Industry Leaders Inspire and Empower Students to Learn Code!

Highlights of Computer Science Education Week 2018 at TL!

National Computer Science Education Week was a tremendous success with students crowding into classrooms each day to see demos of student apps and to also learn more about class offering in computer science at TL. Record numbers of students attended each event, especially our 4th Annual Hour of Code, a hands-on event where students try an introduction tutorial to see how easy coding can be.

All Roads lead to Code! Join in the fun!

We are excited to share our wonderful news that our founding enrichment program TLCoding Lab, has been expanded to include coding, making and design. TL Innovation Lab will offer specialized lunch time and after school enrichment programs in applied computer science instruction, digital media, and making really cool stuff. Our enrichment programs allow students to explore applied computer science without the impact of grades fostering  their confidence to learn with greater depth in understanding  through hands on project-based learning that fosters communication, collaboration , creativity, and 21st century skills. 

About TL Coding Lab & TL Innovation Lab

TLCoding Lab launched in March 2015, as a lunchtime enrichment program/solution, developed by a founding student determined to have computer science at his high school. Our fonding student created community around computer science with fellow students and  partnered with   AcdemicExcellence@TL,  TLHS and SRCS Leadership Teams to develop enrichment programs in applied computer science --as our high school had no curriculum or elective classes.  We are pleased to announce that through our student advocacy and partnership with our Principal Katy Dunlap along with San Rafael City Schools  leadership and community partnerships TLHS:

• Expand Enrichment Programs to include, TL Maker Lab and TL Video Game Studio

• TLHS no offers 2 new AP classes in Computer Science

• TL Video Game Development Academic and Career Pathway will launch in Fall 2018!

• New academic pathways in applied computer science and digital media are underdevelopment for the new consturct of STEM/STEAM classroom cluster funded by the recent passing of Measure B!

Computer Science Instruction

 CodeHS will continue to be our primary partner generously providing online instruction to our students. This year, we are so pleased to announce that TLCoding Lab's student advocacy in partnership with Principal Dunlap, and SRCS district helped in garnering an upgrade in computers and tech to better support our classroom learning!  

Out Comes from a shared vision with our Community Partners:  

• access to computer science for all students

• bridges diverse student communities

• sparking entrepreneurial teaching, dynamic learning and innovation

• Students bringing computer science projects into their core classes and beyond!

• Empowering students to be advocates for diversity in computer science!

 TL Coding Lab is leading the way in comptuer science instruction and enrichment.  TL Coding Lab continues to  attract industry professionals to mentor and share experiences that open up new academic and career paths in computer science and tech for our students futures beyond TL.  See our list of special guest speakers at TLCoding Lab.

Computer Science to their Core Curriculum and Beyond!

Our more advanced students are now integrating computer programming into to their classrooms through a variety of projects.  One of our students from the Marin School of Environmental Leadership,  a specialized school within Terra Linda High School, developed for a LEAD Project, a moisture sensor with an Arduino to measure soil moisture and control water in our campus' organic garden, so that not one drop of water is wasted during our drought in CA! 

Also, TL Innovation Lab is venturing  out beyond our campus into the community with entering our students in our first hackathon with Team Coding Against Climate Change at the Academy of Sciences Environmental Game Jam in 2016. Our team brought their best design, programming and graphics skills to  create an environmental simulation video game  Bottom Line which was honored for Best Pitch! Bottom Line  asked the question, "Do you want to live in a world driven by profit or live in a world without concern for nature? What is your Bottom Line?"

Innovative Approach

 TL Innovation Lab gives our students opportunities to explore applied computer science without the stigma of grades to boost student confidence providing encouragement and support needed to position them to succeed in future Computer Science classes and AP courses. Also,  CodeHS generously provides online computer science curriculum to students so they can explore independently and work at their own pace. Students  get “‘hooked’ on coding by applying programming to really cool projects. Our peer mentoring brings their coding skills quickly up to speed through collaboration and tiered skill-level projects, so new comers aren't intimidated.  TL Innovation Lab attracts students with little or no coding experience because it is an open community that makes really cool stuff.

