joebacal.work
Education-centered software engineering and design
ACCESS Question & Answer Bot
Working with a small team on a LangGraph agent and chat interface for researchers using NSF ACCESS supercomputing resources.
EngineeringLangGraphPythonPostgresReact
Self-Evident Education
Content platform and membership site for an educational non-profit on race and resistance in U.S. history.
DesignIAEngineeringSanityNuxtStripeFirebase
Invention Playground
A construction set for Rube-Goldberg machines with computational thinking and robotic elements, drawn from years of teaching. In active development.
ConceptEngineeringDesignNuxtSupabaseKonvaRapier
Challenge Galaxy
ChallengeGalaxy is a repository of open-ended programming challenges for people to complete in Scratch.
ConceptDesignEngineeringNuxt
Active Reading Cards
Active Reading Cards supports authentic reading comprehension by helping students build mental models and questions through play before reading. A prototype, used with students in my own classroom.
DesignEngineeringConceptNuxtFirebase
Neural Engineering Curriculum
NSF-funded neural engineering curriculum, built with the University of Connecticut and the Concord Consortium.
DesignEngineeringWritingC++ArduinoReact
Networked Micro:bits
A classroom electronics design unit for middle-schoolers at Concord Consortium, using paired BBC micro:bits over radio.
micro:bitReact
Digital Block Area
A blog I wrote as a tech teacher — reflections and resources on teaching computational thinking with elementary and middle-school students.
ConceptDesignWritingScratchJavaScript
weather.ink
Human accomplishments need surfacing these days. Your weather report as a small dose of classic literature.
EngineeringDesignPythonVue
Publications and Presentations
Selected articles, guides, and conference talks on my educational engineering and design work.
ConceptDesignEngineeringIAWriting