sbcss_edtech Music by ItsWatR from Pixabay - Wataboi Flavour