Thanks for the Shout Out Lisa Seacat Deluca, IBM's Master Inventor & MIT's Top Innovator Under 35!

More Fun Stuff We do!

Building Community Around Gender & Diversity in Tech

TL Innovation Lab students attended a Mill Valley Film Festival screening of <<She Started It>> with Director Nora Poggi  with a Q&A discussion (pictured center with thumbs up)! Thanks for inspiring us with empowering and powerful stories of risk, perseverance and following your dreams. Hats- off to our generous hosts John Morrison, Director,  Education and Melanie Nichols, Education Coordinator, California Film Institute for building community around gender and diversity in tech  with our sister schools  and San Rafael High School! Nora Poggi you inspire the entrepreneur in all of us!!

Solving Problems in Community Health

Hackathon Fun for all! TL Innovation Lab and Marin School for Environmental Leadership teamed-up to enter Marin County's first hackathon, Hack4Health .Hackathon  Writing over 600 lines of code and building an accessible database, our team created a civil action platform to engage public on local health issues for Marin County's first official hackathon. We were so happy to be part of this historic moment! Thanks to Marin County Office of Education and awesome IT staff, Damon Connolly, County Supervisor · San Rafael, California, Coordinators, and all of our sponsors for a great day of hacking and coding!  Together we had a lot of fun developing a civil action platform around health issues and data in Marin County.  Hack4Health was a historic event in education and community around computer science and tech as it was the first hackathon in Marin County. Thanks to Marin County Office of Education and Damon Connolly for a great day of hacking and coding with students from all over Marin and the Bay Area!

Owen Bartolf, Team Lead  and TL Innovation Lab Founder shares programming with Damon Connolly, County Supervisor · San Rafael, California, around building a civic platform with county health data to make it more user-friendly and accessible for community engagement in Marin at the Hack 4 Health.

A Fantastic New Enrichment Opportunity in CS and Digital Media for TL Students!
 

This year we are launching TL Video Game Studio as an innovative after school enrichment program to encourge computer science by simulating a real video game development studio. Our student dev team  will create a real video game with mentors from 2K --from inception, to prototyping, production, testing, and release.  Students will learn principles of game design, level design, story, game theory, basic computer programming, project management, idea creation, 3D modeling and/or animation.

TL Video Game Development Studio will showcase the video game developed in this program to the public at one of the Bay Area’s industry events or the Bay Area Maker Faire in 2018.The capstone project will be a culmination of all knowledge and skills obtained in the course.

TL Game Development Studio is an afterschool enrichment program to which only TL students can apply. We are excited to see all of the game development fun and capstone projects from this years team! Look for us on FB @TLInnovation Lab! For more information, please contact Maya Bartolf, TL Innovation Lab at maya.bartolf@gmail.com

New Programs

• A New Guest Mentor Program--Let's Make Something Cool Together!

This Fall TL Innovation Lab will continue another year  of our Guest Mentor Program which will bring in a volunteer parent or community partner to lead an applied computer science program! These programs will provide more dynamic and hands-on  opportunities in learning for our students and we will also make so really cool stuff!  Our students will be so thrilled and appreciative to start the year with upgrades and making cool stuff together! Many thanks to the SRCS  and community partners like Hermes Econometrics that recently gave a generous gift to support this innovative program! We look forward to posting on the new and exciting projects that our Guest Mentors will be leading and look for us again at the Maker Faire 2018! If you would like more information on how to become a project mentor please contact Owen Bartolf, Student Founder and Lead Student Mentor at owen.bartolf@gmail.com or Bruce Gustin, Lead Teacher Mentor at bgustin@srcs.org.

• Student Project Proposal Grants

To encourage in depth and specialized learning for our students, TL Innovation Lab is developing a student grant program to support deeper learning in areas of personal interest. Students will submit a short proposal and budget and be award funding to peruse projects that make them excited about applied computer science and engineering.

