“If you’re a gardener and you do databases, there are obvious overlaps there.”
Tim King is an Education and Emerging Technologies Specialist who emphasizes that lived experiences can translate into digital skills through play and experimentation.
Written by Jordan Fish
On a rare sunny fall day in Victoria, I click “Join” on Google Meet and am greeted by a smiling Tim King, dialing in from his home in Ontario.
Tim, 56, is a powerhouse in the edtech space, spanning his leadership of the first all-female team to qualify for the CyberTitan Nationals (and they have been to Nationals every year since) to winning the Cisco NetAcad Innovation Architecture and Shooting Star award in 2023. Between cyber talks in Red Deer and Uruguay, and attending the University of Waterloo’s annual cybersecurity research conference tomorrow, his calendar is packed.
But when I ask how he got here, he grins and says, “I dropped out of high school”.
After moving from the UK to Quebec in 1977 and later moved to Mississauga, Tim spent his early years working as a millwright apprentice. It was the electrical work that pulled him toward IT.
“I was the youngest guy in the department by thirty years, so anything with a computer on it, they’re like ‘Tim’s doing it’. That’s how I got into it. None of the older guys wanted to touch it.
That curiosity eventually led him to study IT, where he met a teacher who changed his path.
“Once you meet a teacher you have to become one,” he jokes. “It’s like the mafia.”
If teaching were the mafia, he might be its godfather. He’s collaborated with educators across every province and territory in Canada, all advocating for opportunities for hands-on, inclusive learning.
“I’m really focused on trying to get kids real world certifications, rather than just a badge or something.”
That philosophy has guided his work as an Education and Emerging Technologies Specialist at the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), a national not-for-profit focused on strengthening Canada’s digital economy.
Tim’s initiatives focus on building capacity in schools and professional development to diversify the cybersecurity talent pipeline. His approach? Learning by doing.
“People kept calling me Dr.King, and I don’t have a PhD in anything. I’m an action researcher. I’m an educator by trade, and action research is a big part of teaching.”
It’s clear that teaching is his super power. His ability to meet learners where they are is what sets him apart.
“If I’m talking to lawyers about cyber, I don’t baffle them with tech. If I’m speaking to the general public about cyber, [I make sure] they don’t feel like they’re being swamped by math.”
That is what makes technology accessible, explaining concepts in easy to digest terms. It is also the foundation for what inspired the Digital Bridge Society’s mission: to make technology empowering and human.
He brings up his work in quantum education, as speaking about the pending impacts of quantum computing can sound like it’s straight out of a Star Trek episode.
So how do you teach something that is abstract?
The answer: play.
Tim and Ella Meyer at UBC Geering Up promoted the Quantum Arcade last month as a tool to teach grades 6-12 about quantum.
“We can reframe things, to make it less alien. Games are a big part of that.”
When I bring up how the Digital Bridge Society wants to foster a learning environment that creates that same sense of fun and exploration among older adults, Tim encourages the same approach.
“I think play is the key,” he says. “If we can chill everyone out by saying ‘Hey, no damage, so go nuts.’ You’ll be amazed how quickly learning takes place in an environment like that’.”
That play aspect remains to be the silver bullet to relieve fears of embarrassment or fear that with a touch of a keyboard, your finances will be drained straight into a hacker’s crypto wallet.
“If we can make these spaces, where people can just experiment with no fear of some crazy thing happening and start to understand how the tech works, then you’ll see it’s not as complicated as they think.”
Having this ‘break it and learn what happens’ mindset, not only sounds fun, but it can transform your fear to curiosity and reclaim agency in the digital world.
As Tim highlights, “As soon as someone is urging you to do something, that’s your cue to hang up.”
For those looking to strengthen their online safety, Tim recommends the website KnowledgeFlow as a great resource.
And Tim practices what he preaches. For this reason, Tim has turned off all his notifications on his phone.
“I choose when I look at my phone, my phone never dictates when I look at it.”
When I ask if he has a favourite app or tool to play with these days, he shares that he's been learning about AI photo imaging platforms like Midjourney and Gemini AI.
“I took pictures of the Panama airport, and it looks straight out of Jurassic park, so I started adding dinosaurs to it,” he says with a grin. “You can have real humor with it.”
When he isn’t recreating cinematic scenes from cult classics, you can find Tim working on his motorbike.
“Sometimes I’ll modify a system on the motorbike, and it gets me into a hacker mindset, suddenly looking at a cyber problem again with a new perspective to identify a gap.”
This overlap of his online and offline passions exemplify how lived experiences transfer to participating in the digital space.
“The weird thing we do is we always ignore people’s lived experience and try to force them into what we think digital will be. And there’s always an opportunity to use your real world experience.”
He elaborates with a fantastic example: “If you’re a gardener and you do databases, there are obvious overlaps there.”
The digital world isn’t a foreign futuristic fantasy, it’s an extension of our communities. The same skills that make us good problem-solvers, creators and neighbours transfer over to thriving online.
“We’re at a unique point in Canadian history, where we can cross-pollinate across the country. You would not believe how similar our problems are.”
The idea that digital learning can unite us across geography, ages and backgrounds feels like a kind of Canadian patriotism. It’s an avenue where we can get together to be curious and learn with and from each other.
As we wrap up our chat, it becomes clear that Tim models how being a digital advocate is rooted in having the courage to be playful.
If you want to follow Tim and his work in cyber education, you can check out his LinkedIn and his work at the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) where their CanCode funded digital career programs help kids get ready for emerging technologies.
