Technology Education Collaborative (TEC)
We help people better understand the tech that surrounds them on a daily basis. TEC does this through practical application by hosting in-person, hands-on events ranging from Right to Repair workshops, Privacy meetups and tech field trips and demos.
Our agreement with the Advanced Cyber Systems Lab at GateWay Community College helps us give the general public hands-on access to advanced technologies from 3D printers to a podcasting studio people can use to learn, discover and play.
UPCOMING NOVEMBER 2025 TEC EVENTS
THIS MONTH: | Hardware Happy Hour | Privacy PIE: Student Data Broker Danger | Ham Operator Study Group
NOVEMBER HARDWARE HAPPY HOUR (3H) PHOENIX
We're welcoming back our favorite group of hardware enthusiasts (who talk a lot about programming, too)!
📅 Thursday, November 13
🕖7 p.m.
📍 Advanced Cyber Systems Lab
GateWay Community College - Washington Campus
108 N. 40th St.
Phoenix, AZ 85034
The ACSL is located in Room 2108 of the MA building
Directions and parking map: https://techedcollab.org/directions/
All skill levels welcome. This is a low-key social event, so no speakers, just socializing, snacking and tinkering.
If you have a hardware project you're working on, bring it!
If you have a project you're stuck on, bring it.
Or just stop in - There'll be chill, experienced folks who can answer your questions.
We'll supply (almost any) specialty tools and workspace you may need.
There's plenty of software talk, and programmers are welcome too!
And yes, there will be food for participants. :) This month we're doing gyros from Z's Greek and the usual snax and such.
Registration is NOT required but helps ensure we order enough food (and is generally appreciated).
Personal Privacy Information & Education Meetup (Privacy PIE) -- Student Data Broker Danger!
We're excited to welcome Sharlene Toney, CIPP who will discuss worrying developments in the student data broker space. Sharlene will shed light on a little known but extremely important and personal issue related to student privacy due to data brokers and third-party partnerships.
This will be a smaller, more intimate version of the talk she gave on the same topic at DEFCON this year. Come by the lab with all your questions ready. If you have been, will be, or ever were a student (or your family members have been or will be) you're not going to want to miss this one.
Our regular dedicated study sessions will be held at the Advanced Cyber Systems Lab, located at Gateway Community College on:
Wednesday, November 5 at 6 p.m.
Only one session this month due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Great news -Andrew Cornwall is coming back again to share his expertise! Andrew is ARES Emergency Coordinator, a manager of the Arizona Emergency Net-Maricopa training net, and is accredited as an ICS Incident Communication Center Manager (INCM) and Auxiliary Communications (AUXCOMM) resource. He is a trainer and volunteer examiner - we couldn't have asked for a better guest!
We're on the home stretch so we'll also be discussing testing options.
Directions and parking for the ACSL can be found here.
For new folks (who are always welcome!):
This cohort is studying and preparing for the FCC's Amateur Radio Service Technician Class license exam.
You must register to receive the email that will have convenient links to all the study materials or notifications of schedule changes.
Missed the first sessions? No worries - just email Contact@techedcollab.org for the study materials in advance of the class you'll be attending.
CHECK OUT THE TEC TALKS PODCAST
NEW TEC TALKS EPISODE
What Does a Mainframe Technologist Do?
In case you missed it, our podcast TEC Talks is now on YouTube! But don't worry, you can still listen on Castapod and Spotify, too.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TechEdCollab/videos
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/77kG9LJSjCIb284X0MND9q?si=fc85f435d0174340
https://podcast.techedcollab.org/@techedcollab?ref=techedcollab.org
Castapod: https://podcast.techedcollab.org/@techedcollab
We have another installment in our short segment "What Does a [Technologist] Do?" This is a segment during which we ask working professional technologists the same five questions to get at what they actually do on a daily basis. The questions stay the same, but the answers are always surprising.
In our "What Does a Mainframe Developer Do?" Leonard Pennock sat down with TEC's own Andrew Karnes discusses the differences between being a mainframe developer versus a software dev, including the use of archaic languages, and how his love of puzzles helps him at work.
As a bonus, this episode is also edited by Leonard himself. Because in addition to dev skills, he's pretty dang good at audio engineering, too!
The TEC Article Club
The Therapist in the Machine: Chatbots take on the talking cure
An in-depth look at therapy chatbots, many that are now powered by AI. The author combines personal experience as a therapy user with excellent reporting and engaging writing, adding a far more intimate and personal look at this issue than many articles that have explored this now "old" AI topic. - CSE
Author: Jess McAllen
Date Published: November 2024
Publication: The Baffler
Long and Ugly Link:
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-therapist-in-the-machine-mcallen?src=longreads
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TEC is an Arizona 501(c)3 and all contributions are tax deductible.
We are a 501(c)3 Arizona nonprofit organization that is a public charity. You can view our Privacy Policy here. See our terms of service here.