Blog Highlights

Get Involved

TLCoding Lab is made possible through parent, student, alumni, community and corporate partnerships!  Make a difference! Help provide access to Computer Science at one of the most diverse high schools in Marin County. With your involvement, we can continue to support innovation and computer science to provide essential 21st century skills for college and career, while helping to bridge the gap in gender and diversity in all things tech!

Our Coding Lab is looking for volunteers and industry partners who have an interest in supporting programming and all things tech at TL. No experience necessary. There are roles for all! Get Invovled! Go Coding! Go TL! Go Partners! Online Volunteer Form>

Our Partners

TL Innovation Lab partners with a variety of individuals, community and corporate organizations who invest in our community, programs and events to support and inspire computer science and pathways to STEM education for all students at TL!  Join our growing list of partners with your generous donation that will make megabytes of difference at our public high school with one of the most diverse student populations in Marin County. Thank you so much for your generosity to TL Innovation Lab! 

Contact  Owen Bartolf, Student Founder at owen. bartolf@ gmail.com or Bruce Gustin, Lead Teacher Mentor bgustin@srcs.org for more information about supporting computer science and digital media at TL!

Our Partners Bridging the Gap in Access to Computer Science and Tech!

More Fun Stuff We do!

Hour of Code!

On Wednesday, December 9 at Lunch in Room #302, we celebrated  National Computer Science Education week with code.org's "Hour of Code."  

The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. One-hour tutorials are available in over 40 languages at code.org. No experience needed. Ages 4 to 104.

192,083 Hour of Code events around the world

Our first Hackathon Team!

Go Team Coding Against Climate Change! TL Coding Lab's First Hackathon Team!
Go California Academy of Science 2016 Environmental Hackathon Game Jam 2016 Team!

 What is the Bottome Line? Is there profit to be made... or an ecosystem to save..or a better future for mankind?

TLCoding Lab participated in its first hackathon at the California Academy of Sciences on April 23rd and 24th. Congratulations to Team Coding Against Climate Change who brought their best game design, digital arts and computer programming savvy to the competition and received an honorable mention for Best Concept Pitch for their multiplayer strategy game called "The Bottom Line!"  The Bottom Line was created in 24hrs including all art assets designed by Team Coding Against Climate Change. The Bottom Line is an environmental simulation set on an isolated island and asks CEOs in gameplay to go forth questioning .....is there money to be made...or is there an ecosystem to save....or is there a better future for mankind? 

Building Community--A Special Project

Students of TLCoding Lab entered a competition this past summer, to create a 90 second video to show how our IT Dept. collaborates with our partners, admin, teachers, and students to provide computer science instruction, and innovation around tech at TLCoding Lab!  Although we didn't win the $50,000 Grand Prize, we did  have a whole lot of fun building community with our students, parent volunteers, and our corporate partner CodeHS while collaborating creatively together! This video also helped to raise awareness to the lack of access to paths in computer science at our high school and helped to spotlight our students' enthusiam for CS!!! Watch our video directed by the talented Nick Slanec, TLCoding Lab and MSEL Student at TL. 

Student Advocacy like our video help to show our partners that access to computer science and digital media is important for all at TL, which is one of the most diverse high schools in Marin County!

A Special Field Trip

Director Robin Hauser Reynolds and our generous partners at Mill Valley Film Festival  arranged a special educational screening of her new documentary, CODE:Debugging the Gender Gap in Technology  to build community  with TLCoding Labe our friends at San Rafael High School Physics Academy and the Advanced Digital Media Class at Miller Creek Middle School in October 2015. See how much fun we had!

Your generous donation will keep all of our students coding and innovating at TL Innovation Lab.

We are an enrichment program developed by TL Students and Academic Excellence@TL, a public 5013c, Tax ID # 68-0368998,

We are an enrichment program developed by TL students and Academic Excellence@TL, a public 5013c,Tax ID # 68-368998 Donations of time, talent, or monetary gifts beginning at $500 and above are acknowledged as a Bridging the Gap partners on our website with a click through icon, and will also be listed in any special event communication materials. Make megabytes of difference for our students who love to code!